Ground
covers are finding a place in more and more home landscapes. Where
lawn grasses struggle to survive-in heavy shade, on steep slopes,
or in dry climates- homeowners can turn to a variety of other plants
that will thrive. Because they often need less water, fewer nutrients,
and minimal care, these alternative ground covers can save you time
and money. They can also enhance the looks of your property, providing
a handsome backdrop to the house, patio, deck, or other plantings,
as well as attractive colors and textures of their own.In
this 4-part article, we'll introduce these useful plants, suggest
ways for you to use them on your property, and explain how to plant
and care for them. Finally, we'll recommend a number of popular
ground covers to get you started.
WHAT
ARE GROUND COVERS?:
A wide range of plants, including annuals, perennials, vines, and
shrubs, produce stems, branches, and foliage in sufficient density
to cover the ground and prevent other plants from growing beneath
them. Coverage can involve large numbers of small plants; many of
these ground covers multiply rapidly. Others, including some vines
and low-spreading shrubs, cover ground with fewer plants but more
abundant foliage.
Ground
covers are valued primarily for their foliage-thin as a blade of
grass or broad as a dinner plate; less than an inch in height to
several feet tall; colored in every green imaginable as well as
silvers, grays, bronzes, yellows, and more. But many ground covers
offer lovely flowers as well, from the blizzard of tiny white blossoms
that cover snow-in-summer, to the elegant flowers of the daylily.
Some
ground covers are evergreen and supply a welcome dose of color in
the winter landscape. Those that drop their leaves or die back to
the ground in the fall (called deciduous plants) continue to please
the eye with attractive bark or branching patterns or by providing
shelter for over wintering birds or other wildlife.
