Groundcovers offer wonderful alternatives to lawn, especially in the shade of large trees, where most turf fears to tread. Great underplanting to small shrubs or other perennials, try growing other hardy perennials through these groundcovers. Two plants can inhabit the same place at the same time. That's horticultural multi-tasking!
Since 1988, Plant Delights Nursery has been the choice of serious gardeners and plant collectors looking for the best and rarest perennial plants. We are pleased to have received the Perennial Plant Association Retail Award in 2011, the American Horticulture Society Commercial Award in 2002, and to have been selected as one of the Best Mail Order Plant Sources - Garden Design Magazine 2010. Welcome to our family of plant lovers!
Okay, I'd probably grow this just for the name, but imagine my excitement when it turned out to be a cool garden plant as well. Most ajugas don't fare well in our heat and humidity, but to my surprise, Ajuga 'Planet Zork' has performed wonderfully in our garden trials. This compact selection comes from Japan where its slow clumping growth habit and upwardly cupped, crinkled, grey-green, deer-resistant leaves with a pink overlay are highly prized. Superficially, it looks like Ajuga 'Burgundy Glow' that was sprayed with weedkiller...a likely leftover from the "better gardening through chemicals" program. Ajuga flowers attract hummingbirds. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
We are thrilled to offer this selection of the famed Panda Face ginger that was named and introduced by Itsaul Plants of Georgia. Asarum 'Ling Ling' makes a stunning clump of large, glossy, rich-green, heart-shaped foliage highlighted by two silvery-green blotches on either side of the central stripe. In late spring, the 1' wide deer-resistant clumps are adorned by basal clusters of 2" round, velvety black flowers, each highlighted by a wide white band around the center. This easy-to-grow wild ginger is truly a showstopper in the garden or in a container for the sun room. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Splendid indeed! This vigorous and superbly easy-to-grow Chinese ginger makes a great groundcover for the woodland garden. The large, dark green, deer-resistant leaves (evergreen to 10 degrees F) are heavily adorned with silvery mottling throughout. Asarum splendens is a vigorously rhizomatous species. In early spring, you will also love this one for the large 2" flowers of dark purple...one of the finest members of the ginger family. Our original stock came from China, via both Jim Waddick and Barry Yinger. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This superb sedge, native from Quebec south to South Carolina, is a must for shade gardeners. Naturally occurring in dry woodlands, even underneath hemlocks, Carex appalachica is adaptable to almost all garden conditions...except swamps. The very narrow, weeping, mop-top looking deer-resistant foliage makes an airy, 18" wide clump. When used singly or en masse, the textural contrast near bolder elements is simply stunning. If you've been looking for a shady replacement for an unmown lawn or a hairpiece that matches your green thumb, look no further. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
This selection of Carex dolichostachya var. glaberrima is a delightful easy-to-grow but difficult to pronounce addition to any plant collection, via a Barry Yinger expedition to Japan. This evergreen deer-resistant carex has narrow, dark green leaves with a nice golden border. Carex 'Kaga nishiki' forms a delightful small clump, 10" tall x 20" wide, perfect for the rock garden or perhaps a woodland border...a good grower...striking! Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Even with a wide native range from NC to the West Coast, this rare native is not well-known in gardening circles. Although it naturally occurs on limestone outcrops, it has been fabulous for years in our acid NC soils. The drought-tolerant, 8" wide, symmetrical clumps of soft green, needle-like foliage resemble little green porcupines...pettable porcupines. This delightful deer-resistant sedge is great in a woodland or rock garden! Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(syn: Carex glauca) This recent rich-colored Emerald Coast Growers selection of the European native Carex flacca has wonderfully narrow, glaucous leaves that make a delightfully wispy-textured, evergreen, deer-resistant groundcover. Although Carex flacca prefers moist alkaline soils, it has proven to be quite adaptable to a wide range of garden conditions and soil types. Carex flacca 'Blue Zinger' forms a nice 2' wide patch in 5 years...much more clump forming than the straight species. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(syn: Carex 'Gilt', Carex 'Fisher's Form') This is a truly great woodland plant. The stiff leaf blades, to 12" long x 0.5" wide, make an evergreen, rigidly symmetrical clump to 24" wide. The deer-resistant foliage is vertically banded white and dark green...much more white than Carex morrowii 'Variegatus' but otherwise identical in growth habit. Looks great winter and summer! Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Everyone who sees this clumping carex can't leave without it. From a 1970s Barry Yinger expedition to Japan comes this hard-to-find but easy-to-grow selection of Carex morrowii temnolepis v. temnolepis. The 2' wide clump of wispy, thread-like, deer-resistant foliage is striped white-and-green...giving it a silver sheen in the garden. Imagine a 70-year-old with a mop-top cut that hasn't been introduced to hair color and you get the picture. Carex' Silk Tassel' is great in the woodland garden...either in a mass planting or as a specimen near the garden pond...absolutely outstanding! Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
(aka: Carex morrowii or hachijoensis) This is one of the most beautiful of all the sedges we grow. The narrow foliage 15" long x 0.15" wide, arches slightly upward, then out to form a 2' wide clump. Each leaf is vividly striped dark green and creamy gold. The dramatic weeping habit (like nurseries when they run out of stock) lends itself to a number of landscape settings...as a woodland border, near a water feature, or used as an eye-catching mass...stunning! As with all sedges, it's highly deer-resistant. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
