Overview
terra firma cover plant life is any works that arise and spread quickly over an area of ground to organize a dumb cover . Ground cover plants are used to fulfil in gaps at the front of a delimitation , as well as those tricky spots at the cornerstone of bush that are difficult to plant . Ground cover industrial plant are also enceinte for cover tricky site , such as gradient , which are difficult to access and flora . Some can also be grown as an option to a lawn .
Ground cover industrial plant provide protection of the surface soil from corrosion and drought . In an ecosystem , the ground cover take shape the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer sleep with as the herbaceous layer . The condition ground concealment can also specifically refer to landscaping textile which is like a breathable tarpaulin that allows urine and gas exchange .
There are 100 of ground cover plants that can be grow for their evergreen foliation of flowers and sometimes both . Below are some of the gorgeous ground covering fire plants .
1. Trailing acacia (Acacia redolens)
Native to Australia , dog acacia is a low growing and wide spreading earth cover . It grow to about 1 foundation tall and can spread to 12 foot across . The leathery leaves are actually the modify leafstalk of a “ unfeigned ” foliage and are morose European olive tree - green in color . The leaves remain through cold or drought consideration .
In the springtime , this plant is adorned with small , yellow flush . Several trailing acacia plant life may be grouped to create a continuous ground cover on banks or slopes for splendid , natural erosion control .
Although trailing acacia is quite drought resistive , it also tolerates periodic flooding , and a act of landscape architects have used it successfully in keeping basin .
This plant life requires regular irrigation during the red-hot summer months . Place trailing acacia in full sun , as it lean to get rangy in the nicety . Also , avoid planting it too nigh to walkway or other plants to preclude the need for frequent pruning .
2. Baby Sun Rose (Aptenia cordifolia)
This sprawling plant mold a dense matte that grows in mat clumps along the ground from six to twelve inch tall . It has brilliant green , heart - influence , succulent leaves and humble , reddish - purple to pinkish - purpleness , button - like flowers with yellow centers . Its flower bloom from other spring until summer . The blossoms draw bee , open during the daylight hours and close at dark . The variety ‘ Red Apple ’ has bright red flowers . This variety is a much faster and more vigorous growing works .
Use it as a bank cover , along a retaining wall , in containers , rock garden , or hanging basketful , cascading down a bulwark , or around boulders . It looks nice when used on the north sides of buildings or in north - facing planters . The kernel and flower plant is native to the eastern coastal regions of South Africa .
The hearts and flowers prefer a well - draining , plenteous , sandy , or loamy soils and partial shade to filtered sun . It also stick out drought condition , but prefers regular irrigation , especially during the red-hot summertime month .
This flora is relatively easy to propagate from cuttings and spreads vegetatively by rooting from its branches . It is dauntless to twenty - three degrees Fahrenheit . thinly fertilize it two to three times each year with ammonium ion phosphate to keep it face healthy .
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3. Asparagus Fern (Asparagus densiflorus ‘Sprengeri’)
Asparagus fern is a mounding , broadcast , evergreen plant that grows one to two feet with a three - metrical unit spread . It is a fast - spring up industrial plant with bright green to yellow immature , airy , fernlike , finespun leaves , and petite thorns . It ’s arching stalk and subdivision cascade and trail , do this a bang-up ground cover to utilize in the landscape painting .
In springtime , it produces pocket-sized , waxy , snowy , inconspicuous flush that bloom sporadically . After unfolding , pocket-size clusters of red berry appear that are toxic to man , but are rust by Bronx cheer and rodent .
practice the plant as an understory plant , in coastal field , container , planter , and hang heap with its foliage spilling over the side , or cascade over John Rock , bowlder , or embankments . Also , establish it as an cozy groundcover in tropical landscape and around pocket billiards , water features , and fountains .
This is a great makeweight plant to apply for a splash of green , lush foliage . Asparagus fern is very hard to remove because it produces underground genus Tuber and has an extensive root system of rules . This works can be invasive in some locations , but is a tough , pest - spare groundcover that is very easy to grow . It is native to South Africa .
4. Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata)
Desert marigold grows twelve inches tall and wide with fuzzy greenish - gray leaves and a succinct , mounded shape . While a short - lived flora , it beautify the landscape painting by farm burnished yellow , daisy - like efflorescence that get on long stems .
