▪️ It’s amazing how many things I plant in my landscape to solve problems, rather than for intrinsic beauty. Fortunately, I have discovered some groundcover solutions that do both. After having tried numerous GROUNDCOVERS, I have found these to be my top 5 for my zone 7 garden. I base these selections on year-round good looks, even in a horrifically hot summer, reliability, low maintenance, and drought tolerance.
1. Dwarf Mondo Grass
2. Ajuga aka Bugleweed
3. Brick, gravel + stone
4. Creeping Herbs
5. Shrubs like Nandina
A different garden with a different growing situation would no doubt, make this list different as well. But I have found all of these to be tried, true, and workable. What would you add to the list?
Mountain Valley Growers
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My USDA Gardening Zone: 7a
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You can tell she’s well read because of how she speaks and structured her sentences. Also great vocabulary. Love watching her!
I have lemon thyme planted between flagstone on a patio so when you step on it you get a lemony fragrance from doing so!
Ooooh good idea! Did you start that from seed? I'm having a tough time finding any live annuals and perennials at my local nurseries but it's still early spring so we'll see but there's always TONS of seeds.
@@NorthernGreenEyes - I actually bought a flat of it to fill in the larger gaps in my flagstone and it just kind of migrated through the rest of the patio.
@@jongray4828 Ok,thank you for the info! 💐👩🌾💚
This is brilliant🌟
I’d that a perennial for Michigan, by any chance? I bought a house with the entire front and back yard bordered with flagstone pieces on top of each other. It’s beautiful, but I want flowers in between the stones. Maybe phlox?
Inspirational! Who else watches Linda and goes out to tweak something in your garden?
Lol!!
Me!
I do! I just found her channel and find it so encouraging!
I dont.dare fo out and.look .i get totally.depressed...especially after.getting hit with 7 (century) record cold snow storms IN A ROW.AND ALMOST.DYING...AND.SAVING A NEIGHBOR FROM.FREEZING TO.DEATH!! PLANTS.THAT HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR 40 YEARS DIED..I HAVE ZERO LAND SCAPING...EVEN PLANTS THAT WOULD OF MADE IT THRU TWO.STORMS ..GONE...JUST SOME...SOME NATIVE PLANTS...MADE IT THRU...BIG TREES ARE EVEN IFFY....
🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 Dangerously true!!!
Sweet Woodruff is one of my favorite’s and so fragrant when it blossoms.
1. Mondo grass (likes afternoon shade best) cushiony.. 2. Ajuga 3. Gravel, brick, stone 4. Low growing Herbs - Thyme, oregano, golden money wort (try Mountain Valley - Organics avail) need good drainage 5. Monkey grass (inexpensive) 6. Shrubs like dwarf nananandina (sp) Sounds great!!!! Thank you!!!
I just love listening to Linda. It's like having a friend in the gardening world.
🙏🙏🙏
Agreed! I'd love to go visit and ask her all my gardening questions lol
I decided to give up pulling out wild strawberries- and decided, "Hey, Ground Cover"!!!!! and its free 😂
Absolutely! Hardly takes any effort from me, I only water it if it’s been really dry and try to not mow it, and it seems to do a pretty good job of keeping the creeping Charlie from sneaking under my neighbors fence. The more WI native plants I can find the better!
I feel the same way about wild violet.
My mother used golden varigated lemon thyme as a groundcover in our little postage stamp of an apartment garden when I was a young child. One of my strongest memories from early childhood is wiggling under the fence to get in or out crushing the lemon thyme as I went! I remember how intense and how intensly bright the scent was as I crawled through it! It is my number 1 favorite ground cover! Ajuga is number 2.
I love this happy flashback!
Thank you for taking time to post videos..it really lifts my spirits during these sad times...I
I’m so glad to be of any comfort🙏
@@LindaVater thank you from the bottom of my heart ❤️..I live alone and stay by myself a lot since Covid and love yard work but with winter here I just love watching your videos..like having a light at the end of a tunnel...or should I say Sunshine..🥰
My tried and true groundcover is sedum. It comes in so many interesting varieties, but the blue sedum and the bright green one are the most vigorous. It takes full sun with absolutely no problem, and makes beautiful mounds. It's also easy to move or propagate. Just take a handful and throw it on bare dirt. Water it a bit, and it will take hold.
