Groundcovers are the unsung heros of the garden

A letter (yes, on paper) from a garden friend that I received recently included some interesting updates, but it seemed to be mostly expressing astonishment that I was yet again adding to my already questionably large garden.

She’s spent the last several years downsizing her garden — a delightful space filled with interesting and hard-to-find plants that’s been featured in several publications — to keep the maintenance manageable as she ages.

Her plan is to focus on shifting higher maintenance perennial beds to shrubs and groundcovers. And it’s a great approach.

As I continue working my way through the garden, neatening up after winter and trying to catch the first sign of weeds, it’s clear that I spend a lot less time in beds that are plentiful in both shrubs and groundcovers, and of the two, the latter is making the biggest difference.

Finding the right group of groundcovers is a bit of an art. By definition, groundcovers are spreaders that knit together with other plants. Ones that work well spread nicely, but those that don’t either won’t spread, behaving more like a standalone perennial, or become thugs that go where they aren’t wanted and are difficult to rein in.

I have a handful of top-performing groundcovers that I wouldn’t be without.

Big-root geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum) is pretty much a perfect plant. It thrives in a wide range of soil types and sun exposures, flowers nicely, has good fall color, is semi-evergreen so it needs no cutting back and, in my experience, never gets pushy.

Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans) is easy to find and does its job well. Some varieties might do it too well and can creep into places it’s not welcome, including the lawn, but it rarely goes fully rogue.

There’s a sedge (Carex) for every situation, but finding the right one takes a bit of research. Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica) has created a lovely carpet in the dry shade of an oak. In wetter areas, brome-like sedge (Carex bromoides) does a similar job. It takes a little for the sedges to knit together, so it’s worthwhile to find one that will appreciate the specific condition its being planted in.

There are other well-known groundcovers that I don’t care for. Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) might be pretty, but it’s obnoxiously aggressive and nearly impossible to get rid of. Japanese spurge (Pachysandra terminalis) behaves in much the same way, as does common periwinkle (Vinca minor).

I’m also experimenting with non-traditional groundcovers such as herbaceous clematis and low-growing evergreen shrubs such as Russian cypress (Microbiota decussita) and creeping cedar (Juniperus horizontalis).

The more I garden, the more I think that groundcovers are among the most important plants in the garden. Not only do they make a garden cohesive, but they reduce weed competition, replace mulch and may be the ultimate time savers.