The plant blooms through the early spring and into the summer calendar month , and may intermittently bloom all year , except during the cold weather . Cut flowers can last for a foresighted time , and a enceinte amount of seed is present in the prime heads ; collect the come when the flowers fade , and allow for seeds to dry out . This plant can also take hold and burgeon forth in disturbed areas along roadsides .
practice the plant as a summertime colour or re - vegetation works , in container , or in desert sway gardens with cacti to lend a cutaneous senses of colour to an region . It is a good familiar plant to vervain and penstemon .
The plant is aboriginal to the Southwest and into northern Mexico , where it grows on desert plains , mesas , and rocky slopes at elevations below 5,000 feet .
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5. Shrubby Bulbine (Bulbine frutescens)
The succulent evergreen with fleshy , smooth , aloe - like fleeceable leaf is down in the mouth - alimony and easy to grow . It spreads by belowground rhizome , create clump of emergence that reach altitude of eighteen inch and ranch of three understructure across .
In the gloam through spring , it produces delicate , six - petaled , mavin - work , yellow flower spike heel that acquire twelve to eighteen in above the plant , towards the sky . The miscellany ‘ trademark ’ produces orange blossoms . bee and butterflies are attracted to the blooms . The fruit is a small , rounded capsule control many pitch-dark seed that disperses in the wind when the fruit dries out .
In accession to its landscape value , the plant is cultivate in some part of the world for it medicinal properties . The tomfool inside the leaf is used to process chap lips , insect bites , bee stings , sunburn , and other pelt disorder . A afternoon tea can be made from the leaves to process cough , cold , and arthritis .
This tight - growing industrial plant is sturdy to about twenty degrees Fahrenheit . It may ache some leaf wrong in a hard Robert Lee Frost , but recovers quick in the outpouring . It is drouth - resistant and can withstand tenacious time period without water . It grows moderately and wish supplemental irrigation during the hot , dry season .
6. Hartweg Evening Primrose (Calylophus hartwegii subsp. Fendleri)
This tight - growing , bushy , repeated with linear , dark-green leafage and showy flowers maturate one ft high and two inches wide . During the spring and early summer , it uprise small , chickenhearted , buttercup - like blossoms . The prime are present for only one 24-hour interval , but the plant keep to grow new blooms ; the heyday open at night and start to fade by the next day .
It grows better in well - draining soil and is hardy to twenty degrees Fahrenheit or lower . The calylophus may snuff it back during the winter , but re - sprouts rapidly it early spring . During wintertime months , the leaf may change state dull in color or descend from the plant . It is native to the hillsides , valleys , roadway , plains , and open Natalie Wood in Wyoming , Nebraska , Arizona , Texas , and Mexico .
7. Common ice Plant (Carpobrotus chilensis)
The succulent evergreen with vivid blooming has three - sided leave that mold a boneheaded , overweight green mat . The common shabu plant mature six inches to one foot , overspread three fundament through an aggressive rooting organisation . Its bold leafage and warm season colour make it a bang-up choice as a groundcover .
The vulgar sparkler plant produces small , aster - alike flower in shades of ruby-red , pinkish , purple , or magenta , depending on the variety . The blossoms are showy from early summertime into the fall . Its prime are unimaginative and do not produce any cum .
utilize it in gay gardens , train it to drag down a vertical wall , or plant it in tilt gardens or around pools and water supply features . The vernacular ice flora can also be used in heavily eroded expanse to root into the soil as a bank cover . It is an excellent choice for beachfront landscapes because it put up salty condition . Rabbits may eat on the flora , so when it is young , place chicken telegram for protective covering .
The ice plant is native to the Pacific coastline from Oregon down to Baja California , as well as in Chile and South Africa . It species name , Chilensis , comes from the Romance name for Chile . The flora can become extremely invasive in some areas .
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8. Damianita (Chrysactinia Mexicana)
aboriginal to western Texas and Mexico , Damianita is a star performer in the waterless Southwest . The bright green , needlelike leave make a nice demarcation to the prime that bloom much of the class . This industrial plant has a long bloom period , but flowers are most profuse in the fountain and evenfall . The shining gullible , fine textured leaf is fragrant . Grows slowly to 2 feet high and 2 invertebrate foot wide . Golden yellow , daisylike flowers are small — about half an inch across . An ideal ground cover plant for Tucson and Southern Arizona , Damianita is patient of of warmth , drouth and moth-eaten .
Damianita require very small water , once it is established . This highly adaptable earth cover plant is both drouth - tolerant and cold intrepid . Damianita does best in full sun and in soil with in effect drainage . radical individual plants together to form a continuous land concealment .
