Help does anyone know of an evergreen ground cover that....

will not choke out my other plants but will look nice in the fall/spring? I am in Marysville, WA, zone 8a. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Carla

Thigns DO grow well here, don't they? :) The list of ones I WON'T plant because they take over is pretty long, lol!

I don't know if I have an answer, but we'll all need to know if you are wanting something for full sun, partial sun, shade?

Q's: maximum height / spread of plant?
How much sun will this area receive, and what time of the day?
What's the soil like?
How much moisture will this area receive?
If it flowers, are there colours you wish to avoid?
thanks!

Thanks for the responses...If it is evergreen I don't care height or color, I just don't want chokers. My soil is sandy loam, grass doesn't like it but the flowers love it. One of the gardens gets all morning sun and the house shades it by 1;00PM, the others face south and in the winter have all day sun, in the summer a few areas are shaded by the two dwarf apples and the garden shed, but all areas get at least 6 hours of sun. I have never been interested in ground covers but find myself wanting something nice and colorful in the winter too. Or at least some color. I used to only do perennials and am expanding my gardens and my habits...lol I even use some annuals that I love.
I just had back surgery that worked and am going garden crazy because I couldn't do it for so many years. I think that is why I only did perennials. I built 2 new raised garden areas.I just purchased and put in 100+ daylilies, I planted 7 new clematis, I have 35 new iris' coming. I have been to the garden centers and nurseries so often and never come home empty handed.
My husband is starting to put a stop to it because he is afraid I am going to hurt myself or not be able to care for all I am doing, plus it is getting spendy. I told him once they are in and mulched there is only pruning, weeding and cleanup. So my moral is to do what I can now....just in case...lol plus there is nothing better than playing in the soil. Especially since I couldn't do what I wanted to do for 9 years.
I had nice gardens it just took me longer to do them and I had to do it in small spurts. Now I am still out in the gardens until 9:30 PM at least 3 times a week.
Sorry for rambling on, I am just so excited.... I am even going to do seeds which I haven't done for years, because DH is putting a limit on spending now and I can buy more seeds for the buck...lol
Thanks so much for any help....Also I am trying to figure out the trade thing on here. I will catch on soon, I am so new to DG's I am reading and looking all over the place. What a great site!
I attached a picture of one of the new raised areas I put in... the chicken wire is necessary because there are so many feral cats in the neighborhood and there is nothing worse than a handful of cat poo....lol
Oh there I go again....Sorry any help will be greatly appreciated.
thanks, Carla

See all the grass in this picture...dreaming of all plants, arbors, sitting areas, pathways, and grass as an accent...lol. We have a backyard for the dogs, a front yard for curb appeal, now I am trying to talk DH into a whole side yard of garden.

nice pictures.... i take out more grass every year lol - so I know what you mean.

I'll recommend verbena - It flowers from spring, summer and Fall (I'm zone 8b)... it's easy to cut back, I've had no problem with it getting out of hand. I adore it, the humminbirds like the nectar from it. I have purple that's established, I like it so much I added white verbena (really bright white flowers) and I just got a peach colored one as well. .. I'll try to post a picture.

Hi Carla,

Wow, I can feel your excitement and happiness all the way down here! Nice greenhouse! You've got a great start going. I'd be tempted to lop off the whole triangle at the end and do something as a focal point with an arch, birdbath etc, but it depends on what you can really see from the house or the street- and that's not what you asked for help on, anyway, so just ignore me. :)

I'm always looking for good winter interest, too. I really like having something bright and variegated as a contrast to the green.

As far as a good groundcover for your new area, I'm not having any good ideas at all. Maybe I need more info.

Are you wanting to put something else in there as well, or just the ground cover? Maybe bulbs that add a nice burst of color early?

okay this is the purple that's been here 3 years, I chop it way back in March, it starts blooming around bulb time... I'm laughing at how many things I have crammed in this bed ;) -- this pic is taken from the ground, it's only about 10" tall.

here is the peach -- I just put this in a couple of days ago, it's still tiny, the color is cute, tho .... I have no other peach flowers, but this one I like.

and this pic not so great (a reminder for myself "don't take pictures in the middle of the day !!") it looks like it's glowing, it is quite bright white, I think will really make the other plants POP when it's all bloomed up -- again, this was just planted.... they take no time to spread.

Oh, I have a red one in the front by some pine trees, AMAZING! I'll try to get some pics later on that,

Redtootsiepop,

What variety of purple verbena is that? I really like it! Mine dies back in the winter and doesn't bloom until late summer-and I haven't seen any sign of it this year at all, so it may be due for replacement.

shoot, I've always just called it purple verbena... don't remember anything else, I'll try looking around - it stops blooming in late fall, but stays green through the winter, but definitely needs some cutting back come springtime to get rid of some raggedy ends and for good blooms all over the plant. Okay, I'll try to find out more on the exact name.

