One of the problems that a new northern landscape may encounter is a lack of plant material to fill the landscape with. Young gardens need time to grow and fill in and in the meanwhile can look pretty barren. Plant some ground cover! The more the merrier. Use ground cover to help fill in between plants, fountains and garden decor, or around stepping stones.
Before you start planting just anything you need to choose your ground cover based on the light, water, and traffic conditions in your garden. These are some great ground cover suggestions to fit just about any northern garden need.
If you have a sunny garden you might want to consider planting some sedum. It comes in many different foliage and flower colors ranging from yellow and white and bright green to pink and burgundy. Because sedum is drought tolerant it will do great in poor soil conditions. It is often used on a lot of those new fangled green roof tops to give you an idea of what kind of environment it likes. The hotter the better! Sedum is not a good choice if it is going to get stepped on.
Another good choice for a sunny garden with a path and some stepping stones, is the kitchen herb called thyme. It is good for an area that gets a lot of foot traffic, such as around some stepping stones, because of it’s aromatic qualities. Give your landscape a cottage garden feel with this herb that also comes in a variety of growth habits and color choices such as creeping thyme, woolly thyme or lemon thyme…to name a few.
If you have a shade garden you really should consider some pachysandra. It is a good choice for an area that gets very little sun or an area that gets some dappled sun. Pachysandra is a good choice under a walnut tree which can be difficult to plant under. Pachysandra always looks good and is easy to maintain.Pachysandra is less intrusive than vvinca, another popular ground cover choice.
The shaded woodland garden will be improved by using some wild ginger. It has handsome dark green circular leaves and forms a dense matte with little ground hugging flowers that are popular with toads and woodland critters. Plant it around the base of a [bird feeder|recycled glass bird feeder] to hide the cast off seeds. Supposedly there are some evergreen varieties.
Whether you have shade or sun a ground cover is always going to enhance your garden landscape. They cover up all the unattractive areas in your garden and also improve the vigor of existing plants by shading their roots. Ground cover can unify your garden landscape. Put some [recycled glass gazing globes|gazing balls] in a patch of ground cover for an easy garden decoration idea and just enjoy!