14
I justput
JULY 6. 2007
1MV
Covering Ground
The Law Office of John V. McVeaz P.C
Dan opens his mind, covers his yard
CRIMINAL DEFENSE
PERSONAL INJURY
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J
503-223-1708
www.mcvealaw.com
The Morgan Bldq. • 720 SW Washington, Suit
W, OR 97205
L
Kl Ul') ÌBI S!
H. D wayne D avis . Broker
AS YOUR AOENT I WILL:
Listen to you
Communicate throughout the process
Be present through closing and beyond
ust the other day 1 was working in my
garden, cutting hack some overgrown
grasses when my dear gardening pal Loree
Hyde called me. I normally don't answer
my phone when I’m in my special
gardening place, hut it is always a pleasure
her voice. I also love the shy way she asks me,
“Do you mind if we talk about gardening?”
“Of course not,” I always reply. “What’s your
question?"
“Well,” she said, “how do you feel about
ground covers?”
To be honest, it has taken me quite some time
to really grow fond of them. In my years of work­
ing at a retail nursery, I would talk to people who
were just starting their gardens. So frequently they
would start their new gardens with ground covers
and then go from there. That just seemed so back­
ward. Wouldn’t you want to start by planting the
big things first and work your way down from
there? The words “ground cover” brought a shud­
der to my frame, and I routinely overlooked plants
labeled as such.
Luckily, I have changed my tune a bit since
those days and have grown to really love some of
them. I have realized that sometimes the “g word”
is more than four letters.
Cell 503/319-+057
Office 503/294-1101
Email hddavis@realtytrust.com
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to hear
planted vinca minor. Major oops. It took me a while
to get rid of that.
Since then, when I’ve wanted an evergreen
ground cover, I have planted star jasmine. It also
grows about 6 inches tall and spreads out along the
ground, rooting in where it touches soil, but it is
way easier to keep under control. I made the same
mistake planting blue star creeper close to my lawn.
In two years I could hardly tell where the grass
ended and the garden bed began.
When 1 planted my new garden last year, I used
ground covers frequently to show off larger plants.
I still pause over the way Acaena inermis “Purpurea”
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jasmine works as a ground cover or a bush depending on how it's trimmed.
Ground covers do have a purpose in garden
and I have started to use them more and
;. 1 will stand firm in my belief that in general
shouldn’t be the first thing you throw into the
nix, but rather be added as complements to a design
« a whole.
It’s no doubt that these plants are incredibly
jopular, but there are some things to know or to
ind out the hard way. Not all these plants labeled
are able to hold up to foot traffic. I have
lever met a sedum that looks too good after my size
12 has crushed it. I will also venture to say that in
»enetal the smaller the leaves and the tighter the
>lant grows, the more likely it can handle being
on from time to time, like for instance
hyme or Irish or Scotch moss.
A lot of the plants sold as ground covers are sold
is such because they will cover a lot of ground
eally fast. This has its good points and bad. What
f that cute little 4-inch pot has spread way past the
’round you wanted covered? I encountered this
vhen I first started gardening in Portland and
is the perfect complement to silver-leaved plants.
This little New Zealand native makes a wonderful
3-inch-tall purple carpet around taller plants. And
1 love the Cotula or Leptinella “Platts Black” that
I planted, too, with its dark brown leaves that look
like tiny fem fronds. 1 like the way these two plants
pop up around the shrubs and grasses in my back
yard. I have planted them all over the place, and it
ties everything together so nicely.
Ground covers allow a fragmented garden to
look like a whole picture and not just a collection
of a bunch of smaller snapshots.
I am glad that my opinion has changed about
these plants. I guess there is a use for just about any
plant in a landscape if it's used right. Or better yet,
I’ve become more comfortable in my understand­
ing of ground covers as a complement to a garden
as a whole and not just the whole garden. ©
To reach D1RTY D an , who will answer any and all of
your gardening questions, simply e-mail
dirtydthegardener@yaho<>. com.