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Ground cover plants?
AmandaBen123
Posts: 31
i have a patch of ground that I don't really have time to attend to so I was just going to plant something fast growing for ground cover as the weeds end up covering it and then I have to spend time clearing it. So it would be easier to have something that will suppress the weeds as well as being nice to look at - can anyone recommend something ?
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Posts
Soil type?
sun/shade?
Height needed?
In the sticks near Peterborough
Not particularly fast growing but Heuchera are pretty tough, need no real maintenance and come in an incredible number of colours these days. Evergreen too. If you grow them fairly close together they will suppress any weed growth.
The problem with most fast-growing ground cover is that it rarely stays where you want it and often becomes a thug if you don't keep it in check (which is, of course, the maintenance you are trying to avoid!)
Vinca, sweet woodruff (a real thug), alchemilla mollis, ivy if you are desperate, geranium macrorrhizum, cerastium tomentosum, creeping thyme.
Do remember that the ground cover cannot take over ground that is already thickly inhabited with weeds and their seeds. You'll need to clear the gound, prepare it very well, hoe the next flush of seedling weeds down and THEN plant the ground cover plants, and still keep a close eye on their well being for as long as it takes them to cover the space completely. THEN the ground cover will be low maintanance.
I'd add hypericums to the list, too.