Glossy False Sinningia

A nice, rather tall ground cover that I find useful for filling in at the base of shrubs. Beautiful foliage and interesting white flower...Read Mores. Deer, insects and other pests have so far left it alone in my woodland garden. In light shade and good soil that is reasonably moist (but never watered) it spreads aggressively. It has appeared in a terraced bed about 4 inches above the level of the original planting site. I also have it in dry, rather dense shade, and growth is much more contained. I wouldn't let this loose in a bed where it could overwhelm daintier specimens.

Reported to be hardy to USDA Zone 7A, I decided to try it in a shade garden I had planted in our local community garden here in da Bronx....Read More I planted them in late April in the shade garden, which abuts a north-facing wall of a building. While Hemiboea can take some sun, one thing this plant will not tolerate is prolonged drought. Every two weeks, I fed it with 30-30-30 tomato food, in the soil and on the leaves. They grew into shiny, robust plants over a foot across and flowered in September; the flowers are white with purple-spotted throats. They began to decline fairly quickly after blooming. In early November, I mulched them with a couple of inches of dead leaves; the goal was to protect the plant's rhizomes from a hard freeze. Even before the first day of Spring, I noticed two growths poking up through the mulch. I also noticed several horizontal green growths on the soil surface; these are fleshy (as opposed to "scaly") rhizomes, by which the plant spreads. As of today (April 7th), there are eleven new growths, and they all look quite healthy.