Carla, the folks at Sunnyside nursery are very knowledgeable and helpful, but you probably already know that. Maybe Pachysandra? Lavenders will look nice, but need to be pruned back each year. Hope someone else has some better choices for you. Nice looking yard you have there.

Wow Redtootsiepop that is a beautiful color of purple, what variety is it? I would love some of that.... Your pictures are goreous,,,,that peach and white strikes my fancy too! I think that would be a good choice in the area of garden where I planted all the daylilies. It could intertwine among the green foilage.

Susybell, I had the same idea....I wanted a bark or pea gravel walkway through the grass with gardens on each side and an arbor at the point with evergreen clemnatis growing over it. There is a 5' fence but you can see some areas from the street because of the slope...I could remedy that with the proper plantings, trees, shrubs, climbers...lol I just need to talk DH into it.

What I hate is everthing goes so dormant here. I have some peiris, a burning bush, a nandina, english boxwood and some ornamental grasses that offer winter color, otherwise that whole area will be naked. Some of the daylilies say they are evergreen, but we will see...

So my thoughts were maybe a winter groundcover or an evergreen one....But as you see I will take any suggestions because I only have knowledge of the flowers I have grown for all these years...Easy ones like daylilies, iris, dinnerplate dahlias, lambs ears, phlox, liatris, you get the picture...

So suggest away for landscape ideas and winter color, I think I will run to the nursery tomorrow and find that verbena. My grandfather grew a bed of nothing but bright red verbena in AZ when I was a child. He took a picture of me squatting in the field looking closely at the bloom. I just have never grown it, but I will now...it brought back a very plesant memory from the early 60's....Thanks

It is pouring here or I would be in the yard, I am hoping it will let up a little and I will put the rain gear on and go out...but I son't want to drown...lol

Well there I go again rambling... lol

Any help will be appreciated....Here is a picture under the apple trees, soon there will be oriental lillies, a centaura family plant coming up, along the fence line are all the dinnerplate dahlias....but there is still to much bark...lol

Hi Balvenie, That is the problem...lol I don't want that much yard (as in grass) I want to change that whole side yard to plants and paths and shaded sitting areas. I just need to convince my DH, for some reason he believes you need to have a lot of grass....It is very hard to keep green in the summer tho! He is probably afraid my back will act up and he will have to take care of flower instead of grass...lol
I just found out about that nursery down there, I am closer to Smokey Point so I have always gone north to the nurseries. I guess I should try south. I drove south to the Cascade Nursery a month or so back only to find it is now being developed into new homes...so sad, I loved that nursery for the Japanese Maples.

it is gorgeous! ... I tend to , ahem, overplant.

You mentioned evergreen clematis... I have armandii 'apple blossom' and it is heavenly, just thought I'd pass that on.... light pink turning to white, massive amounts of bloom - and the fragrance is lovely.

... what a great memory of your grandfather! : ) ok - keep the pictures coming, it really looks fantastic!

LOL Redtootsie pop, I just planted that on my DH's lawn shed....lol I have fenced the dogs off to a smaller area and have planted some things on his side yard, he said the only reason I let him buy a new lawn shed was so I could decorate it...Actually I noticed the rims were rusting on the riding lawnmower and told him he needed to garage it...but you know how they are about their garage...he said there was no room so I said lets go to Lowes and get a shed you can drive it into... So what else was there to do but to decorate around it. I have talked him into a gravel path behind the big shed so he is coming around....
In between the two buildings is sunny most of the day...so I planted more daylilies...
As you can see I have not put out the lawn furniture yet....I will soon weather permitting. The area to the right is our dogs area...a Rott and A Minpin, with a chihauhau arriving in July...What a mix, just like my gardens...lol

A good evergreen groundcover - Arctostaphylos uva-ursi with select cultivars 'Vancouver Jade' as a good local one. Pachysandra terminalis and the variegated form are good too but tend to pop-up where they want. There are some heavily variegated Vincas that don't tend to be as aggressive.

