Thursday, March 3, 2011

Are Groundcovers Invasive?

It is perhaps an indication of how small my garden is, and hence, how little need there is for groundcovers, that I never really thought about them before. But it stands to reason that if a plant is expected to cover some ground it should be able to spread. In my garden, the only difference between my few groundcovers is the speed and the method of spreading.


My favorite groundcover is cyclamen. Most people grow cyclamen in pots, and even in my area they are almost never seen in the ground. Yet they are very happy here, and spread very fast.



The flowers form seedpods...













... and a few months later, I have baby cyclamen everywhere.















They begin blooming in their second year. In my courtyard cyclemen have become so tightly clustered that nothing else can grow with them, which makes these plants invasive in the true sense of the word.


I bought this veronica (v. montana?) 2 years ago because it reminded me of forget-me-nots, which I love but can't grow here.



The little 4" plant has since spread by tip-rooting to cover about 3 square feet. It looks lovely in early spring.


However, the little stems started going right over lawn edging and into the lawn creating a bit of a maintenance issue: I now have to cut them back a few times a year. It is worth it for me.


I love the exuberance of candytuft (iberis sempervirens), which blooms so profusely in spring that one can barely see the leaves.


My plants originally came in little 2" pots and have grown into sizable mounds of at least 10 times their original spread. I thought they were just growing wider until I pulled up some of the stalks, and saw they were rooting as they spread.







Bacopa (sutera cordata) is a lovely groundcover with a long season of bloom, but one plant is capable of spreading to at least 4'. I cut mine back a few times a year.


I grow lots of herbs, many of which can be considered groundcovers. Trailing rosemary tip roots and will spread forever, but slowly. So will oregano and sage. Mint spreads like wildfire. All of them will cover the ground in a tight mat preventing weed growth very effectively.









All my groundcovers present a tradeoff between serving as beautiful living mulch (keeping the soil cooler and supressing weeds) and requiring periodic maintenance to keep them in their allotted space. From now on, as I look for more of them, I will keep this in mind.

53 comments:

  1. I love all your beautiful groundcovers especially cyclamen and candytuft, wish they can be grown here in the tropics! They look so lovely even though they can be invasive as you said but at least no weeds will get a chance of life there! I hate weeding!

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  2. I love groundcovers.
    I like to see no ground just flowers.
    Greetings, Diny

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  3. Dear Masha, I must confess that I have never warmed to the ground cover Roses and, as you show here, much prefer these perennial plantings. Although considered by some rather boring I have a fondness for Pachysandra terminalis. It always seems so fresh and green and its white flowers are a bonus.

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  4. Wow, I wish I had your beautiful ground covering bloomers, but alas, they will not grow down here. Thank you for sharing these beauties. I saw pots of cyclamen in the grocery store the other day and had to show DH, as I've not noticed them before.

    Happy Gardening ~ FlowerLady

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  5. Very nice post! I think it should be understood that "groundcover" means "will spread like crazy". They're not intended for small gardens like most people have, and we end up fighting to keep them in check.

    Want to try a groundcover bamboo? ;-)

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  6. Hello Masha, I love your ground cover especially the Cyclamen But even the hardier varieties don't perform well in my garden. I also like some short perennials amongst the Roses, but this always gives problems when the Roses require feeding, how do you overcome this.

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  7. Oh my stars your Cyclamen is gorgeous!! I juar purchased tow Veronica Georgia Blue Speedwell yesterday..what light conditions are yours growing in please.

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  8. the word is supposed to be just, sorry.

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  9. Thank you, p3chandan. I hate weeding too, but I have to confess that sometime the difference between a groundcover and a weed is a little too subtle:-)

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  10. Thank you, Diny, and you are right, wouldn't it be gorgeous? It won't work with roses though because they need feeding, but with shrubs and perennials, why not?

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  11. Dear Edith,

    I cannot warm up to groundcover roses either, except for banksiae roses which are widely used here for this purpose. I love foliage and think Pachysandra is a fine plant.

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  12. Thank you, FlowerLady, I am sure you have many choices for low-growing plants in your area too.

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  13. Alan, thank you, and I confess I have not seen groundcover bamboo. Is it very scary? Can't be worse than mint, can it...

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  14. Alistair, great point. I don't grow them all around the roses, there is usually space for fertilizer. My cyclamen grow in a shaded courtyard where I have no roses, the rest are individual plants here and there, and I grow rosemary only to cover my long retaining walls. In other words, there is usually a bit of bare space right around each rose bush that is adequate for spreading fertilizer.

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  15. Darla, thank you, and I am not sure about every variety of veronica, in fact, I am not certain which mine is:-). FWIW, I grow mine is full all day sun. It only blooms in spring, maybe for a month or a little more.

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  16. Great pictures as usual and I also grow the candytuft which is an incredible bloomer in spring.

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  17. Thank you, ONG, candytuft is amazing. The best thing about it is that it blooms before most other things get going, brightening up my garden when it looks its worst.

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  18. Reading your nice post I realized that I don't grow any ground covers at all, even though I have a lot of ground to cover ;-). Maybe I should give them a try! I think, I will start with candytuft, which I believe grows well here. I love your cyclamen, but unfortunately it is too hot for them here in San Diego inland.
    Christina

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  19. Thank you, Christina. Candytuft is a great little plant and blooms well before the roses. I tip-prune it to keep it neat and tight. I hope you like it.

