As we gardeners attempt to merge the design principles of superimposed landscaping with the end of using native plants , we often find that final bed — the ground level — to be the most ambitious .
As a final result , we often default to get over the soil with non - native and exotic flora such as Ajuga , Liriope , and Nipponese Pachysandra . Such groundcovers are alien to our aboriginal bees and butterflies and may escape into the state of nature to compete with the native plants . Yet these plants are readily available in garden centers . Some may even be found as flats of small plugs , the most sparing way to purchase for volume planting .
It can be more difficult to source aboriginal groundcovers . Until now … or perhaps the near future . ThePlant northerly Piedmont Nativescampaign is part of a state - wide effort to produce both demand and supply of topically native plants . In partnership with the PNPN campaign , Piedmont Master Gardener volunteers are engaging with 13 orbit works retailers to advertize availableness and sale .
Consider the following plants to carpet your landscape painting with beautiful groundcovers that contribute to the ecosystem by attracting and support our native bees and butterfly . And if you do n’t see them , ask your glasshouse or garden marrow to sprout them .
For Sun
Robin ’s Plantain(Erigeron pulchellus )
In the Aster family , Robin ’s plantain is a stoloniferous plant that can form dense colonies . In spring , it produces branching flower heads on stem that may grow to 24 inches before senescing . The low daisy - corresponding flowers are white to pale lavender ; the intact plant is covered with tiny hairs . The Basle leaves persist to make an effective class - around greenish groundcover .
Golden Ragwort(Packera aurea )
prosper and blooming in moist nuance , prosperous ragwort / groundsel has attractive rounded basal leaves that continue green through all but the coarse winters . The chicken flush appear in April on stems up to 2.5 feet high . The plant self - seeds freely , is easily grow from semen , and can form large colony . stalk should be write out after seed diffusion . practiced for soaked website .
Moss Phlox ( Phlox subulata )
Attracting saltation ’s first butterflies , Phlox subulata , commonly call creeping phlox , moss phlox or moss pink , glows on ironical Sir Joseph Banks and stone rampart . blossom colouring range from ashen through pink to purple . Under six in in meridian , the plant sprawl to form an evergreen primer cover . Good drainage is substantive and crop back by one-half after bloom helps to maintain their form . A lawnmower with the blade set gamy can accomplish this in the right location .
Barren Strawberry ( Geum fragarioides )
Barren strawberry lives up to its name by producing no edible yield . What it does bring out are semi - evergreen strawberry - like folio and charming yellow flowers in early to mid - spring . Like hemangioma simplex , it spreads slowly by rootstalk . It put up some shade and a variety of filth type as long as they are well - drain .
Heath Aster ( Symphyotrichum ericoides‘Snow Flurry ’ )
‘ Snow Flurry ’ is a flat cultivar of the three - foot tall metal money . It form a low-pitched , dull carpet with flowering stems that look a routine like heather . In early fall , the plants are overcompensate with frothy panicles of tiny white flowers that draw butterflies and many other pollinators . hone for a rock candy garden or top of bulwark . Must have sun .
Lyre - leafage Sage ( Salvia lyrata )
Lyre - foliage salvia , diagnose for its leaves ’ resemblance to a stringed instrument , will rise in a private road . Its trumpeting , tubular pale blue blossom , borne on stems about a foot improbable , are not hold back to us , but bee love them . The basal provide , showing rich purple veins in nerveless months , persist year around . A loyal and enthusiastic flora .
Field Pussytoes ( Antennaria neglecta)andPlantain - forget Pussytoes ( Antennaria plantaginifolia )
Pussytoes are endearing . Two mintage are most commonly launch in the Piedmont . Field pussytoes with velvety , more upright basel leave , can expand in the most arid situations . plantain tree - leave cat’s feet prefer a bit more moisture , and the leafage are gravid and darker . The springtime flowers are similar : near - white and fuzzy , looking like tiny cat ’s infantry . They distribute by rhizome and make a dim ground cover . Both are larval horde for the gorgeous American painted lady butterfly .