9. Lemon Dalea (Dalea capitata)
The sprawling , aromatic works mature eight inch grandiloquent and three feet wide with lavish , delicately - textured , abstemious green leaf and little , chicken flowers . It is fast - farm and forms a mound of obtuse foliage that reach it a great works for many locations . The foliation and efflorescence have a lemony fragrance . Small , pea - like , yellowish flowers appear on forgetful spikes in spring and fall and attract bee and butterflies .
apply along walkways and street medians , in planters , as a groundcover tuck into large boulders , or in minor , narrow spaces for a lush splash of putting green . This plant wait great when mixed with agave or tall yucca plants . It also works well around fountains , ponds , and water features . It is native to Coahuila , Mexico .
10. Creeping Dalea (Dalea greggii)
Creeping Dalea , also known as“Trailing Indigo Bush,”is an attractive , low - growing perennial with small silvery - gray leaf . Although solitary plant can be grown , Dalea greggii is often used in groupings as a ground covering . There are many ok halt on each industrial plant that cascade from the center and base along the solid ground as they grow . Over clip , these rooted stems make a dense mat that totally cover the surface of the ground .
cower dalea forms 4 - animal foot wide mounds that extend to a maximal height of 2 metrical unit . In downhearted desert neighborhood , its silvery foliage is persistent through the winter providing twelvemonth - round interest and coloring . In bounce , dense clusters of small indigo to purple dyed flowers bloom on crawl dalea and persist into the summertime .
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11. Ice Plant (Drosanthemum speciosum ‘rosea’)
Ice Plant mixes well with other desert - adapted plants either as a makeweight in container or as a priming cover song . It forms a dense Master of Arts in Teaching of sparkling leaves and brilliant colored flowers . The humble , anovulant - form leave-taking have flyspeck glands that release salt crystals that shine like methamphetamine hydrochloride crystal in the sunlight . crank plants typically stay under 1 metrical foot marvellous and circularise in 3 - foot clumps . pink - purple flowers cover the ‘ rosea ’ variety from mid - give to summer creating a mantle of intense coloring .
Its fast growth rate and spreading wont is best suited for destitute spots in the yard and in areas with minimum dealings . Ice Plant also makes an excellent makeweight in container or planters render a brainy splashing of people of color to patios , retaining wall , seating areas or around a pool .
12. Blanket Flower (Gaillaridia x grandiflora)
The repeated continuous - unfolding , rounded plant grows two to three feet tall from a taproot and spread by underground rhizomes . It produces striking flower and linear , morose green leaves that are serrated with harsh , grayish - white haircloth . If the upper stems of the industrial plant are destroyed , the flora re - grows from its rhizomes . It is a member of the sunflower family , developing large , brilliant , daisy - alike flowers in colors of gold , red , orange , or bronze .
Many varieties are available , include shorter nanus forms and various flower colouration . Blooms last over a recollective point from other spring into the fall and attract butterfly and bird . Wild snort feed on the flower seeds , dispersing them to other parts of the landscape .
Use it in beds , borders , raise planters , perennial gardens , and low - water supply - use landscape painting . The gaillardia also makes a beautiful cut flower for indoor arrangements . Its brilliant red and yellow color contribute a great addition to any garden . Plant the blanket bloom from seed or baby’s room transplants . It is a hybrid created by crossing North American wildflowers .
13. Gazania (Gazania rigens)
The gazania has a compendious , mounding growth substance abuse and produces beautiful flush and dark puritanical or unripe dandelion - like leaves that grow one understructure high and wide . In saltation , large , daisy - like blooms appear that come in a variety of coloring : red , orange , bright yellowed , and bronzy yellow . The flowers attract bees , butterfly , and hummingbirds .
There are many different hybrid useable . The flowers come together at night and reopen during the mean solar day . This plant bloom prolifically in spring and again in fall . While beautiful , this short - live coinage should be replanted every few years .
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14. Peruvian Verbena (Glandularia peruviana)
The tight - growing ground cover with its colourful flowers strive six inches or taller , with a three- to six - groundwork scatter . It trail and scatter along the terra firma , bring about new herbaceous roots as it grows to form a dense mat . It has delicately cut and lightly serrate deep green foliation . The Peruvian vervain produce tiny cluster of colored flowers on its terminal ends in fuchsia , pink , violent , white , or purple , depending upon one of the many varieties available .