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  20. Hello Masha, thank you for this very documented post. Have you also tried the wallcovers? I've seen many houses in south of France where I worked last summer, covered with Muelenbeckia or Ficus pumila, growing as quickly as your cyclamen !

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  21. Hello, Gabriel, and thanks for mentioning wallcovers. I grow a climbing hydrangea (h. anomala petiolaris), and Boston and Virgina creepers. They are quite a job to prune back but they are lovely!

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  22. Masha it depends where you live if they are considered invasive...I have some ground covers but try to make sure they don't get into woods or wild areas where they will spread and possibly choke out native plants...yours are beautiful...I have begun to find native groundcovers and have dug up some of the more invasives and replaced them...

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  23. Your cyclamen are gorgeous! So wish they would grow for me. I even kill them in pots. You have given me hope for my tiny veronica to do the job I intended for it. Your groundcovers are all very colorful and beautiful.

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  24. Hi Masha,
    Wow ...., what a beautiful pictures of your ground cover. Especially your cyclamen, what a beautiful plant.
    Your veronica, replacement of the forget-me-not, we have also in the Netherlands (next to the forget-me-not). They do it here in our country properly.
    Dear regards, Elly

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  25. Thank you, Donna. You are right, it does depend on your area - here not all plants will live through our summer droughts without irrigation, but lots do!

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  26. Thank you, Elly. I am not sure why forget-me-nots don't grow here, perhaps lack of winter chill. I am so glad you can grow both.

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  27. Thank you, HolleyGarden, and I am sorry about your cyclamen. Somehow, my potted plants don't usually do too well either....

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  28. I love the cyclamen and candytuft. I'm having to cut my ground cover back weekly at the moment as it's summer here. (plectranthus madacascariens) but it beats weeding!

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  29. This is a great post! Not only beautiful, but informative as well. For me as a beginning gardener, your blog is a wonderful source. Thank you, Masha!

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  30. Thank you, Christine. Weekly cut-backs? That's a lot of work, but I am sure it looks beautiful. I need to check your blog:)

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  31. Thank you, Olga, for such nice compliments. I appreciate them very much, and am so glad to have made friends with you.

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  32. Ale zazdroszczę Ci tych pięknych cyklamenów. Moim pozwoliłabym zająć sporo miejsca, ale nie chcą specjalnie się rozprzestrzeniać. Cieszę się każdym nowoprzbyłym. Pozdrawiam

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  33. What a beautiful groundcover Cyclamen makes - I'm jealous! We can grow Candytuft here in PA, and it's one of my favorites. Wonderful photos!

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  34. Thank you, Garden Sense. Cyclamen was an unexpected and a very welcome discovery for me. I love candytuft too, and mine covers a low retaining wall very nicely.

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  35. Really lovely post, Masha. I wonder if I can grow cyclamen in the shade. Hmmm. I use mounding dianthus as a sort of ground cover. It doesn't get out of control at all. Such pretty photos!

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  36. Thank you, Sherry. It would be great if cyclamen worked out for you, they are so lovely. If dianthus doesn't spread, you'd probably need a lot of them to cover the space?

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  37. I have wild cyclamen here too and it's nice when it's up but not so much when all you can see is dirt... oh well. Your photos look great!

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  38. Hello, Heather. I agree in summer they don't look their best, but they really do make up for it from October to April:)

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  39. Dear Masha, These are very beautiful covers for your ground! I love the little Veronica but not many small plants can survive the invasive Bishops weed that I inherited here! Lovely post! I say let them spread where they will . . . so sweet a carpet was never woven.

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  40. Dear Carol, mostly I do let them spread (but not too much). Thank you for such a lovely comment.

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  41. Groundcovers are essential here in southern California to keep the moisture in the ground as long as possible.

    Lovely.

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  42. Thank you, Maybelline. I mostly use organic mulch to keep the ground moist.

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  43. Nature of the beast to spread. I never though of bacopa as a ground cover and I really like that plant. Same with cyclamen.

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  44. Yes, you are right, Donna. Cyclamen was a surprise to me too:)

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  45. I love your photos :-)
    I never seem to have much luck with ground covers. Probably because I don't have a green thumb :-)

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  46. That's all right:). Thanks for stopping by.

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  47. I love your groundcovers. I'm thinking of more groundcovers to my garden. I really like the idea of them deterring the weeds.

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  48. I have two plants that I use as ground covers: one is purple oxalis (usually a houseplant) which grows here just fine outside. It spreads but slow enough and obviously enough that I don't mind it. I also have creeping mazus (cupflower), which is walkable and has small white flowers in the spring. Its a bit more invasive and I do have to watch it. It is very low and really quite awesome in place of a 'grassy' area in the shade.

    The previous owner planted ivy and it is awful. I have more trouble with the vines than I have with any of the other plants that are trying to eat wildlife for breakfast.

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  49. I'd love my cyclamens spread like yours, Masha!They look great in your pictures! Vinca m. is my worst groundcover. It's beautiful, especially when blooms, but it spreads beyond its boundaries.

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  50. Thank you, AutumnBelle, my groundcovers are really good at that.

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  51. Jess, you are right, ivy is horrible. My neighbor has morning glory and I fight it all the time as it is trying to gain a foothold in my yard.... Oxalis does well here (and is a weed).

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  52. Tatyana, thank you, and yes, vinca spreads here too!

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