Can I ask what kind of sedum? All the sedum I've seen is semi-tall.
@@graedotsame! I would love the know the variety they’re speaking of.
I let out a chuckle when at the beginning before the video your green car crashed into the Christmas tree and all the valentines hearts popped out! Super cute! 💚💞💚💞💚💞
Stewart is so clever!
I absolutely love potato vine as a ground cover! It grows quickly and easily. It does well in full shade to full sun, and it comes in so many colors! 🌸
Some places it can take sun....but that bright green...live it..
It's far too invasive -like ivy -birds spread it everywhere and very messy if it should die as in drought.
I love it
Never thought about potato vine for ground cover! I have it right now, just planted but always container. I have a very steep back slope (have to climb it!) that I want to be covered so Hubs doesn't have to mow it. Heavy hardwoods so partial shade as they grow tall. I thought of Vinca, creeping variety, but I think I will try some of the Potato Vine, thanks.
@@commonsense246 GOOD CALL on a slope! I have a small slope in back up to a privacy fence that my dog loves to get muddy barking at the dogs behind us. Thanks! Oh! Isn’t it an annual, though?
I like CERATOSTIGMA (plumbago). Bright green in summer, blue flowers in late summer, then leaves turn bright red. It pretty much disappears over winter.
I’m using all types of sedums which are awesome!
Love your brick, stone and gravel!
I’m in Texas, zone 8A, and I use creeping fig, which I love
Thx for your preferred ground cover info Sherry. I am in Luna County in SW New Mexico, also zone 8a, and looking for plants hardy enough to withstand our 100-115° heat with up to 15 hours of sunlight daily.
How did it survive our crazy last few winters?
I've found when using Dwarf Mondo grass the pavers need to be placed a little higher than the soil surface to make walking on the pavers comfortable. The mondo tends to be a tripping hazard. But it is beautiful.
Excellent point!
Yes, really important. The older one gets (moi) the less we want to fall in the garden! Thank you! 😘💚👍🏼
i love your thumbnails they’re always so elegant
Thank you 🙏
Black scallop ajuga is absolutely stunning. Highly recommend.
Linda💃💃💃. You are my hero!! You braved the Cold Air to make this inspirational video for us😎😎. Thank you! Thank you! Can’t wait for Spring ( in Pennsylvania)..
Soon!
After planting my bulbs and garlic, I abandon my garden, now for the first time am trying winter sowing ,so I went to see if the container were still standing, luckily for me I did put some barriers around them
I live in western Canada, you can't imagine how cold it can get here, are we all your heroes too??? Lol
@@gaywizard2000 Oh wow,I consider you a hero! :-) May I ask how you overwinter your plants if any at all and when do you start planting outdoors in the spring? I live in Ohio,former Michigander and I thought it was cold there You definitely have me beat haha. I recently moved and found that the sandy low nutrient soil front and back needs to be heavily amended before I plant anything (big bummer) I'm thinking of making quick raised beds or just container gardening this season but not expecting it to look grand this year. I've been gardening for a few years but still have so very much to learn. Good luck to you and happy gardening,my neighbor to the North 🇨🇦💞🇺🇸
I love my Nandino! Mine is the old type and they are matinance free! I never was into gardening untill the last 2 years i never fertilized them. Now I do and they are beautiful!! Red berries and some red leaves in fall. I cannot waite to go get the new breeds like you are showing to add to my new garden. I love that they change color when it gets cold!!! Believe me when I tell you that you can't hardly kill one. My two with 0 care when I was young are around 30 years old. I knew nothing of plants and would have never considered getting my hands in the dirt. Now 40 years later I am obsessed with Gardening. Never say never!!!!!🤗 I love my yard like Linda does!! How we change!!!!and it is never to late to start Gardening!😁😁😁 Watch you and Laura every day. Yo u are my Inspiration! Texas
I needed this video! Thanks for including both shade-loving and sun-loving plants ... Smiles, Stella
Love these anecdotes and your anecdotes.
