{"id":266,"date":"2011-08-08T04:21:07","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T12:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=266"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:34","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:34","slug":"carpeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/carpeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Carpeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

CARPETING
\n<\/font><\/font><\/strong>\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/strong>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A few weeks ago, I wrote about my ongoing study of pioneering Irish gardener and writer, William Robinson (1848-1935).\u00a0 The measure of a good garden writer is the degree to which he or she inspires you to pick up a trowel and run out into your own garden.\u00a0 Though much of his writing was done over one hundred years ago, Robinson consistently inspires me to make tracks to my twenty-first century landscape.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For years I have advocated mulching bare earth to conserve moisture and keep down weeds.\u00a0 Following my own advice, I have spent untold dollars and countless hours buying and spreading shredded cedar mulch.\u00a0 My most recent mulch adventure happened last week.\u00a0 In a feat of strength that should have made the neighbors envious, I hefted up six cubic yards of it and spread it over the portion of my front “hell strip”\u009d that I am converting from grass to garden.\u00a0 I was even able to put in a group of starter plants before my muscles knotted up.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My thinking about mulch is evolving.\u00a0 For one thing, I have noticed how often nature takes care of the mulching.\u00a0 In my mature garden there are many spaces where the plants grow so thickly that mulch is no longer needed.\u00a0 Robinson was a great advocate of letting low-growing plants spread together into mats or carpets.\u00a0 I am coming around to that point of view, especially now that I have seen the efficient ways that strawberries, ajuga, lamium and a host of other low-growers self-mulch.\u00a0 My horizons are broadening as I consider the universe of potential mulching plants.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My front strip garden, currently in-process, is a good example of how I am using Robinson’s ideas.\u00a0 Though I planted a few medium-tall specimens in the beginning, I have decided that most of the strip should be a tapestry of low growers.\u00a0 Those plants should also be unappetizing to deer, since a small herd has been rampaging through our neighborhood.\u00a0 The hostas that have already established themselves in the shady area will stay, protected with optimism and repellent spray.\u00a0 Most future plant additions though, will be of the less tasty variety.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I visited a garden recently that featured a large, sleeping Buddha comprised of a stone head lying sideways in a raised bed, with its “body”\u009d completely covered with a blanket of succulents and other low-growing plants.\u00a0 The blanket inspired me to plant a delosperma or hardy ice plant in the sunny part of the front strip.\u00a0 I hope it will spread quickly, as its peach, daisy-like blooms will add color all summer long.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have often seen various thymes used as ground covers and crack fillers.\u00a0 My strip is now home to both gold-edged and silver-edged thyme plants, as well as ordinary green-leafed thyme.\u00a0 I have high hopes that the deer will leave these strong-smelling members of the mint family unravaged.\u00a0 I feel the same way about the low-growing lavender cultivars that I have installed nearby.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Because I have enough ajuga in my back yard to start my own ajuga nursery, I have transplanted some of it to the front strip.\u00a0 I have no idea whether deer like ajuga, but it adds color, requires nothing at all from me and spreads rapidly.\u00a0 It is easily replaceable if the deer come calling.\u00a0 I think that given the seeming perversity of deer, they would probably spend their time nipping the tender new growth off my hybrid musk roses anyway.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 William Robinson recommends the smaller varieties of campanula for ground covering purposes.\u00a0 I like the little Campanula carpatica ‘Blue Clips’ and its white counterpart, ‘White Clips’.\u00a0 These mountain plants are short, with either blue or white, bell-shaped flowers.\u00a0 Like most campanulas, they spread readily.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To make my work easier, I will also make use of variegated euonymus.\u00a0 When I first moved into my house I found a couple of lovely, low-growing euonymus in the process of being drowned by a high tide of English ivy. The rescued shrubs were so grateful that they grew with all deliberate speed and carpeted some ground in front of my privet hedge.\u00a0 Rooted divisions will certainly do the same thing in the strip, providing evergreen color year round.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My strip will also have violets, because they multiply like rabbits and it takes too much time and effort to stop them.\u00a0 I have added some gold and green-leafed lamium in the section of the strip where the sunny area gives way to the shady one.\u00a0 The lamium is flanked by a stand of catmint, which I hope will make the deer think twice before they nibble in that spot.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At a time when garden centers and nurseries need all the economic stimulus I can provide, I feel a bit guilty about reducing my mulch purchases.\u00a0 However, at least for the moment, I am compensating by buying ground-covering plants.\u00a0 While I am looking over the sempervivums and sea hollies, I will undoubtedly be tempted by the ever-seductive displays of hardy perennials for fall planting.\u00a0 William Robinson, with his staunch advocacy of worthy perennial species, would certainly approve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CARPETING \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A few weeks ago, I wrote about my ongoing study of pioneering Irish gardener and writer, William Robinson (1848-1935).\u00a0 The measure of a good garden writer is the degree to which he or she inspires you to pick up a trowel and run out into your own garden.\u00a0 Though much of his … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1525,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions\/1525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}