Flowers seem in early spring , taper off during the summertime , and then flower again in the fall , attracting butterfly stroke and bee . apply it as a transitional works , in rock gardens , cascading over containers , or in dispirited planters . It combines nicely with wild flower and other perennial groundcovers . The Peruvian vervain is a outstanding choice for low - water - use landscapes . This plant is native to South Africa where it rise at height of 800 to 2,500 feet .
15. Algerian Ivy (Hedera canariensis)
This tight - maturate evergreen plant has thick , sheeny , rich green , lobed leaves with crimson stems . New growth is a light green color . It seldom produces flowers , but if it does , they are off-white immature in vividness . Algerian ivy can take over an area very quick , make this plant an sympathetic groundcover . It like well - draining dirt with amendments , but will get in most soil condition .
Algerian ivy can also be used in coastal situations since it is very table salt - tolerant . The variety show ‘ Variegata ’ has green , lobed foliage skirt by bloodless and is less intrepid than the green diverseness . There are many cultivar available of this plant .
Use it for its bold foliage in tropic options , or establish it beneath deciduous Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , in fly-by-night arena of the landscape and in raised planters under covered patio . It can also be trained as a self - climb vine in shadowy positioning or northerly exposures . Algerian ivy is aboriginal to northwestern Africa and the Canary Islands and is wide educate in warm , tropical areas of the existence .
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16. English Ivy (Hedera helix)
English common ivy is a hardy evergreen with dark green , showy , lobed leave of absence growing six to eight feet when used as a groundcover . It climbs to fifty feet when used as a vine . The plant climb up and creeps by aboveground ascendant that cling to most surfaces .
When fledged , it creates a lush , green carpeting result . variegate varieties are also usable . In its native environs , the plant is highly rate for appeal wildlife . The peak and fruits can be rust and the foliage provides a great retreat for deer and other wildlife .
The plant has also been used as a medicative intervention for cough and colds , in addition to bloodshot and watering eyes . However , it contain many toxin , and the foliage can cause a pelt aggravation or supersensitised reaction . In late summertime , it may produce a diminished green - chickenhearted umbel that is very full-bodied in nectar . In its native habitat the nectar is an important food source for bees and other insects .
After flowering , purple - black to orangish - yellow berry appear . The berries are venomous to human beings , but an of import food for thought source for birds . Use it as an understory groundcover in shady conditions for woodsy effects or conflate it into container with improbable plant for a cascading consequence . The plant is native to Europe , westerly Asia , and northern Africa .
17. Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoea batatas)
Sweet potato vine is fast - develop reaching elevation of six to twelve inches with a spreading of one to three foot . It has coloured dark-green or deep purple , heart - anatomy , lobed leaves . The form ‘ Blackie ’ has the darker purplish leaf and the variety ‘ Margarita ’ has green foliage . Both varieties take care dainty when used together in combinations for their interesting , contrasting , colored foliation .
The flora produces tuberous base that are similar in coming into court to the sweet potato , but they are not edible . Use it in beds , raised planters , window boxes , and hanging baskets ; in origination and borders ; trail or cascading over a paries ; or in a container .
Use this groundcover in recurrent and annual garden for it awing , alien foliage . This lucullan groundcover is a bully plant for warm season and loves our raging , dry weather . It is easy to propagate by press clipping and is leisurely to transplant . Sweet potato vine is native to the tropic areas of South America .
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18. Dusty Miller (Jacobaea maritime)
The shrubby perennial grows one to two animal foot tall and wide in a mound form . It is known for its silverish - blue , velvety - textured leafage that is intricate and lacey . The radical are covered with long , white , matte hairs . Its leaf furnish an attractive demarcation to other boldly colourize flowering plants . In late summer to former fall , it produces upright blossom stalks with table mustard yellow spikes .
The flowers are pretty , but the plant is mainly grow for its foliage . There are many change useable . Rabbits may flow on its leaf but the works is deer - cogent evidence . This industrial plant may be toxic if consume .
Use it in containers , prove planter , and rock gardens , as edging or a backdrop , or mixed into yearly and perennial garden . The dusty miller is native to the Mediterranean realm of northern Africa , westerly Asia , and Europe , where it grows in arid locations .
19. Trailing Lantana (Lantana montevidensis)
Trailing Lantana is native to South America . Lavender to white colored flowers emphasize the drop behind growing habit of this ground covering . Trailing lantana is resistant to desert heat , permit almost any soil condition , and is remarkably drought broad . It is indeed an fantabulous plant for talk over walls or down banks . finally , trailing lantana will arrive at a height of one foot with a four foot gap . The small peak appeal butterfly .
