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Recommended ground covers beneath dwarf conifers.

Scott
11 years ago

I am looking for some good suggestions for some ground covers beneath some dwarf conifers. Some are pine along with spruce etc. I would love some yellows if possible. Any other color would be great too but I need some splashes of yellow to pep it up. I was wondering if anyone has used lamium aurea? I have seen pics but can't find it for a resonable price on the internet. NO one around my area carries it as with many ground covers. Anyone care to let me in on their secrets for finding good ground covers and what they have used and where they got them? Thanks.

Comments (20)

  • ricksample
    11 years ago

    Opinions on this will vary widely here on this forum. Some prefer no ground covers, others prefer conifer ground covers, while others prefer perennial evergreen ground covers. I posted a thread about this about a month ago and got some very good responces.

    This spring I have used a combination of the three:

    Around my smaller conifers I use sedum, Theme, phlox, Ajuga Black Scallop.

    In the more open larger areas I use stuff such as Juniperus horizontalis 'Mother Lode', Juniperus horizontalis 'Gold Strike', etc.

    Around my larger conifers such as Picea pungens 'Hoopsii' I use nothing since these plants hug the ground and require no face plants.

  • Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Have you ever seen a yellow erica? What about the lamium aruea?
    Of all the pictures of conifers I have seen, the ones with some ground covers always appeal most to me.

  • harv2016
    11 years ago

    I use all four types of ground covers in my gardens, none, vegatative, wood chips and ground hugging conifers. Like to think there's a use for all of them. My favorite is moss phlox, but can be a real rabbitt food. The other ones are various sedums and others I've since forgot the names of. But over the years I've propigated and they spread and just start to pop up every where. Been experimenting with a ground hugging geranium that shows promise as a ground cover


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  • ricksample
    11 years ago

    Amazing Photos!!! Great inspiration.... job well done! That's right up there with Dave's garden.

  • firefightergardener
    11 years ago

    Great photos!

    Personally I like sedums, lithodora and heaths/heathers. Gives you some strong colors to contrast with the plants.
    {{gwi:692790}}

    -Will

  • Windhaven
    11 years ago

    Thanks for posting all the pictures guys! Wow!

    I like the variety too, especially mixed with rockwork.

  • Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Where do you get your heaths and heathers? Do you have any erica or is that the same thing?

  • Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Where is the best place to buy the best assortments of groundcovers. I thought I found a place but when I call I never get an answer and email I got one over a week later. I don't like when communication is bad. Where can I look online? Thanks.

  • firefightergardener
    11 years ago

    Erica and Calluna are the two I have I think, heaths and heathers. Bright colors, year-round, some may not like very very cold weather, so please do the proper research. I buy almost all of mine in little pots from the company below, out of Washington state.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Great source of Winter color and conifer ground covers

  • Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks.

  • Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    What are the bright orange plants in your picture?

  • firefightergardener
    11 years ago

    Attached link 'Robert Chapman'. Beautiful in cool Springs.

    Here is a link that might be useful: 'Robert Chapman'

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    11 years ago

    Where do you get your heaths and heathers? Do you have any erica or is that the same thing?

    ===>>>

    none of them will live in z5 ...

    well.. to be totally correct.. they will live until a z5 winter ...

    unless you just want to play the zone pushing thing ....

    though i would not be surprised for someone to roll in here and claim there is ONE that will ...

    you better learn quickly .. to read a responders ZONE .. before you go off.. half cocked on their recommendations ..

    let me suggest that Will FFB has thousands of things in his zone 7/8 garden .. that you can dream and drool over.. that will never be good for you in z5 ...

    just like i have lots of things in my z5.. that dave cant grow in his z5 st louis .. or kansas city.. or wherever he is today .. lol ... [how in the heck can you have a town in two different states .... with the same name .. WHAT .. the peeps on the other side of the river could not come up with a different name.. what.. was sobriety an issue back then ... well dduuhhh.. i cant think of anything original .. lets just use the same name .. whats that all about.. but i digress]

    ken

  • Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Zone 5 is a wide term. I am considered a zone 5 for some reason. I have lived here 31 years and it has never gone below 9 below and that was for a one hour period. The last bunch of winters have not gone below 0 and this last winter did not get below I think 15. I am really a zone 6 or with the microclimate I have created in my yard even maybe higher. I have been growing zone 6 and even some zone 7 things for many, many years now with great success. I don't read zone maps, just my thermometer and look at my zone 6 and 7 plants growing.

  • Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Will, thanks for the link to the heather etc. Do you know of any other places that sell other ground covers. I did not find any sedums etc. at that sight, unless I am blind and missed it.

  • maple_grove_gw
    11 years ago

    Did you look at Bluestone perennials? They usually have a wide selection.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Bluestone perennials

  • Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I found some great looking sedum when I was in San Francisco last week. It was in many of their troughs along the streets. It was yellowish in color. Anyone that has been to San Fran and knows what it is? Thanks.

  • botann
    11 years ago

    'Angelina'? I have a yellow Sedum, but I'm not too fond of it because it seems to clash with everything around it.
    I use all sorts of groundcovers. It's a matter of scale. The smaller the conifers, the smaller the groundcover. The larger the trees and shrubs, the larger and more vigorous the groundcover.

    I use Sedum, Creeping Phlox, Vinca Minor, Hardy Geranium, Verbena, Pachysandra, Alpine Strawberries, Hardy Cyclamen, and Armeria. The trick is to match the groundcover to the trees and shrubs and make sure one doesn't over run the other. Again, it's a matter of scale.
    {{gwi:692791}}
    Oh, and woodchips.
    Mike

  • Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I guess everyone has their own eye for things. I have
    Arabiscaucasia Compinkie
    Aubrieta Cascade Purple
    Delosperma Table Mountain Delosperma 'John Proffitt'
    Delosperma Yellow Ice Plant
    Herniaria glabra 'Rupturewort' Green Carpet
    Lamium maculatum Aureum
    IsotomaFluviatillis Laurentia BlueStar
    Lithodora Heavenly Blue
    Muehlenbeckia Creeping Wire Vine
    Phlox Subulata Scarlet Flame
    Pratia County Park
    Sedum acre 'Gold Moss' Utah Sedum
    Sedum Fuldaglow
    Sedum Golden Japanese
    Pink Chintz Thyme
    To me I like the contrast of the yellow in many of the darker areas. I like the pop it brings.
    Thanks for the info on the sedum. I will look it up to see if that is what it is.

  • Scott
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I maybe did not look close enough at the sedum at San Fran. I just does not appear to have the same leaf structure but I may be wrong.

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