Kiora Linda ! Hi from New Zealand. I must tell you , i like watching your channel , its clear, simple , easy to listen and to follow . Your garden its beautiful and you are also beautiful lady with very nice voice . Thank you so much
I am so impressed with your creativity brick walkways. Great job, Go Girl!!^❣
So glad I found your wonderfully helpful channel. So inspiring!
This is very helpful! I live south of you in Austin Texas and I have 4 large beautiful live oaks, but can’t get grass to grow under them. They are also so messy! The dropping of leaves, acorns and tassels fall and spring. I need something easy to blow all the mess that drops over the dirt and whatever I plant there, to be fuss free for clean up
Some trees put off a toxin that may disrupt the ability of your preferred ground cover to grow successfully underneath it. This is espwcially true of walnut trees and juglone. If you are set on a particular ground cover that may be sensitive to the tovins put off by the tree, you can force a compatibility by creating a raised bed for your ground cover with a barrier between the old soil which is permeated with tree toxin and the new soil you bring in for your ground cover and flowers. Once ypu have your new plants growing in the raised bed safely separated from the toxic soil of the tree, keep any tree debris cleared out of your raised bed.
I wish I had your winter ! Thanks for the tour and info.
Love the herb idea for pots. Thanks.
Thanks Linda, nice wellies.
LOVE, when KZhead sends me fellow OKIES to enjoy and learn from💕 Thank you!
Beautiful garden! Thanks for sharing
You make a good point about ground covers not being persistent. Many times, a patch declines because of too much shade overhead, competition with tree or shrub roots, and insects.
My Nandina are gorgeous right now! Peeking their red heads out of the white snow! Very showy!
Red + white is just wonderful💯
Fabulous informative ground cover video Linda. I never thought of Dwarf Nandina as a ground cover.
I love that you can even see your ground covers in winter. I have big shrubs that can’t be seen in winter.
I usually take the winter off from gardening for a break, but you’ve encouraged me to spend more time in my gardens and will be out working in them today!
Go for it!
Same here!!
Hi Linda.Even when you are cold,you are the most glamorus garden ever.Thankyou for your variety of plants and ideas you bring to your channel.I learn something or get new ideas every time.You are amazing
You’re so kind Yvonne:)
Your gardens are beautiful ! I just found your chanel today . Thank you !
Thanks the ajuga was just what I needed!
We love the purple creeping verbenas that just appeared in the garden somehow. Would love to see them spread around. Glad we didn’t pull them out when we first discovered them because they looked like weeds.
Lady !!!!! You are my kind of gardener !!!! I pour boiling water too !!! That’s crazy !!! I do it to protect my honey bees. Also - your brick/gravel/stone IS Beautiful ! I have /use Mondo grass instead of boxwoods. No clipping- but you are enticing me to that ...And Ajuga is magnifique - blooms don’t last long enough... but TOTALLY worth it. Foliage is gorgeous. I just love how you use artistically the STRONG performers for southern gardens.
Wish I could use more variety but I try to create beauty with what I know is tough and reliable!
@@LindaVater What you are doing is a fabulous feast for the eyes and really a truly meaningful service to the gardening community. I am mesmerized by your garden. You’ve really taught me to rethink certain shrubs. And definitely boxwoods- which I swore off in 2001.
Liriope comes in three sizes the full size, mondo grass that is about 5-6inches tall thin leaves and dwarf that is about 1-2inches. I replaced my front lawn with mondo it is green all year looks lush and cushiony has no diseases or pests spreads but can be easily edged once every two year almost no maintenance. To be more economical buy the plant in a quart or gallon size and divide it. The plant is easily divided into very small plugs plant on a six in grid and it will fill in in about 2-3 years. The full size liriope has bloom spires in white or blue. The smaller sizes do not bloom noticeably but will produce the bright blue berries
Thank you!!
