Part IV - Living Walls - Borders & Hedges: Yews and Hemlocks: Re: Any suggestions for evergreen ground cover?

» Marge_Talt - Re: Any suggestions for evergreen ground cover?

In response to message posted by washingtonarms:

Well, if there's skunk cabbage growing there, you have a naturally boggy site - probably an underground spring of some type...am I jealous! I've wanted some skunk cabbage for years; been trying to germinate seeds, to no avail...sigh.

Anyway, Pachysandra and ivy will not do well in boggy conditions. I would NOT remove the skunk cabbage, but put in more damp loving plants to go with it. While I don't think skunk cabbage is endangered, it is relatively rare and should not be destroyed if possible.

Evergreen might be a bit tough in a groundcover tho' there are evergreen plants that are clump forming that love just those conditions.

Acorus gramineus 'Ogon' flourishes in boggy conditions as well as regular borders and is rated hardy to z5. There's also Acorus gramineus 'Variegata' - a white variegated form, where 'Ogon'is gold variegated - very neat, low plant that will spread in time. Both are evergreen and 'Ogon' (the one I grow) always comes through winter looking good for me.

Houttuynia cordata 'Chameleon' (z4) is not evergreen, but will take over the world in a damp condition and make a very thick groundcover during the growing season - very attractive plant that I hesitate to recommend for border use, but if you want to have something maintenance free that covers ground from mid spring until frost, this is it.

Lysimachia nummularia (z4) will also cover ground in damp soil - it is not evergreen, but wakes up early in spring and stays through until the worst frosts. The yellow form, 'Aurea' is really nice, tho' it will be more chartreuse in shade.

The candalabra primroses, Primula japonica, Primula Beesiana, and Primula Bulleyana would love that kind of spot. Again, they aren't evergreen, but they grow fast once spring starts and get huge as cabbages. They seed around heavily and will cover large patches of damp ground in a few years. Not only that, they have marvelous flowers. Their foliage gets about 18" (45cm)tall and their flower spikes up to 2'(60cm).

There are other large and small plants that would do well in this type of location, but they aren't exactly ground covering except for Petasites, japonicus giganteus and that's so incredibly rampant, I'd think twice about it in an unconfined location.

Personally, if I were blessed with a naturally boggy spot, I would use it to make a garden of bog loving plants and count myself really lucky. I have to make boggy or damp places - a whale of a lot of work. There are so many incredible plants that demand constantly wet soil!

If you think your MIL would want a garden there, instead of just a groundcover, I can list a few more that would grow in such a spot - taller plants that flower or have grand foliage or both plus sedges...oh, there are so many. My damp bed is now overflowing; I could use 4 times the area and still wish I had more wet soil:-)

-- posted by Marge_Talt