I have quite a bit of it in my ‘difficult’ garden @Camelliad - very useful plant. Some descriptions will tell you it’s ‘scented’. I think the scent quite closely resembles cat pee (lovely!) - but only when you cut or crush it.
On the plus side each plant will make a mat of about 2’ diameter and it’s easily propagated by pulling little bits off and sticking them in the soil. It’s nearly evergreen, the leaves are an interesting shape and texture and the pretty shell-pink flowers are around for about 6 weeks in early summer.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
Thank you @Topbird, that's useful. Cat pee aside it does sound as though it's right for where I want it to go, I just need the seeds to germinate now (and I need to try and recognise them when they do).
In my garden Sweet Woodruff was a bit of a thug. It crowded out other
plants and its root system is very dense. In the end I chose to
eradicate it.
Some groundovers I like are Glechoma hedera, Saxifraga cuneifolia, Lamium maculatum, Acaena species (can be thuggish / enthusiastic), Sedum rupestre, Vinca minor, Geranium macrorrhizum and other species, Alchemilla mollis, and various ferns.
Thanks @micearguers I have some of the plants that you suggest but I don't have vinca. Is that not super invasive also or is it well behaved? I do need it to be a "determined" grower to a certain extent in order to win the war against the ground elder.
I have quite a lot of London pride in my garden and not much grows through that, likewise Sicilian chamomile Anthemis punctata, which I'd never seen until I moved to this house and it was in the garden. Both have the advantage of evergreen foliage so any weed seeds are too shaded to get a start. I have vinca and have yet to find it a nuisance, but I know it's often regarded as a thug. I also have creeping jenny which covers the ground well, and roots as it goes, keeps some leaves all year round. As you might guess, I don't like the look of bare soil!
@Camelliad I have Vinca minor which is supposedly less thuggish than major. In my case it is in (summer) dry shade, so that limits its expansion somewhat. But it's probably still something I need to keep an eye on. It mingles with ferns and other plants (e.g. Euphorbia robbiae, Waldsteinia ternata); in other gardens I've seen this combination work. I may still live to regret the vinca!
Perhaps Woodruff with its dense matting habit could make a barrier against ground elder. I have had ground elder as well (same dry shade area, again limiting its expansion). In the end I gave up trying to completely eradicate it, as it 'likes disturbed soil'. So I went more softly softly on it. The idea to use other planting to keep it in check is appealing.
@josusa47 thank you. What do you have most of in your shady patches?
I don't have deep shade anywhere, but some of the London pride Saxifraga x urbium is under a big buddleia so I suppose that doesn't mind being shaded. The Anthemis punctata likes sunshine, the vinca and creeping jenny are in a south-facing border but partly shaded by trees.
@Camelliad I have Vinca minor which is supposedly less thuggish than major. In my case it is in (summer) dry shade, so that limits its expansion somewhat. But it's probably still something I need to keep an eye on. It mingles with ferns and other plants (e.g. Euphorbia robbiae, Waldsteinia ternata); in other gardens I've seen this combination work. I may still live to regret the vinca!
Perhaps Woodruff with its dense matting habit could make a barrier against ground elder. I have had ground elder as well (same dry shade area, again limiting its expansion). In the end I gave up trying to completely eradicate it, as it 'likes disturbed soil'. So I went more softly softly on it. The idea to use other planting to keep it in check is appealing.
Thank you - I didn't realise it liked disturbed soil!!! Disturbing the soil is all I seem to do at the moment!!!
I had woodruff in old house, a present from my brother but I must confess, I really liked it. I liked the pretty white flowers it gets and I did like the creeping nature of it. It was around a pond we used to have and I found it really easy just to pull up new shoots if they started to invade places I didn’t want it to grow. May have to keep an eye out for it now, we have a perfect spot for some in our new garden.
Yes @Songbird-1 those are the reasons that I'm attracted to it too.
Posts
On the plus side each plant will make a mat of about 2’ diameter and it’s easily propagated by pulling little bits off and sticking them in the soil. It’s nearly evergreen, the leaves are an interesting shape and texture and the pretty shell-pink flowers are around for about 6 weeks in early summer.
Some groundovers I like are Glechoma hedera, Saxifraga cuneifolia, Lamium maculatum, Acaena species (can be thuggish / enthusiastic), Sedum rupestre, Vinca minor, Geranium macrorrhizum and other species, Alchemilla mollis, and various ferns.
Perhaps Woodruff with its dense matting habit could make a barrier against ground elder. I have had ground elder as well (same dry shade area, again limiting its expansion). In the end I gave up trying to completely eradicate it, as it 'likes disturbed soil'. So I went more softly softly on it. The idea to use other planting to keep it in check is appealing.