I am going to try herbs for ground cover. Thank you for the idea.
Linda, thanks for braving the cold. I use the mondo here in Va. and it's wonderful and it spreads somewhat. Also, I'm glad Stuart is healthy again. Happy February. A. Clark
I live in zone 3 and my creeping thyme comes back every year and grows beautifully...
She literally has to be the coolest “chick” on the block! 🙏🏽thanks for the info Mrs LV
Hardly but thanks Anna☺️
love your garden
I have a lemon thyme lawn and it is amazing and the honey bees love it.
I'm anxious to try some of your favorites. One of my favorites is creeping thyme (creeping herb)... Blessings, love and hugs.
Hello, I'm in Wisconsin, so I personally love hostas as ground covers for easier maintenance areas, so many awesome colors out there, also pachysandra and as an easy care very low growing ground shrub variegated euonomous, also just green variety. I can take a branch from euonomous and dig it into ground and it will start another shrub, however they are not aggressive. Thank you Linda 😊
I like those too! I need more, because I moved and forgot to take some of my hostas, etc. I was moving to a condo, but I’m back in a house.
Ajuga grows in zones 3 to 9 for those inquisitive minds. I had it, but finally gave some away and did away with myself. It grows thick! Planted ferns in place of. I'm so on board with planting Creeping Thyme in pots. Its beautiful! Thanks, Linda 🌱 Looking forward to my favorite time of all .. Spring = New LIFE!!
💯💯💯💯
I’m getting up in years and looking for ways to maintain my front lawn without all the mowing. I’m trying creeping thyme as suggested by another KZheadr. Based on your video I think it will be successful. It’s not a large patch. But, it’s connected to my neighbors so I just mow his as well since it really doesn’t take that much time. I think it’s a nice way of saying I’m getting old and you’ll have to take over the task of mowing your lawn.
I have black scallop ajuga in a 20ft section that hard to mow. Love the happy purple flowers.
Thank you!! You give me good ideas😉
Fantastic video. Only discovered you today, great gardening channel. Very professional. Greetings from the West of Ireland. ☺️👍
I’ve planted hens&chicks as a ground cover around a rock ledge on my side flower bed. I started with a handful and since they produce babies, I just keep filling it in. And I’m going to try some herbs as ground cover. I love that idea. Thanks!
What zone are you in dear?
@@LindaVater I’m in 6a, northeastern PA
Hens and chicks. Great idea. Im zone 6 too
I love boiling water weed trick after i learned that..gardening is my therapy. I absolutely love our garden my mom and I worked so hard at. If we ever move I'm taking most of what I planted into the soil because this place was a desert zone prior to what we have made it into. In my humble opinion we have the best and most diverse garden good for the pollinators and birds on the block haha
Thanks for the information.
I love my Mondo Grass. It is a little pricey but spreads quickly, although politely. Every year I buy a couple of small pots and add those to the family. I know it is supposed to like good drainage but I have mine in pretty hard red clay, that I amend as best I can, but its a slow process, yet Mondo seems quite happy.
Very informative gave me some good ideas on what I want to do in my yard
I am in southern California about 6 miles inland from the ocean and we planted Dymondia margaretae in our front and it has filled in very nicely. Looks very luxurious. Love the dark green leaves with silver/gray undersides and the little yellow flowers that appear in the spring. Will def try the mondo grass. We are redoing our back garden after some construction basically wiped it out and that might be a good filler in some of my beds.
Here in California, Nandina can be invasive. Also the berries are poisonous to birds. So I am forever cutting off the blossoms and berries. But it is a very tough plant and good for the trouble spots. Thanks Linda for another great video!
Great video! I need this!
Praise God !!! Finally a solution to grow under my oaks. I’m buying those nandinas. Thank you !!!!
You bet!
Enjoyed the video and found the information very useful.
Thanks for the tips
Great video Linda❤️ I have all of the ones you mentioned❤️❤️❤️
Thank you from Dallas!
