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Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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Posted by
funnthsun 7B - NC (
My Page) on
Tue, May 21, 13 at 14:15
| Want much? Of course! I am looking for a short (8 inches or less) perennial or well-behaved groundcover for a smaller area that will start blooming in the summer and the longer blooming, the better. No pinks, reds or oranges! Mostly blues, purples and pale yellows in this area. White would go fine here. Part shade but bright here. Moist area, but not overly wet. I already have candytuft here, but need a summer bloomer. Thanks for any suggestions! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| A pic would help. Are you planting something in the area or you just want to cover the ground? When I want color I go with foliage because flowers are fleeting. |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| What about lamium? There are several varieties, mostly mauve, pink, or white that I am familiar with. They grow quite willingly in either sun or shade in my garden, and although they bloom in spring, they keep a few blooms right through until snow. They can be a bit invasive, but they are easy to pull out. (Just avoid the variety known as yellow archangel - pretty though it is, I don't think you can ever be rid of it!) Corydalis lutea is another favourite of mine (Yellow), and another one that blooms intermittently all season, seeds itself around the garden, but is easy to remove.
Jan 
Volunteer corydalis 
mauve and white lamium |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| Hardy plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides) would fit the bill. It does come up on the late side in spring, but that is about its only fault. |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| at risk of being obvious, the hardy geranium, Mavis Simpson, along with the other G.riversleaianum, Russell Pritchard will scramble between other plants or just lie around for months, all summer. |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| I agree with campanula. I was thinking geranium but I like sprawling. It seems to annoy so many here I hesitated to suggest. I like Roxanne because I do not like to use mulch and things that sprawl and crawl is what I use and plants with pretty foliage for ground cover ie, heurculera, varagiated ivy, In the bulb and shrub gardens I use bishop weed. |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| Thanks, guys. I did consider a hardy geranium, but have Rozanne pretty close in surrounding areas, so didn't put a lot of thought towards those. I'll do some research on the two you suggested, Campanula, to see if there is enough difference, a hardy geranium would like the spot, I'm sure. I had a couple of plumbagos there a few years ago and they were never happy. Not sure why, but didn't flourish at all. I'm not a lamium lover, but I had forgotten about corydalis lutea, that could work, also. I will go do some research on options there. Thanks again! In this spot, there is plenty of greenery already in the form of misc shrubs, heucheras and the like. I need something that flowers as a front of the border type of plant. More suggestion welcome! :) |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| At the edge of a concrete walkway I have a couple of hardy geraniums planted that I'm liking the looks of because of their low, mounding habit (less than 6 inches tall). Cultivar name is 'Biokovo.' It's blooming now and appears pest-free so far in my limited experience (2 years), with flowers in the blue/purple range. I also have G. 'Rozanne' and find it tends to grow quite a bit larger and encroach on the space of other nearby perennials whereas I haven't seen that tendency in 'Biokovo.' 'Biokovo' was still blooming late last season so I would say based on its performance in my part-sun garden, it's long-blooming + low-maintenance since I planted two and have done nothing to either one subsequent to planting them. Both returned again this growing season and are looking robust. My soil is sandy loam, gets no supplemental water or fertilizer. Bottom line: I'm well pleased with this perennial.
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RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| How about lithodora- heavenly blue. I've seen it growing nicely on Eastern exposures with quite a bit of trees nearby. Mine is doing ok on a northern exposure, but my zone 5 winter makes it look a little ratty. |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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If not a hardy geranium, there are numerous varieties of campanula, most of which will remain green throughout the season while flowering sporadically. The ever popular C.carpaticas are easily available, as are the 2 most well known sprawlers (with unpronounceable names) - C.portenschlagiana and c.pocharskyana,,,,although I prefer c.pulla (very dark blue), c.isophylla and the more upright, but dainty, c.collinia. Campanulas as a whole are a worthwhile garden addition (as you might have guessed, I am especially fond of them), along with the related adenophoras (ladybells).
I agree that lithodora can be lovely as long as your soil is not strongly alkaline (which is why I don't have any).
For a sunny spot, I have various armerias in pink and white and a range of smaller pinks - d.gratianopolis (sp?), d.deltoides and the like. |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| Thanks, I'll look into all of these. No Lithodora. I adore Lithodora :), but I have killed many, many of them. They don't like my soil, my water and pretty much the sight of me, apparently. Sigh. |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| Thanks to everyone who responded. Great ideas! Really got my thinking going. I am going with Corydalis Blue Heron and Verbena Lavender Frappe in this area. I always like the purple and blue colors combined, so I think these will look great together and the corydalis is the perfect height for underplanting while the Verbena will stick out a bit further and be able to get more sunlight. Thanks again! |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| Looks like I had to go with Corydalis Canary Feathers, as the Blue Heron seems to be sold out everywhere. Canary Feathers was hard to find, too, but I did locate it. It should work nicely grouped with the verbena lavender frappe as well. :) |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| Potentilla is excellent and underused if you need a backup plan -- beautiful and copious yellow flowers. |
This post was edited by mistascott on Thu, May 23, 13 at 23:07
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| I actually just ordered one from Bluestone. I ordered Monarch's Velvet, which is a dark red. I have heard that the yellow can be invasive, but opinions seem to be all over the place on that. I have toyed with getting a lot of those, but thought I would try this one first to see how it does for me. Didn't think of using it as an underplant, though. |
RE: Need a part-shade groundcover/short blooming perennial
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| Well, you'll never guess what I found on my visit to my local nursery today. Corydalis Blue Heron! Looked high and low on the internet and everyone was sold out and my local place has it! It wasn't there 4 days ago! Astronomically priced at $20, but they did have 25% off perennials today. Hardly makes it worth that, even, though. Wasn't even a big one, but I dragged it home anyway. So, now I'll put the Canary Feathers in the shade bed that I will be working on soon. It will look better there anyway. We'll see how the Blue Heron does. Also, got an awesome deal on a Ninebark Coppertina today! Same place, it was in a 1 gal pot, but it's HUGE and already blooming for $15!!! Almost made up for the outrageous corydalis--almost. |
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