This first article in our series of Popular plants for landscaping covers popular ground cover plants.
Ground Cover plants are ideal at filling gaps, providing colour and shape to the bottom part of the garden’s edge while also creating a layered effect. Ideal for garden edges, paths or as a feature in-between step-stones or rockeries. When planted under trees; many of these ground cover plants can create a soft carpet effect adjourned with colour in their flowering months.
Camellia - Marge Miller
Camellias are a versatile plant with numerous styles to suit every garden need. The Marge Miller is a Camellia Sasanqua that will grow around 30-40cm high and can spread 1-2metres wide depending on how you keep it. The Marge Miller Camellias prefer semi-shade however will also thrive in a full sun environment. Providing an evergreen plant throughout the year, it will flower in Autumn with soft Pink informal double flowers, which will bring vibrance and elegance to your garden. The Marge Miller Camellias can also be a cascading plant over walls. Once established, as ground cover plants, these camellias are very low maintenance.
Gardenia Augusta - Radican
Gardenia’s offer a beautiful evergreen plant featuring white perfumed flowers during the spring months. Ideal as ground cover plant, they grow to be around 50cm tall x 1.5m wide and prefer full sun to partly shaded areas. They can also potentially be moulded into a small hedge, and pruning is recommended to keep the desired shape and encourage new flower growth. The Gardenia Radicans have proven to be a popular choice for garden landscaping over many years.
Trachelospermum Jasminoides - Star Jasmine
This deep green evergreen plant has a beautiful small white star shaped flower which offers an ideal ground cover plant. It can also be staked or put on a trellis to create a shape you are after. Many gardens feature the star jasmine near fences to soften their border line. For me, the smell of the star jasmine is divine, and has been a favourite of mine for years. This plant is popular as it is a hardy, versatile plant that will add colour and fragrance to the garden. It grows best in full sun to part shade and once established is a very durable plant.
Trachelospermum Jasminoides - Tri-colour
A variegated form of the above Star Jasmine, the Tri-colour offers a sturdy ground cover plant with interesting colour. As the name suggests, the tri-colour shrub features foliage of three colours: green, mottled green with white and pink. Unlike Star Jasmine which has beautiful scented flowers, the Tri-colour variety rarely flowers. Similar to the Star Jasmine, the Tri-colours prefer full sun to part shade and are a very durable plant once established.
As a wholesale nursery in Sydney, we have sold the plants above for many years and are often asked by landscapers for them, which is why we included these particular ground cover plants in our popular list. They can bring exquisite garden cover, beautiful flowers and a wonderful smell to your garden.
So, whether you are looking to fill a gap within your garden, create a multi layered look or even to have cascading plants to soften a rockery, these are some popular ground cover plants you can utilise. Get your garden maintenance person or landscaper or visit your local nursery and ask them to supply you with these quality plants from Flora Nursery.
Take a look at our other articles around popular hedging plants and popular boarder plants.