Does anyone know any easy to grow, shade tolerant, ground covers that are pretty hard (for my dog to run through without trampling?)
I'm not sure if Ajuga aka bugleweed is native or not. I'll have to research it. Japanese spurge is definitely not native. brb, googling ajuga. ********************** sorry, no its a native of eurasia. Vinca is from europe *********googling more ********* wild ginger is "a tough native to the eastern us groundcover"
Here is my varigated vinca minor . . . and it stays green in the winter also. Varigated plants really look pretty in shaded areas. Vinca Minor Bugleweed also grows wild here. This has not developed well, but it is coming up wild, and will soon have purple blooms.
I'm very interested in native species too. Just cause something is growing wild does not make it native. Those are really cool pictures SongofJoy!!
Ground Ivy Some people regard this as a weed, but I happen to think it is very pretty. We have a lot of it growing around here and in the spring these tiny purple flowers cover the ground in masses and it looks beautiful! Seems to grow well in Sun or shade and we walk all over it, so it seems pretty hardy.
Thank you, Wrennie . . . I don't know exactly how we got so much of it here in North Carolina. . . lol . . . but it sure thrives . . . I need to learn more about native plants. Cromba, you sure have some pretty "weeds." I think they are too lovely to be weeds too, and you live in such a beautiful area. We three are mountain girls. How neat!!!
Ground Ivy Yeah, I think they are much too pretty to be called weeds. Ground Ivy is the closest I could come to identifying it. The leaves are certainly like the picture I have of GI, but these flowers are quite different from my book picture. The flowers look something like "Blue Curls", but that plant has a different type of leaf and a little curly part at the top which these do not. So I think I will settle for calling it ground ivy. There are some farms around here that have masses and masses of it growing and mixed in with the daffodils that are blooming everywhere it is quite beautiful. I am told it is also known by the name "gill over the ground" and came from Europe, may be related to catnip and the leaves were once used to flavor beer! Plants are so interesting!
I was told by my Hort. teacher that a weed is "anything growing where you don't want it to grow". I kinda like that as there are so many pretty "weeds" out there. Just my 2cents.
My original sig line on the gardening forums I first went on was "A weed is only a plant you haven't found a use for yet."
