blue flowered groundcover
#1
hello, i am looking for a blue flowered groundcover. im trying to find something that looks like evening primrose but blue. it will be in partail shade and slightly acidic soil around pine trees and bulbs and roses. i would like to be able to plant red poppies with it. i would like for it to be a perennial. i want to plant something light over my bulbs, but i dont want the height or 'sprawling-ness' of the wildflower mixes. i have been looking up wildflowers and southeastern,i have looked at online catalogs- any suggestions? thank you in advance!
#2
Try http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/ look at Tradescantia they come in a lot of colors. I have this growing under my tree with my yellow roses and iris and other bulbs. They flower from early summer to fall in my zone 5.
#5
If you are looking for red white and blue to bloom at the same time this plant would not be a good choice. But if you wanted to use the red white and blue theme as Late spring until fall then you could use this plant you can buy the plant in the three colors. Go to the link in my message and look under the spring bulbs, I think Giant Hyacinths would be a better choice. This bulb comes in red white and blue comes .
Here is an idea. Use your bulbs red, white and blue for the spring and the Tradescantia for the summer to fall. This plant would cover the ground and still continue your color scheme throughout the growing season. Feeling real ambitious you could use stepping stones either painted or tiled stones you could make these easily. Buy stepping stone or make you own and get a bag of cement and attach the color stone, broken tile to the stone to match your color scheme, this would give you the color year round when plants are not blooming.
I will stop now I am going crazy with the planning LOL...
Here is an idea. Use your bulbs red, white and blue for the spring and the Tradescantia for the summer to fall. This plant would cover the ground and still continue your color scheme throughout the growing season. Feeling real ambitious you could use stepping stones either painted or tiled stones you could make these easily. Buy stepping stone or make you own and get a bag of cement and attach the color stone, broken tile to the stone to match your color scheme, this would give you the color year round when plants are not blooming.
I will stop now I am going crazy with the planning LOL...
#6
Merci beacoup for the great ideas. I may try to use them all! I could even see each class making their own unique piece in cement for a little path. I did find one evergreen ground cover on that website that flowers "almost true blue" in spring. It's called Aubrieta Novalis Blue. I have no idea if it would work but I may try it.
#9
I guess I didn't have any plans for post-tulip blooms. I was kind of hoping the evergreen ground cover would suffice, since school will be out from June-mid August. I have a very small budget and even less time to spend on it. Do you have to cut down the tulips after they bloom? As you may have noticed, I am quite the amateur at gardening.
#10
Hello Zone7
If you are looking for a reliable ground cover, Vinca minor or Periwinkle (sometimes called myrtle depending on where you are from) works very well in acid soils under full to partial shade. It is perennnial and has pale to sky blue flowers born irraticlly from May until September, with the main flush being in the earlier part of the season. The one drawback is it is slow to establish (a season or two), but once it does, it takes off like wildfire. Nurseries tend to sell it in flats or in single pots - best to see if you have a friend or neighbour that has it first though, since you need to plant it 4" to 6" on center to get good coverage (and at that spacing, it gets quite expensive). If you can find some for free, just split it so that each piece has a root and plant the segments bareroot into the ground. Keep them well watered until established, and voila!
You may also want to see if you can find some Siberian Squill bulbs - (Scilla var.)and see if you like them... They have bell shaped blue to white flowers (depending on the variety) from early to mid spring and will naturalize and multiply if allowed to. They also like partial shade. If you start with 50-100 bulbs and just throw them over your shoulder and plant them where they land, they will already have that 'natuarallized' appearance! I have them in my front lawn and they really add a blue carpet effect to the patch they are in when in flower. The foliage can be left to die back naturally or can be mowed if in the lawn areas (they look great with daffodils or narcissus, also).
A couple other things about periwinkle (or any other low matting groundcover, for that matter) - It can be difficult to weed out grasses and invasive perennial weeds if they establish between the groundcover, so try to start with a 'clean', weedfree plot. Also, some groundcovers tend to act as paper or garbage collectors if in a windblown area - they can be a bit of a pain to keep tidy if you are prone to blowing debris from surrounding areas.
Good luck with your gardening adventure!
