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 I think almost everyone knows that mulching gardens is recommended these days. In my garden I use groundcovers as a living mulch. I find that it works well and also gives me a lot more choice of things to grow in my garden! The usual reasons for mulching are:
A living mulch has the added benefits of:
The best plants for a living mulch are are long lasting perennials that have a naturally dense growth. I also prefer to use plants that don't need a lot of water or maintenance. If you have bulbs, a soft, low growing plant is best so as to allow the bulbs to make their way through. Apart from that criteria, your choice can vary in height and woodiness. An initial mulching with regular mulch may be used when you start a new garden or refurbish an old one. Once your groundcovers get established you will need less and less mulching as the spaces diminish. The following plants are some of which I have growing in my garden. They are only a small example of what can be used.
Lamium galeobdolon
Sutera cordata
Campanula porcharskyana
Gazania
Leptinella squalida
Heuchera species
Echeveria glauca
Ophiogon japonicus 'nanus'
Plectranthus verticillatus
Sedum 'Gold Mound'
Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy'
Veronica 'Georgia Blue'
Felicia amelloides
Plectranthus ciliatus
Plectranthus coleoides
Dymondia margaretae
Viola odorata
Violet unknown
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You have some interesting
You have some interesting plants there Dee - I enjoyed the photos of them. Your garden looks very natural and lovely.
I agree with you about using living plants as groundcover - and there are so many different ones you can use. I enjoy the look of erigeron in my own flower beds - it gives good coverage - and the native groundcovers are great too - some will cover a lot of ground and does save a lot of work.
very beautiful
Dee, your garden is beautiful,
there are some really beautiful groundcovers there , some I have in pots up here.
I hope you are getting some rain now to keep things going for you.
The idea of groundcovers looks as though it is really working for you.
Marion
Make the time to smell the flowers
Dee thanks for sharing your
Dee thanks for sharing your garden and your thoughts on groundcovers. I love the habitat they provide for skinks and other little creatures, the 'no need to weed' aspect is a favourite with me too! I experimented and found that thickly sown californian poppies make a great border or groundcover, these do die off at times but come back readily from self sowing and seem to survive without being watered. I also experimented in my vege garden this summer past and let the self sown violas grow thickly beneath the egg plants, it seemed to work very well, they attracted bees, kept the soil shaded and damp as the young eggplants grew and by the time both species were full grown there was no competion for space with eggplant being tall and viola short and best of all - no weeding. Thanks for posting all your pictures too, your garden looks so inviting, well done
Cheers, Gimpy Cat
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