Groundcovers are an essential part of the garden – they cover, bind and protect the soil, feed it when they die back, and provide habitat. They also reduce your workload mowing and trimming edges, and they don’t get lawn grub!
I call the native violet my weed of choice. This is not meant in a derogatory sense. Bare soil will always be colonised by something so why not encourage this friendly little plant to out-compete less attractive weeds and be the default groundcover. Native Violets grow in all sorts of places from full shade to [...]
Common Name - Swamp Mazus. A native ground cover for wet to waterlogged soils. Rosettes of tiny oak-like leaves. Unusual asymmetrical lilac/blue flowers in Spring-Summer. Grows in full sun or part shade. Low perennial herb forming rosettes connected by rhizomes. Flowering: September–April Bought Native Plant Sale: September 2016 Doesn't like to dry out. Divides easily. [...]
This stuff grows anywhere, tolerates poor and dry soil, strikes from small pieces. Small yellow flowers. The blue tongue lizards like it. I was a bit concerned about weed potential but it seems to spread, not jump and is easy to pull out. To kill completely, just sheet-cover or out-compete. Alyssum can beat it. August [...]
Pigface is a bright, cheerful plant I remember from early childhood and when I saw a punnet of seedlings in the nursery, I knew I had to include it. It's a succulent with the grey leaves and starkly contrasting soft bright flowers. They are so soft that you need to touch them to appreciate it [...]
Apthenia Baby Sunrose - Label says evergreen soft-wooded perennial or succulent, small red flowers. 10 cm high - spreading. I planted several of these along the native path against the sandstone blocks. The ground was like concrete. I each plant a little mound of compost and watered occasionally until it took. It now spreads nicely [...]
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