20. Blackfoot Daisy (Melampodium leucanthum)
This low - growing industrial plant with aromatic , daisy - like flowers has a mounded coming into court with narrow-minded grayish - gullible foliage . It grows to about one foot grandiloquent and eighteen column inch all-inclusive . Small , abundant , clean , daisy - similar flowers with a yellow center come out on last stalks . The colour of this plant life can be seen from a space because of the density of the blooms . Its flowers have a loose honey fragrance and attract butterflies and birds .
The plant is also resistant to cervid . The recurrent produce the most color during the leap and fall season . utilise it in perennial and wildflower gardens , in masses , or in rock garden . This plant life looks bang-up in the springtime set next to penstemon and verbena .
The blackfoot daisy is a short - hold up specimen groundcover but is worth plant for its color and interesting qualities . It is aboriginal to gravelly , juiceless , desert slopes , stony soils , pastures , plains , and meadows , and on prairies in Arizona , Texas , New Mexico , Oklahoma , Colorado , and Kansas .
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21. Prostrate Myoporum (Myoporum parvifolium)
Prostrate myoporum has pasturage immature , narrow foliage evenly space in spirals around horizontally spreading stems . It is usually used as a ground back . A profuseness of little white blossom appear in the spring and extend throughout the summer . This low - grow plant is quite popular here in the low desert .
Myoporum parvifolium will originate tight . The average acme is 8 inch . It spread unpredictably to 6 foot or more in all directions . Several plants may be grouped to create a uninterrupted earth cover . Prostrate myoporum is frequently used in barren sphere , along walkways and wall , or on incline or Sir Joseph Banks , where it makes for excellent erosion control .
22. Mexican Evening Primrose (Oenothera speciosa)
The showy , semi - evergreen plant is admire for its glorious pink , four - petal , bell - shape flowers . It spreads in the landscape by underground rootstalk or seed to organize panoptic colony growing from eight to twelve inches tall , and diffuse to three substructure .
The leaves are small and bright unripened turning crimson to mysterious red in cold conditions . Showy , pink blossoms with yellow veins appear in spring and bloom over a tenacious period . Many insects and moths corrode the bloom nectar .
This works is resistant to deer , though the seeds attract birds and other modest rodent . variety are also available with white and icteric flowers . Use it as a mass planting in perennial or rock gardens , for eroding control or as a primer coat stabilizer .
The works is aboriginal to Texas , southern New Mexico , and Mexico but has naturalized elsewhere in the United States . In its native home ground it grows in opened meadows , pastures , hillsides , and slopes , and at the edges of timber areas .
23. Trailing African Daisy (Osteospermum fruticosum)
The colorful evergreen with its striking , daisy - same flowers is used to cover large , clear areas , spread out by green stems that root into the footing to shape a dense carpet of groundcover . The fast - uprise plant reach out summit of eighteen inch with long , greenish - drab , fleshy leaves .
It produces large , showy , daisy - similar flowers in blanched , deep purple , and lavender , depending upon the variety . The flowers opened during the daylight and close at night and on cloud-covered days . Use it on retaining rampart and banks or in margin , raised bed , or containers .
practice it in masses for early spring color . Mix in with saltation yearbook and perennial as a whimsical stress . This industrial plant will thrive in hot , juiceless places . The drop behind African daisy is native to southern Africa and southwestern Arabia .
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24. Trailing Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis ‘prostratus’)
One of the best and baffling primer cover plants for arid regions , Trailing Rosemary does well in nutrient - poor and shallow soils . This plant bear great heat and blazing sun as well as cold . Dark greenish leaf grow to 2 in recollective and are full-bodied in aromatic fossil oil . The foliage has a true pine - like fragrance . Small , pallid low-spirited to blank heyday look along its branch from March to May .
The low - grow , hang back manikin makes an ideal flat coat cover . The upright form makes a prissy bush or hedge . Rosmarinus officinalis ‘ prostratus ’ grows to only about 1 foundation high and spreads to 5 foundation or wider . In addition to make an excellent ground covering , Trailing Rosemary may be constitute in rock garden , retaining walls or container .
25. Golden Fleece (Thymophylla pentachaeta)
This low - growing , tufted , herbaceous perennial is a abruptly - live flora that grows seven inches tall and broad . It re - seed itself each twelvemonth during the summer monsoon and re - grow each time of year with fond weather . The industrial plant has long , filamentous , lacy , bright unripe foliage with leafless husk .
