On The Cover Susie’s Garden Your Beautiful Spring Garden

Lay a stunning living carpet in difficult areas for carefree, insect friendly colour and coverage

A lifelong and passionate gardener, Susie White has a free flowing planting style which owes much to herbs, wildflowers, childhood plants and unusual perennials.

There are often difficult areas in gardens that could do with attractive solutions. We have a problem area between our veg garden and the terrace where a small slope makes an awkward change in level. To hold back the soil, I planted it up with London pride, an evergreen type of saxifrage that is really useful for creating a dense carpet of foliage. By planting it close together to create a continuous carpet, there’s no room for any weeds that would otherwise grow easily in bare soil. This particular kind of planting is called ground cover.

Planting with ground cover is a helpful way of reducing maintenance. It’s useful under shrubs and trees, along a narrow shaded strip below a fence, in the gap between buildings or on difficult slopes where it binds the soil to prevent landslip. The plant’s roots capture rain, preventing run-off and it’s an ecofriendly solution. It can also be an alternative to a lawn.

The soil should be completely weed-free to begin with and needs to be kept that way while the plants are establishing. After that it should take care of itself. Many ground cover plants have attractive flowers as well. Growing in shade or semi-shade, London pride has glossy rosettes of leaves out of which rise delicate stems with pink starry flowers.

Other woodland ground coverers are variegated ivy, brunnera with its silver marbled leaves, purple bugle, lungwort, liriope and black mondo grass. Some can be over vigorous – so plant periwinkles (Vincas) and woodruff only in places where you are happy for them to take over!

In sunny spots, lambs ears, thyme and creeping phlox will make a carpet of foliage and flowers. So here are some of my top choices for ground cover planting.

PERIWINKLE (VINCA)

Periwinkles are pretty cottage garden plants that will quickly cover a sloping bank or area under shrubs. It’s vigorous so plant with care so it doesn’t take over a border.

LAMIUM ‘WHITE NANCY’

Another good plant for bumblebees, this pretty deadnettle has white flowers and white variegated leaves.

BUGLE (AJUGA)

With its glossy leaves, bugle is a brilliant carpeting plant. Some varieties have richly purple leaves and bugle flowers are very attractive to bumblebees. THYME Creeping thyme makes delightful scented mats of foliage and flowers. Grow it in sunny areas or between paving slabs.

BRUNNERA

Surprisingly tough, brunnera can grow in difficult dry conditions under trees. It has beautifully patterned variegated leaves and blue spring flowers.

EPIMEDIUM

Lovely with the sun shining through their heart shaped leaves, epimediums have yellow or apricot spring flowers and will grow in dry shade.