From Japan comes one of the most attention-drawing plants (cures ADD) in our entire garden (and without flowers). This gorgeous, upright, evergreen deer-resistant sedge resembles a grove of miniature variegated palm trees with cute little whorls of dramatic white- and green-striped foliage atop each of the 12-15" tall stems. This is a real eye-catcher when planted among ferns in the woodland garden...prefers moist-to-normal garden conditions. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
In mesic (a region with a well-balanced moisture supply) woodlands from Maine south to Alabama, you can find this amazing native understory sedge which until recently had been almost non-existent in US gardens. The evergreen 8" tall x 1' wide deer-resistant clumps are composed of 1" wide, powder blue, pleated leaves. The clumps are topped with insignificant flowers in late spring, but grow this for the textural contrast in the woodland garden. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Native from Maine south to Texas, Carex retroflexa (related to C. texensis) can be found in openings of dry deciduous forests. Our particular form is one we collected in 2004 from northern Louisiana's Bienville Parish, where the infamous Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were gunned down in 1934. For us, Carex retroflexa has made a stunning, very fine textured, mop-top form...a nice complement to the bold textures of hostas in open woodland. Each clump forms a 6" tall x 18" wide mound. We have seen a bit of seeding in moist sites which is fine with us. I think you'll really like this great but little-known native. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
We really love this woodland carex, shared with us by Alabama native plant guru Jan Midgley...originally collected by Charles Bryson in Coahoma Co. Mississippi. Carex socialis is native from Illinois south to Texas, where it can be found in low deciduous woodlands. Carex socialis forms a graceful 10" tall x 2' wide, deer-resistant, slowly expanding patch composed of very narrow green leaves...a superb textural contrast around ferns and hostas. Carex socialis has proven to be amazingly drought-tolerant in our trials. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Carex 'Rekohu Sunrise' comes to us from Terry and Lindsey Hatch of Joy Plants in New Zealand, who discovered it as a nursery sport on their native Carex trifida. Rekohu is the indigenous Maori name for nearby Chatham Islands. Carex 'Rekohu Sunrise' makes an evergreen, 18" tall x 2' wide, deer-resistant clump composed of wide, arching green leaves edged in yellow. In our garden, it has so far survived 7 degrees F. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
We had trouble growing many of the leadworts but hit upon a gem with the supposedly non-hardy Ceratostigma griffithii. After it sailed through 0 degrees F in our severe 1996 winter, we began to propagate this dynamite species. The twiggy spreading growth clothed with dime-sized, round green leaves makes a large spreading mound to 2-3' wide. In late August the clump becomes a mass of rich, pure blue flowers through autumn when the deciduous foliage takes on lovely hues of red and yellow...a favorite of butterflies, especially tiger swallowtails. In warmer climates, Ceratostigma griffithii should stay evergreen. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
In the latest example of "Natives Gone Wild", our very own northern sea oats, which ranges from Pennsylvania west to Arizona, has been spotted sporting a new "tattoo." This discovery from the folks at Itsaul Plants, forms a typical 30" tall deer-resistant clump of upright green stalks adorned by 9" long x 1" wide leaves, each heavily striped with white. As the flower stalks expand in early summer, the variegation follows the new growth into the developing seed heads. Darn, this is one sexy native, so be among the first to get yours. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
From South Africa's Drakensberg Mountains comes the hardiest and cutest of the ice plants, Delosperma basuticum. This charmer makes a tight 1" tall x 8" wide clump of little jellybean-like leaves topped, starting in mid-April (NC) and continuing through May, with 1.5" screaming yellow daisies, each highlighted with a dramatic white center. The flowers appear to float just atop the foliage. Although the foliage is technically evergreen, don't expect much of a winter show. Thanks to Pennsylvania plantsman, John Lonsdale, for sharing after I lusted over this in his garden. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
Delosperma 'Beaufort West' is an unidentified species that was collected from high alpine elevations near the town of Beaufort West in the Nieuwveld Mountains (South African Karroo). For the well-drained rock garden, Delosperma 'Beaufort West' is a real cutie. The slow-spreading, tiny, 1" tall cushion resembles a collection of small, green, rubbery marbles. In April in NC, the plants are topped with tiny, light pink flowers that continue until temperatures settle above 90 degrees F for the summer. Delosperma 'Beaufort West' doesn't appreciate summer rains and high humidity, but in our gravel scree, it does manage to come back year after year. At the Denver Botanic Garden, it continues to flower all summer. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
The succulent, needle-like leaves and fluorescent purple up-facing flowers make this semi-evergreen groundcover a sight to behold. Hot and sunny conditions keep the flowers coming most of the summer. This is a great groundcover for the beach, since it takes the salt as well as any margarita. A single plant can spread to 2' wide in one season. Although quite hardy, it cannot stand excessive winter moisture, either in the soil or applied from above. Pot Size: 3.5" (24 fl. oz/709.77 ml)
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