Our pleasure!
Thank You Exactly what I need & was looking for for my Zone 4 garden.
Excellent!
I like the herbs too. A big stone walkway I fussed with for years digging out the weeds and planting different thymes. Now I have them in a regular garden. Along one side with basils when it’s warmer, then onions. Mixing together flowers and vegetables side by side. I’m using cattle panel from tractor supply as a tunnel. Putting chimes hanging from the panels. I drove stakes in each ground side.. of the panels to keep them from walking off. I have my onion sets but haven’t got them in yet.
Linda, I've just discovered your channel and am enjoying your presentation style and good ideas. I live in southeastern Washington, desert country, but we're also zone 7, with cold winters and very hot dry summers, so your recommendations are especially valuable for our climate.
Love the idea of using Nana Nandina! The color is so pretty and contrast to the green around them. I use the dwarf mondo and it always looks great.
So true👍
Very interesting to hear your choices. I am always changing my mind about ground covers and changing them around - so they don't end up covering much ground. I use wood chip mulch to fill in between plants much of the time, replenishing the mulch when it inevitably breaks down. Some of the interesting ground covers that I am using currently, to cover small areas, are Geranium "Icicle", Plectranthus "Nico", Plectranthus Argentatus, Geranium "Rozanne", Trachelospermum jasminoides (plain and variegated) and Asarum "Canadense".
I’m from Oklahoma too but north of Tulsa. Thanks for the info
Would that be Bartlesville? My hometown! ❤️
Thank you for your tips, very informative as always. I often use sweet woodruff. The quickly spreading ground cover is sun and shade friendly. It is not very demanding and adapts readily to any moisture or dry conditions. And the scent is glorious!
How lovely
We have sweet woodruff planted by the former homeowner. I do like the spring scent and am trying to decide if it’s a keeper. 🤔
There are more heat tolerant Pachysandras available. The one seen in Northern gardens is Pachysandra terminalis. A variety called “Green Sheen” is more heat tolerant, and grows in USDA zone 9b. A related plant is Allegheny spurge or Pachysandra procumbens. The variety “Angola” was developed at Angola, Louisiana. It also grows in zone 9b. I’ve seen Angola doing well in central Florida.
I would love to have your winter, it was 1 degree F when I woke up! Love the dwarf mondo grass, beautiful texture and effect. I’m glad you talked about using shrubs as a ground cover. Many types of plants are great as ground cover not just low growing herbaceous types.
Brrrrrr Jane!
Aguga's other name is bugle weed. In the PNW it's very prolific and wants to grow everywhere and hard to eradicate from my grass! But I love it!
I like the brick and stone combo. Not fussy! also the plants :-)
I love Creeping Jenny. (Which may be what you were calling gold wort.). I also love various sedums, creeping raspberry under pecan trees, and - creeping phlox which I have renamed jumping phlox. Beautiful year round. Believe it or not - geraniums- ( cranesbill ) true geraniums are magnificent year round. In dead winter- the foliage is a gorgeous purple & red. You really need a lot of friends to share with or a large garden because it must be divided. Often even.
How funny because I have had trouble getting it established. Gardening is so interesting!
Im in SC and I too have had great luck with creeping Jenny. The elfin thyme is a bit ehhh, but it’s only had 1 season so far. I love mounding artemisia and lambs ears too!
I’m also in South Carolina Zone 8a very hot and humid. Our yard is clay and rocks. Very hard to dig and plant. Creeping jenny loves it here as well as sedum. They spread everywhere and I usually let them have their way. Also have lots of moss. It is actually taking over a very big part of our back yard. I’m getting older and these require very little maintenance. I have tons of monkey grass and I love it. Just hard work cutting it back. I love your channel (I actually found it thru Garden Answer) and I learn something new every time. You’re very easy to listen to. Thanks for sharing with us.
Very beneficial vid 😊
I’ve seen running clubmoss at a local public garden and couldn’t get enough of it. I planted some on a shady bank last year and it’s hanging on through winter. Hoping for the best!
