Groundcover spree

Groundcover spree

by | Mar 10, 2015 | Nurseries, Plants

This weekend I felt like a high roller. Picture less Vegas vacation, diamonds, cars and rolling around on piles of cash. More rolling around on piles of groundcovers and you’ve got the idea. We’re among gardeners here. You guys get it.

Thanks to Tamara of Chickadee Gardens, a bunch of garden bloggers were invited out to ogle, photograph, and shop the 50+ wholesale sized greenhouses at Little Prince of Oregon.

I had to pinch myself, because this was my very dream for this spring. I’m on a groundcover blitz, as part of my speed gardening strategy to recover from last year’s puppy devastation out there. There may be no better place to fulfill this mission. Little Prince has a HUGE collection of (dog) foot traffic friendly groundcovers, and I was checking things off my wish list left and right.

Of course you always remember the one that got away. The plant shown up top is to die for, right? It’s killing me. It was flagged for another customer, so I am without. At least I got to pet its soft foliage briefly. Be on the lookout for Selaginella kraussiana ‘Brownii’.

Luckily there were plenty of wish-listers that were not spoken for.
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Unexpected groundcovers

Unexpected groundcovers

by | Jan 27, 2015 | Plants

Groundcovers are…

The icing on the cake?

The bow on the present?

The cherry on the sundae?

Whatever cliche fits best, they deserve some special attention. Last week I realized how important groundcovers are to pulling together a garden, and I’ve been looking for some good contenders ever since.

I’m sure we’ve all seen certain plants get overused as carpets in parking lot beds and in front of new homes as builders’ favorites, and those plants get crossed right off our lists. Lucky for us there is no end to new and unusual plants, which is why we garden, isn’t it?

For groundcovers to make the cut on this particular list, they had to meet some basic criteria:

  • – Be super cool or weird
  • – Have a long season of interest
  • – Don’t rely on flowers as the main attraction
  • – Be reasonably easy to grow
  • – Be frost hardy
  • Don’t be something I’ve seen a million times

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