Howie from Toronto, Canada
If you are looking for a reliable ground cover, Vinca minor or Periwinkle (sometimes called myrtle depending on where you are from) works very well in acid soils under full to partial shade. It is perennnial and has pale to sky blue flowers born irraticlly from May until September, with the main flush being in the earlier part of the season. The one drawback is it is slow to establish (a season or two), but once it does, it takes off like wildfire. Nurseries tend to sell it in flats or in single pots - best to see if you have a friend or neighbour that has it first though, since you need to plant it 4" to 6" on center to get good coverage (and at that spacing, it gets quite expensive). If you can find some for free, just split it so that each piece has a root and plant the segments bareroot into the ground. Keep them well watered until established, and voila!
You may also want to see if you can find some Siberian Squill bulbs - (Scilla var.)and see if you like them... They have bell shaped blue to white flowers (depending on the variety) from early to mid spring and will naturalize and multiply if allowed to. They also like partial shade. If you start with 50-100 bulbs and just throw them over your shoulder and plant them where they land, they will already have that 'natuarallized' appearance! I have them in my front lawn and they really add a blue carpet effect to the patch they are in when in flower. The foliage can be left to die back naturally or can be mowed if in the lawn areas (they look great with daffodils or narcissus, also).
A couple other things about periwinkle (or any other low matting groundcover, for that matter) - It can be difficult to weed out grasses and invasive perennial weeds if they establish between the groundcover, so try to start with a 'clean', weedfree plot. Also, some groundcovers tend to act as paper or garbage collectors if in a windblown area - they can be a bit of a pain to keep tidy if you are prone to blowing debris from surrounding areas.
Good luck with your gardening adventure!
Howie from Toronto, Canada
#11
Now you give us the whole story. My sister-in-law, a poor staving teacher, hit the local nurseries in middle to late Oct. If you tell them you are a teacher trying to do something nice for your students some will give you some bulbs. You are right school is out during the real growing season if you live in a cold area. Your plan of a few tulips some decoratve stones and evergreens will be your best bet. Easy to clean and it will look good all the time.
Try calling some of your local nurseries next week and explain your plan and position. It never hurts to ask.
Also, do not cut the leaves on bulbs the leaves feed the bulb for next years flowers. If you leave the leaves you will have more and bigger flowers each year.
Try calling some of your local nurseries next week and explain your plan and position. It never hurts to ask.
Also, do not cut the leaves on bulbs the leaves feed the bulb for next years flowers. If you leave the leaves you will have more and bigger flowers each year.
#12
Hi Jacque,
My email is listed here. Click on it, and I'll send you some seeds for white wave petunias. Since you are out for the summer, I realize watering plants is out of the question. I don't know what zone you are in, but wave petunias can tolerate hot areas. Granted, they can't withstand desert conditions. By the way, what zone are you in?
Your students may get a kick out of starting flowers from seeds. There may be others here that have seeds for blue and red flowers. They could be combined to have a summer garden that awaits you when you return to school in the fall.
I admire your efforts! I don't think we'll be surprised come next spring/summer at all the red/white/blue gardens we will be seeing.
Gami
My email is listed here. Click on it, and I'll send you some seeds for white wave petunias. Since you are out for the summer, I realize watering plants is out of the question. I don't know what zone you are in, but wave petunias can tolerate hot areas. Granted, they can't withstand desert conditions. By the way, what zone are you in?
Your students may get a kick out of starting flowers from seeds. There may be others here that have seeds for blue and red flowers. They could be combined to have a summer garden that awaits you when you return to school in the fall.
I admire your efforts! I don't think we'll be surprised come next spring/summer at all the red/white/blue gardens we will be seeing.
Gami
#13
Thank you to everyone! I truly appreciate all the helpful input. I do need to say, however, that I am not a teacher. I have volunteered as a parent to do this and the fundraising is also my responsibility. I do like the idea of appealing to local nurseries for donations, but this is a private school so I'm not sure how that would pan out. I have had Vinca (periwinkle) before, and it did grow quite lush, even the first summer. I'll be considering all these suggestions and I appreciate them so much. Thanks again! Stay tuned and I'll post an update with the final plan and perhaps again in spring when it all blooms.