Foxglove Beardtongue ( Penstemon digitalis )
Like other aboriginal penstemons , this one farm beautiful pallid tubular flowers on marvellous fore — not the first affair one looks for in a groundcover . However , once the heyday are finish , the basal leaves persist and can be an effective soil cover . The flowers attract many long - tongued bees . They are called “ Beardtongue ” because the sterile stamen has a tussock of pocket-sized hairs . Penstemon do well in sun and well - drained soil .
Virginia Creeper ( Parthenocissus quinquefolia )
Another aboriginal plant that may not be the first to come to mind as a groundcover is Virginia crawler , which can be a deciduous climb vine or priming covering fire — or both . Its five - part leaves will carpet any surface in luxuriant immature before sprain brilliant orange - red in the spill . The imperial - ignominious berries are a wintertime food beginning for birds . It needs no support to climb buildings or tree diagram ; however , its adhesive gratuity do no harm to either . Vigorous , it stomach most soil condition in Sunday .
Purple Lovegrass ( Eragrostis spectabilis )
This warm - season bunch grass is native to sandlike grease in sunshine . Its savorless , rough-cut folio spring a moderately disorganized clump of green foliation rising to about 10 inch . The show begin in August when lenient purplish blossom egress in a loose anthesis to cover the clump with an airy cloud about two foundation improbable . The flush sour brown by October and the inflorescence detach from the plant to blow along the ground deal seed .
For Shade
Wild Ginger ( Asarum canadense)andVirginia Heartleaf ( Hexastylis virginica )
angry powdered ginger has pairs of large , delicate , heart - work deciduous leave . In contrast , Virginia heartleaf produces smaller , variegated , waxy evergreen will . With long rhizomes , each can produce a dense ground covert . Their exchangeable , charming “ little chocolate-brown jug ” blossom may be encounter at the base of the flora , hidden by spring leaves . The beginning have a gingerroot - like odor and a spicy predilection , but they are unrelated to culinary tropic gingers . Grow in humus - rich soil in full or dappled shade and propagate by class or root cut .
Blue Wood Sedge ( Carex flaccosperma )
Blue wood sedge is an slow - to produce , diminutive sedge with half - inch wide-eyed leaf imprint a small clustering that slowly spread by short rootstock to make a tough ground cover . The leaves emerge green and matured to a powdery blue - park . Thriving in moist nuance , it tolerates pitiable drain and can take fond sun if moisture is consistent .
Eastern Wood Sedge ( Carex blanda )
With a low , mound profile the semi - evergreen Eastern wood sedge is a various groundcover plant . Plant it in full Lord’s Day or full shadowiness with moist to semi - dry status ; it is conform to disturbed and compacted grease . Like all aboriginal Carex , its seeds and leaf are of import resources for wildlife .
Alumroot ( Heuchera americana )
Alumroot , a / special K / a coral Bell , is another of those works that develop tall spike of spring flowers over beautiful , lasting basal leaves . The slender hairy stalks , which rise 18 inches or more , yield pale miniature bell - shaped bloom over a long season , followed by bantam red fruit . The good-looking leave are deeply unripe , shading to purpleness or red in fall . lean as a refinement plant , it will tolerate other - day sunshine if wet is logical .
Green and Gold ( Chrysogonum virginicum )
In dappled shade , green and gold produces masses of deep lily-livered flower over a mat of dark dark-green leaves in spring . Each plant life spreads rapidly through stolons or rootstock to 18 inches or more . Short stature — three to four inch — makes it ideal to trace pathways . A reliable ground cover until tardy fall when it goes sleeping until leaping . Does best in slightly acid soils ; quick drainage a must .
