My Big 3 Suggestions

In an effort to simplify and add more delight to your weekend gardening, I've decided to go out on a limb and flat-out tell you the three best, all-around ground covers that you can employ for excellent 'care-free' results.

All three are probably the most common and taken together, they are probably planted more often than all other ground covers combined. Some garden writers and magazine publishers don't give them enough credit saying that they are boring. But I disagree. I think they are rabidly popular because they work--- and they work for you, not against you!

Three plants--- pachysandra (Pachysandra terminlis), Enlgish Ivy (Hedra helix), and periwinkle (Vinca minor and Vinca major).

One of the benefits these choices offer is expense. They are relatively cheap compared to most other choices, they fill in quickly and provide a tantalizing carpet of dark green foliage throughout the year. The larger your yard area the more you will appreciate the (relatively) inexpensive three mentioned above. Other ground covers might tempt you but these three will save you money and provide all you need for fine coverage.

Of the three, periwinkle, with its tidy leaves and small blue flowers, is by far my personal choice, and if it weren't so common I'm sure most gardeners would agree. I've used it over sweeps of land and to trail over walls, sprinkling more attention grabbing plants throughout.

Pachysandra provides you with whirls of green foliage and short peaks of creamy white flowers.

The English Ivy, with its dark green three pointed leaves will give you a strudy and lively look.

Just rememebr, the pachysandra grows much taller than periwinkle, up to 8 to 10 inches, and English Ivy can be a bit testy, even a pest sometimes if not regularly trimmed back--- both establish themselves faster than the periwinkle.