I want that overplanted look, I am trying to convince my DH the more you plant the less weeds you have....lol I hope he believes me.
I shared some of my old fashioned tall bearded iris's this year with two neighbors I had never met and helped them plant because they had no idea how to plant them. I had such a good time and felt good to be able to actually do the digging... Most of the mature stuff you see I planted in 1999, the greenhouse was built that year too. About that time my back started acting up on a daily basis instead of sporatically and I was very limited as to what I could do. Two years ago with the help of my DH, I scaled back the gardens to a manageable cleanup for me and only added small things I could dig on my hands and knees, so no gallon plants only seeds or small plants. I lost some of my favorites this year with the snow and frost and just wierd winter weather we had.
I am now gungho and ready, I am even visiting the rescue areas of the garden centers to get things cheaper....lol
I changed all the areas to the cherry wood because of cost...so much cheaper than the blocks or concrete edging. I found some nice topsoil and bark at Nobach's and added the two new areas. Using the cheaper wood so I could have more plants...
Here is the area up near the house, it is pretty full when everything comes up...I have bleeding heart, helleborus, 2 hydrangeas, a hibiscus and lots of fuchsias upright and basket style, I just throw those in the garden instead of baskets...it is the only shady area I have except behind the greenhouse and that is ferns and hostas.Now it is time to fill it all in....LOL

Oh, your clems look great on the shed! Nice bed by the house as well, I'm with you - I try to always buy the plants as small as I can find (they catch up to the gallon size in no time!) My husband said in early spring "the gardens look great, so we're not going to have to spend much money on them this year, right?" ... I didn't answer.... there is always grass to rip out, or something to improve.

Okay, we want to see a picture of your dogs... that will be quite a mix with the chihauhau arriving soon! He has a riding lawnmower - do you have alot of land there?

We only have a quarter of an acre here, we had the lawnmower for the 2 acre home we had, but since my back is better I have been riding the lawnmower and keeping the side yard very short so I can wheel barrel and wagon easier...I mow 2 to 3 times a week as low as the mower will let me...lol

Here are my house dogs, they are only outside if we are...very spoiled, just like the kids were...lol

The red one is Lucy, the black one is Ricky, the new ones name is desilu...do you see a theme....my favorite show growing up...lol "I Love Lucy"

Redtootsiepop, show me some more of your garden pictures, especially the over planted areas. It will give me some ideas for companion plants...lol
What is the red one next to the purple verbena, is it a penstemon? They really look good together.

cocoajuno ty - it's pouring down rain right now, but I will post - ... the red is Salvia 'hot lips' ... the hummingbirds are going bonkers with that and the verbena... there is some salvia behind too, but it hasn't bloomed yet (blue) and penstemon nearby, but it hasn't bloomed yet either. This year I've tried to pay more attention to colors/leaf texture, but in the past I have just planted anything I like... so some areas are definitely better than others - oh well, I learn best by mistake, I can accept that about myself.

****Love those doggies, cute cute - great names! - their fur is soo shiny, we can't have a dog, my youngest is seriously allergic (and he loves them of course) one lick and he breaks out in a big bunch of hives.

... I just looked at the pic again, the salvia 'hot lips' is the taller red, the tiny red (fatter flowers) is nemesia "cherry" which is an annual, but I was dying for some flowers last month.

In no particular order:

Liriope, Ophiopogon; Vinca, Ajuga, Saxifrage(small or large leaved), Lithospermum, Heuchera, Geum, Bergenia, Vaccinium vitis-idaea, Cotoneaster dammeri, Epimedium, Sarcococca(F), Hypericum, Geum.
You might want to consider mixing in some shorter shrubs such as lavenders (F), Daphne 'Lawrence Crocker'(F) or D. cneorum, Halimiocistus, Erysimum, Erica, Calluna, Hebe among others. Those marked (F) have fragrant flowers.
I grow all of these except Erica & Calluna, and they perform well and are evergreen in zone 7, so they should for zone 8, also.
About Verbena - there are both annual & perennial types. I believe there is a perennial Verbena called 'Homestead Purple'. I grew it for several years and then ripped it out because it had suffered from my dogs.......

This message was edited Jun 9, 2007 4:37 PM

Thanks Katye,

I will print the list to take with me tomorrow to the nursery, I'm sure I will find some I really like with that list. How nice to have people in the vicinity to answer gardening questions. At least with these answers I have a good chance of them growing.

Cocoajuno, your excitement is incredibly contagious . . . wish I could drive right over to your place and dig with you!!! You've been given some excellent suggestions here - and I'm sure Katye is right about the perennial Verbena's name. There is also a very tall perennial purple Verbena, but that can really get a bit out of hand (although you wouldn't believe how many I sold at my plant sale a couple weeks ago - and I always warn people, too). My purple Hebe (sorry, don't know the name) is generally good all winter, but did experience some damage this year from all the cold weather. On the other hand, two small Hebe's (Hebe Topiaria) did really well! They were in pots and got root bound, so I just recentlly transplanted them to the garden. We'll see what happens! A lot of the Heucheras retain their color all year, too, but I have found I need to cut them back to get healthy looking plants (I'm in zone 7a, though, so you should have better luck).