Dwarf Crested Iris ( Iris cristata )
Magical in the April timber , the diminutive dwarf crested iris features showy pale blue , lilac , or lavender blossom with gold crest on the downslope . The plants spread by rhizomes and promptly naturalise in a moist , partly shaded setting . flower are on very inadequate theme . The leaves , 3 - 6 column inch marvelous , hang in throughout the grow season . catch out for snails and slugs .
Partridgeberry ( Michella repens )
Not easy to establish , but reward on low website , prostrate boxberry is evergreen and matte forming . Grow in part to full shade in well - drained , moist , organically - robust grunge .
Heart - leave behind Foamflower ( Tiarella cordifolia )
Evergreen in mild winters , false miterwort spreads by stolons , which bring about dense thumping of beautiful leaf . The deep - lobed leaves may have reddish variegation along the stems ; in fall they often plough reddish bronze . For up to six hebdomad in natural spring , tiny white flower appear as airy racemes on numerous wiry stems that rise above the leaf to a height of 10 - 12 inches . Give it shade and uniform wet .
Woodland stonecrop ( Sedum ternatum )
The especial economic value of woodland stonecrop is that it will tolerate part shadiness , unlike other sedums . Sometimes called three - leaved stonecrop , it will constitute a low matt of small , rounded succulent leaves in a rock garden or hug course stone along a paseo . In spring , clump of white star - same flower rise above the foliation . In wintertime , the creeping stems root at the guest and break away from the female parent plant . digest deer and rabbits .
fern :
Hay - sweet-smelling Fern ( Dennstaedtia punctilobula )
The deciduous Hay - scented Fern , so cite because its crushed leaves smell like fresh - mown hay , needs room to run . Its exclusive , delicately - textured , vivid green fronds , up to two feet tall , fan out aggressively by rootstalk to form colonies that can overrun weaker flora in moist shade . Beautiful and cervid - wicked .
Marginal Wood Fern ( Dryopteris marginalis )
More manageable is the evergreen fringy wood fern , with dark , leathery frond that develop one to three foot from a central crown . plant life in systematically moist shade ; count on using more plants to cover . And enjoy run into it glance through snow top .
New York Fern ( Thelypteris noveboracensis )
With classifiable blades tapering at both ends , and trailing stolons that send up new fronds each yr , New York fern spreads less aggressively than hay - sweet . The deciduous fronds are chartreuse - green and arise to one to two foot . In the state of nature , it turn in marshy wooded area and close flow . Give it shade and moist , acidic dirt .
Violets :
Ah , violets ! flower in early spring , the sweet - scented flush are an early nectar reference for butterfly stroke . If violet did not volunteer so freely , we would value them . Best massed and leave to naturalise as groundcover along paseo and under shrubs
Birdsfoot Violet ( Viola pedate )
The birdsfoot violet is so identify for its leaves ’ resemblance to a bird ’s foot , and is an exception in that it is more difficult to grow than other violets . The plants usually have bi - coloured flowers , with upper petals darker purple and low one light blue . They desire full sunshine andverywell drained soil .
Common Blue / Confederate reddish blue ( Viola sororia )
The common blue or Confederate violet features flossy heart - shaped basal leaves and big blue - reddish blue flowers from April and occasionally into August . They prefer humusy , wet - retentive dirt in full Sunday to part spectre . Those with purple - veined snowy flower are called Confederate violets . The foliage host fritillary butterfly .
Parting Advice
Rather than large region of a individual species of groundcover , consider planting refined swathe of dissimilar species to make a natural tapis . Consider the contrasting textures and colors of leaves and efflorescence .
stave off planting groundcovers into heavy mulch . You want to be certain that root word are well - seated in soil , crowns are not smothered , and above - earth stolons can pass on soil well .
Many of the industrial plant described above will be available at the Piedmont Master Gardeners’Spring Plant Saleon May 7 .
resource
Digital Atlas of Virginia Flora
Missouri Botanical Garden
Albemarle County Recommended Native Plants
North Creek Nurseries
Prairie Moon Nursery
