Confer~nce 1999 - Association of Professional Landscape Designers

Environmental Notes con 'tfrom front page
automatic choice for all situations
where a ground cover is desired.
..,.,,,give an example, there has been a
'at increase of interest, in recent
years, in gardening with native plants.
On the eastern seaboard, following this
inclination, often means creating a
woodland garden. Where space does
not permit a woodland, a gardener
hankering after the feel of the wild,
might settle for a collection of native
shrubs under some existing trees. In
such settings, ivy, vinca and
pachysandra would be out of place. A
better choice would be one (or more)
of the native woodlands groundcovers.
There are a host of enchanting ones
from which to choose. Pachysandra
procumbens, the Allegheny spurge,
native to the Southeastern United
States, is a close relative of the
ubiquitous Japanese pachysandra, but
it is a more suitable companion to
other native plants. Its habit is similar
to that of the familiar import but its
leaves are a paler green and they are
attractively mottled with silvery grey.
T., my New Jersey garden, it is
ciduous, though according to Allan
Armitage, it is evergreen in the South.
At any rate, a deciduous habit is not
necessarily a detriment in an
informal or woodsey setting and this
trait is more than compensated for by
the novelty of its lovely foliage.
Gautheria procumbens, wintergreen, is
a lovely diminutive plant not over four
inches tall with dark, glossy, oval
leaves which have a powerful aroma of
wintergreen when crushed and turn a
beautiful bronzy purple in the fall and
winter. Wintergreen rounds out its list
of desirable attributes with white, urnshaped
flowers followed by red berries
which taste of oil of wintergreen.
Another evergreen groundcover is
Galax urceolata with glossy round
leaves up top four inches across and
dainty spikes of tiny white flowers in
the spring. Galex is a superb and truly
charming groundcover in a woodsey
r -"~ing. However, it does spread
Nly. To avoid frustration, plant
closely and plan to use it in a small
APLD
area, at least initially.
Comus canadensis, the bunchberry, is
a miniature relative of the flowering
dogwood tree. This deciduous ground
cover has medium green leaves in
whorls above which are borne flowers
very similar to those of the tree.
Clusters of inconspicuous yellowish
green flowers are subtended by showy
white bracts. The flowers are followed
by a tight bunch of bright red berries
which make a handsome display in the
summer and fall. Bunchberry has
many charms, but be forewarned, it
too, is a slow spreader.
Chrysogonum virginanum, also called
green-and-gold, has bright green oval
leaves and single yellow daisy-type
flowers. Some catalogues claim that
the plants bloom constantly all
summer. In truth, green-and-gold is
more of a spring bloomer which may
flower intermittently into early
summer. It generally gives up
flowering in high summer heat but
may sport a few more blooms in the
fall, when they are amply welcome.
The perky little flowers are very
effective in brightening shady corners.
Tiarella corifolia has bright green
leaves, rather hairy, and somewhat
reminiscent of maple leaves in shape.
Its white flowers appear in the spring.
They are very tiny but are borne
profusely in finger-shaped spikes.
Their delicate, feathery appearance has
given this plant its common name,
foamflower. This plant makes a
spectacular groundcover. It spreads
rapidly, propagating by both seeds and
runners. Wherry's foamflower, T.
cordifolia var. collina, which is clumpforming
rather than stoloniferous and
has pale ink flowers, is also a very
desirable plant, though less effective as
a groundcover because it spreads
slowly.
Heuchera americana, american
alumroot, is a close relative of the
foamflower. The evergreen foliage is
larger and the plant is a tough, reliable
performer. The rounded to heartshaped
leaves are mottled with purple
when young. The color tends to fade
with maturity, however under good
cultural condition, new produced all
season. The Mount Cuba Center for
Study of Piedmont Flora has
introduced H. american "Garnet," a
new cultivar with deep red foliage. A
number of other new cultivars are
making their appearance in nurseries.
Sporting a lot of variety in leaf shape
and in color, and markings ranging
from all over color, to veining or
mottling in purples and silvery tones.
Many hold great promise as shade
garden plants.
More and more gardeners all the time
are drawn for a variety of
philosophical, ecological, and aesthetic
reasons to create meadows, wetland
gardens, woodland gardens, and other
oases which are inspired by the
surrounding ecosystems. This
welcome and healthy trend in
landscaping and gardening has created
a strong interest in and demand for
native plants. Growers have
responded, with the result that plants
that were formerly difficult, to
purchase or available only by mail
order or from specialty nurseries are
now much easier to find. More
recently still, growers and enthusiasts
have begun to select interesting and
ornamental forms of wild favorites,
thereby expanding further the range of
options available to gardeners and
designers. We don't have to entirely
abandon the old stand-bys, the ivies,
the vincas, and the pachysandras,
which still have their uses. But we are,
by no means, restricted to these plants.
We can celebrate and take advantage
of the variety of the plant material that
is available, for creating special
gardens that hark back to the forest
primeval.