🙏🙏🙏🤞🤞🤞😽
Much Mahalos to you Linda. I live on the Big Island of Hawaii. I am obsessed with plants and garden. Enjoy your advice, but most everything grows here. But have to be careful and not do evasive plants. You always give me ideas tho.
Violets are amazing ground cover too. I've tried carpet chamomile, which smells delicious, but needs help before it gets established, because vigorous weeds grow through it when it's first introduced
Frog fruit is a great ground cover. It needs very little care and spreads very rapidly. It’s also a host plant and attracts pollinators.
Love your #1, it’s mine too! Just over a year ago I planted -by myself-over 6000 bare root pips of dwarf mondo to replace my front lawn. Now I’m working on the backyard. I’ve also had great success with climbing fig as a ground cover.
👏👏👏👏
What month did you plant the mondo? I have some significant clumps I want to split up this way. Suggestions please?
@@kitsutherland6445 I’ve planted them in the fall and in the spring with equal success. I live in zone 7b.
thanks
I have black scallop ajuga with creeping Jenny. It’s a fabulous combination.
I panted both ajuga and creeping Jenny late last year (I moved the Jenny from containers where they had been since spring) to the ground. Looking forward to seeing how they do this year.
Need to get outside myself and assess my flowers 💐
Zone 7 Virginia, I use all the ground covers that you mention except I have not tried the Nandinas. All excellent performers in my garden. One that I use that has not been mentioned is the strawberry begonia. For me by far it is the quickest to cover a bare area. And it puts out the sweetest little delicate white blooms in the spring. Loved this video!
+1 for saxifraga strawberry begonia. I’m also z7 in VA. Another ground cover, but more sun, is Asian jasmine (I really like Trachelospermum asiaticum 'Snow Rose')
VA here, too. Nandina has been great for me in areas where other things constantly die.
Hi Linda I’m from New Zealand really enjoying your channel, content is so inspiring and helpful,also loving the veiwers comments❤️
Hi fellow Kiwi! I'm in Kilbirnie, Wellington - nothing between us and Antartica - but no frosts. How about you?
Thank you so much loved the video so helpful 👋💖
🎉 I have discovered Sedum stone crop varieties of Blue Spruce, Angelina, Lemon coral (very prolific)Dragons Blood, Coral reef and the sunsparkler series are great a d beautiful ground cover here in Norman, OK, needs little water and can with stand our heat
Planted some dwarf mondo grass. Looks nice.
I have found monkey grass to be very invasive and impossible to get rid of once it starts. That is in VA. Now I have moved to NC and it's everywhere in this yard. The previous owner must have loved it and now I have to deal with it again. I did enjoy your video and I do love ajuga.
Oh no!
I’m surprised that Monkey grass hasn’t covered up Texas. I thought it was so great when living in Houston in the 70’s-80’s, but soon learned to regret my choice.
I planted some monkey grass in my border in my front yard 30 years ago. It seeded and the seeds were washed down across my back yard. It’s everywhere in my yard from seeds moving by birds and animals. It’s literally taking over parts of my woods. I don’t recommend monkey grass at all.
I'm in the tulsa area and have strawberry in an almost full shade spot. It doesn't really fruite but it has covered the ground beautifully and I can eat the leaves.
Oregano and thyme looks great as a filler between plants and it even survives the winter freezes here in zone 8 north Tx.
I have creeping lemon thyme as a ground cover and some staggering red and green hens and chicks and red and green stone crop , i live in a zone 8B
An alternative to using boiling water to kill ground cover or weeds is to use vinegar. It's environmentally safe (Green). Just mix vinegar, salt, and some dishwashing soap as a surfactant. It can also be diluted with water depending on the concentration of acetic acid in the vinegar you use. Normally I use about 1/2 gallon white wine vinegar (any cheap vinegar will work), 3-4 oz of salt, 1-2 oz of dishwashing soap, and 1/2 gallon of water to fill my pump sprayer. Just remember that this is a vegetation killer and will kill any plant or grass that you spray.