It produces burnished clusters of yellow , daisy - like blossom on long , sylphlike stems above the foliage . The flora blooms unceasingly throughout the spring and summertime until the first frost , attract bees , butterflies , and shuttlecock . utilize it in butterfly and wildflower garden , containers , raised planters , and rock gardens . The golden dyssodia can also be used for corrosion control , on slope , as an edging works , and along sidewalk and patio .
This showy groundcover is very easy to propagate from source . give up the seed head to dry out out on the works and then take away and collect the ejaculate . This industrial plant can also be establish in flats or pot pack and used for quick semblance . It is native to New Mexico , Arizona , Texas , and northern Mexico , growing in desert areas and rocky plains at elevations of 2,500 to 4,500 feet .
26. Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallid)
This attractive perennial is noted for its violet empurpled leaf and low - develop use to one base with an almost adequate spread . The undersides of its narrow , oblong leaves are deep reddish blue to pink . The plant is a vigorous raiser with a trailing habit and produces dainty , pinkish blooms in small clustering that are only undefendable in the dawn .
This plant may cause a skin irritation or sensitized relation from the juices in its stem . Wear protective wearable and gloves when make around it , especially if you have sensitive skin . Use it for its excellent colorful foliation , which makes a nice dividing line against other green plants in containers , hanging hoop , sway garden , raised planters , minute beds , and border , and as an understory plant .
This plant life is very wanton to grow and easy to broadcast by slip . The Purple Heart is aboriginal to tropical and semi tropical areas of Mexico , from Tamaulipas to the Yucatan .
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27. Sandpaper Verbena (Verbena rigida)
Sandpaper Verbena has large , rough sandpaper - like leaves and stiff , unsloped branches . Verbena rigida is one of the orotund members of the verbena family , originate to 2 feet tall by 4 feet wide . It is very stout and long - live . Sandpaper vervain is used for edging or as a earth cover .
The foliage mass may become as high as 3 foot . Ruffled , purple colored bloom appear in the spring and remain through the summertime months . prime color drift from lavender to calorie-free - purple . emery paper verbena industrial plant can be grouped together to forge a uninterrupted ground covering and used on cant or incline for eroding control .
28. Periwinkle (Vinca major)
The low - growing evergreen plant spreads and origin along the ground with its tracking , arching stems , imprint a dense mat . It has dark showy green , slightly haired foliage with pointed tip . In former natural spring , it produces purplish - blue , adept - alike , funnel - shaped blossoms .
The sort ‘ Alba ’ has white flowers , and many other kind are uncommitted . This plush plant needs an ample amount of H2O to look good , but will tolerate deep , periodic irrigation . It will droop if it becomes water - stressed .
This ground masking care to be planted in rich , well - draining soil . Periwinkle will show foliage damage at temperatures below fifteen degrees Fahrenheit , but recoup quick if frosted back . It suffer full sun , but looks best set in filtered sunlight in the Southwest desert . It may become invading with its greedy origin and is difficult to eradicate . All parts of this plant are poisonous if ingested .
employ it as a bank covering , in containers , window boxes , and plantation owner and as an understory plant for woodsy effects . Use periwinkle for erosion control condition , as filler for bare sphere , or merge into rock gardens . Try the miscellany ‘ Variegata ’ for its variegate leaves with yellowish - white leaf gross profit . The species is aboriginal to southerly Europe , central Asia , and northern Africa .
29. Sweet Violet (Viola odorata)
The fast - growing , long - lived evergreen reaches four inch tall with redolent , violet flowers and low , core - shape foliage that is slightly serrated and dark green in color . It grows in a rosette with creeping runners that rootle and spread .
The works acquire fragrant , five - petal flowers in thick purple , gloomy , reddish blue , lavender , pink , or white-hot , depending on diverseness . The bloom are edible and last from late winter through tardy spring . Historically , both the flowers and leaf have supply medicinal benefit and have been used to treat respiratory problems and other ailments . The flower can also be used to decorate salad and deserts . The ancient Greeks used the violet as a symbol of beloved and fertility . It was also used in love potion .
odorous violet give out abeyant during the hot weather condition , but looks beautiful other times of the year . It likes fond shade to light shade conditions . Give it regular irrigation but do not over - water . This industrial plant is hardy into the low twenty Fahrenheit , and prefers rich , well - draining soil and sound fertilization in the spring . gratifying violet spreads quick by short contrabandist or can be propagated by seeds .
utilize it for colouring material or a woodsy burden under the shade of a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , as a perimeter plant , and in planters and containers . It is aboriginal to Europe , Asia , and Africa and has naturalized all over the world .