I guess I don't have much to add, but so enjoyed everyone's enthusiasm that I just couldn't keep quiet!!!

Keep us posted on what you do! Your gardens are already looking fabulous! And your doggies are darling - I love Rotweilers (my daughter had a "part" Rotweiler, Susie, that was the sweetest dog ever).

Redtootsie, your gardens are gorgeous, too - great combos!

Thanks so much Murmur I have added yours to my shopping list too! I have been lurking and reading the link regarding your trees and watching the progress there too. How exciting it must be to have so much room to plant. And to make the decision to leave behind a legacy for future generations, what a kind gesture. You should be keeping a journal about your plantings and adventure for others to read in the future. Just the thread alone about the journey is a great read!
Thanks for sharing with all of us,

Cocoa, thank you so much - true confession, though . . . the land where I am planting Annie's trees is not mine!!! It's just on the other side of our drainage ditch (which is more or less the property line). Glad you're enjoying the story - I doubt anyone who ever buys the property will care as our house is very near the property line and who would want to be that close to us when they've got five acres of their own!!! Our property is only 75 x 125.

Here's a few more for the nursery tomorrow

Growin' beat me to it-I was thinking Kinnikinnick as well, but it's dense. If you wanted to plant other things in it, I don't think it would work as well as some others.

Wintergreen might be interesting because it gets nice red berries, which are edible (for people, don't know about puppies)

Rock Cress might work, too (Aubrieta deltoidea, several varieties either white or purple flowers) is nice in early spring. Mine blooms with my tulips and daffs and looks great. Later in the spring it's kinda scruffy. But it's basically no maintenance except deadheading. It's taken mine years to mostly fill in a 3x7 ft bed. This is probably in the discount section right about now...

I think my Campanula portenschlagiana is evergreen (whiy can't I remember?) and it gets really cute little purple bell flowers now, although it does prefer partial shade. You do have to be careful which variety of Campanula, though. Some of the others can be invasive.

This message was edited Jun 10, 2007 12:29 AM

Thanks for all of your help and for making me feel welcome here. All of you have been so patient, kind and helpful. Thanks so much. I will post pictures and let you know how it goes!
Again Thanks So Much, Carla

oh, we can't wait to see, have fun shopping!

okay - here are some pics I took this morning - overcrowded as it is... here's a rock garden area, you can't see but there are hollyhocks along the back as well (they reseed, but not so bad with all this other stuff here) -I love them.

*** there are so many plants in here you can't see from this angle, I'll try to post a new one from the other side?

This message was edited Jun 10, 2007 9:39 AM

heres in front of the raspberry patch ... phygelius rectus 'pink elf' is the little guy with the long tubular flowers - very cute and well behaved. ... there are some tall lupines in the bath, can't see them too well.

here is part of our side yard ... it is south facing and I pulled out 2 whopping tons of grass last year, so this isn't soo overplanted , this was a fun job and it needs to be weeded !!!

this looks messy when I see the picture : 0 ) - hosta is starting to bloom, passionflower is growing like crazy into the clem and the lillies are budded and taller than I am, which isn;t saying much. ...I promise this is the last picture.

Redtootsiepop, not overcrowded and not messy - just perfectly glorious! Nice work and lovely gardens.

Redtootsiepop,

Beautiful!

Ok, I'm going to go weed now....so much work to do before I can even hope for such nice borders! ;)

thank you Susy and Murmur, I need to do some weeding myself!

Toostie pop,
YOUR pictures and ones like it are why I paid for a membership here! I had beautiful flower gardens when I lived in Washington but my move to Idaho, graduate school and a fixer-up house have kept me so busy that I am just now getting back into it after a long 3 years away from gardening.

May I dare to make some suggestions? Your gardens are BEAUTIFUL so I hestitate to suggest anything (and if you saw what I have RIGHT now, you would not pay one oz of attention to ME!). Consider adding a large bird house or two on posts for year around interest. You might want to add a few other yard art features, it does not have to be "art" but something to add interest year around. Even an old wooden chair painted a bright color with flat ceramic bowl with something like sweet potato vine in it during the summer, a pumpkin in the fall and glass Christmas balls back in the bowl during the winter. A sumac has beautiful red body in the winter and is covered with varigated leaves in summer. I never knew how beautiful there were until I moved to Boise!

I had my Dad weld a rebar arbor for me WAY taller than normal to put over the entry to my shed. Then I planted a wisteria on it. Having it made taller made it possible to have the wisteria on it and not have to duck to get under the wisteria. You might consider a hanging blow glass humming bird feeder from the arbor. These are things that add interest in the winter when the plants are not at their best.

I look forward to seeing LOTS more pictures! Your work is amazing.
Pat