Suggestions please for ground cover

[michelea]

Hi everyone.

Last year I started getting plants that would create the backbone of my garden ie palms, bamboos.

Now that they are settled I am looking for groundcover. I particularly like Colocasia's (formosana), asarums and cautleya. Does anyone have any experience with these and are they quite hardy? All I really want to do is provide a mulch in winter.

Open to suggestions.

Cheers

Michele

[Dim]

if you want something that is hardy, evergreen, unusual and that can grow in shade aswell as sun, look at Black Grass - Ophiopogon Nigrescens ....

there is another one that is bigger aswell .... they are not cheap though, and grow slow, but you can divide them when you buy them

[Barry]

How about some Epimediums only really for shade though;

http://www.edrom-nurseries.co.uk/shop/p ... 7p9135.htm

And more here;

http://www.plantsforshade.co.uk/acatalog/Epimedium.html

The Ophiopogon is a good call too ,hardy as a hardy thing here.

[flounder]

Only down side to ophiopogon is, it is painfully slow to fill out. It does look good with festuca though. You could try vinca minor, 'illumination' is a good one.
A good decideous plant is Ceratostigma plumbaginoides but does need sun. Sempervivums are nice and clumpy and theres always saxifraga. Low growing dahlias like the topmix varieties give you another option.
Coloured gravel and bark are a bit more permanent but do highlight specimen plants well

[Blairs]

Annuals: Coleus, Canna Indica, small Ricinus, impatiens, Begonia, Tithonia, Hosta, Solanum and Nasturtiums.

Evergreens: Rosemary (keep it pruned), Farfagium, Lamium, Wild Ginger, Lady's Mantle, mint (!), ferns, viola and Pansy. Ivy is another ground cover, the variegated ones come to mind.

[simon]

I particularly like Colocasia's (formosana), asarums and cautleya.

Colocasias are better grown as anuals or at least dug up and stored frost free. there are a couple of hardy varieties that some people have succesfully kept outside. Namely Colocasia fallax and Colocasia gaoligongensis. Not heard much about fallax these days but gaoligongensis seems be the best bet.

Cautleya are hardy for me. I have C. spicata and C. gracilis which come back each year and are bulking up well. Other gingery cousins worth trying are Zingiber mioga and the variegated Z. mioga 'Dancing Crane', and Roscoeas which are little hardy ginger relatives that flower reliably.

[Dim]

for ground cover, I would stick with evergreens ..... there's no point in having pretty flowers for 2 months of the year, and bare soil for 4 months of the year

[Kristen]

Only down side to ophiopogon is, it is painfully slow to fill out

I've got Ophiopogon 'Black beard' from Amulree which seems quicker to bulk-up than the type. I bought a plant from Amulree 16 months ago - although in fairness it was probably a reasonably well stuffed 2L pot - and a few weeks ago I split it and got 38 plants from it

[Kristen]

Persicaria Red Dragon? Dead easy to propagate, but will die right down in the Winter.

[michelea]

Thank you

A lot of suggestions, think I am going to have to do some more reading as some suggestions hadn't really thought/ heard of. I am looking for both sun & shade. I have been given "the permission slip" to order from crug so I want to get my moneys worth from delivery charges and order a few plants (although slip only covers one and oops, I omitted to mention cost of delivery, lol).

Without meaning too garden has colour theme, black and white ohh and a lot of green (black fence, white privacy screen). I was toying with the idea of any flowers being one colour like red or hot colours. What does everyone think?

Also im digging up the bamboo and putting in pots (thinking of a few years time and my neighbour). Should I get green pots to blend in or totally opposite and white ones (nice contemporary ones in b & q) to contrast with fence and go with screen?

Here's couple pics to help "envisage".
Michele

[Dim]

Acaena inermis purpurea could be another option .... hardy low growing groundcover with purpley evergreen leaves which can handle semishade ...

[greendragon]

Dryopteris affinis

[simon]

for ground cover, I would stick with evergreens ..... there's no point in having pretty flowers for 2 months of the year, and bare soil for 4 months of the year

I find a mixture of evergreen and herbacious/deciduous is the best way to go. By sticking with evergreen you eliminate a lot of rewarding and exotic looking plants and there is nothing to look forward to in spring time if your garden looks the same 12 months of the year.

[Blairs]

Looking at the pictures, I would go for Rhodohypoxis Douglas (red) or Rhodohypoxis Ruth (pink). If you keep to one type and colour and spread it in 3 or 5 areas then the colour will really work well and show off your other lovely plants.