Off the top of your mind, the number of exciting plants can you consider the grow just too in Boston, Atlanta, St. Louis, Santa Fe and Seattle? This one is really a celebrity, although some are. Meet plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides), a ground cover that will just be your new companion.
Botanical name: Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Common names: plumbago, leadwort
USDA zones: 5 to 9
Water demands: Low to moderate
Light requirements: Full sun to partial shade; afternoon shade in warm climates
Mature dimensions: 6 to 12 inches tall and at least 1 to 2 feet wide; spreads by rhizomes in a moderate pace
Tolerances: Clay soil, drought, shade, bull, coastal
Photo from André Karwath (Aka) through Wikimedia Commons
Plumbago blooms in blossoms of the clearest cerulean blue, from midsummer into fall, finally segueing into sunlight with a few outstanding red-to-purple foliage — yes, this is a floor cover with fall color, and while it’s still in blossom. It’s good for containers.
Photo from Magnus Manske through Wikimedia Commons
This”little plant that could” grows just fine in all sorts of soils as long as they are not soggy. It handles drought with aplomb as long as it will get a little colour in the hottest aspect of the day; it’s happy in light shade all day too. It coats the floor with its luscious, gently shiny foliage, which emerges in spring. Deer do not like it, and it could take those climates that are tricky.
Photo from Magnus Manske through Wikimedia Commons
Plumbago might be a bit tender at the northern reaches of its scope, but since it dies back in the winter, it’s what you can call self-mulching. Add a bit of additional mulch once it dies back and do not cut it back before early spring, before new growth pops up, and it should do just fine in zone 5. It makes good bedfellows with spring bulbs since it wakes up on the other hand, and with taller perennials too.
I recall walking into a nursery once I was a child and visiting several untouched apartments of plumbago, thriving and growing up a storm. Why untouched? Simply because nobody knew what it was. Get to know this floor cover and do not make the same mistake.
Photo by Wouter Hagens through Wikimedia Commons
More great design plants:
Black Mondo Grass | Blue Chalk Sticks | Cape Rush | Feather Reed Grass | Hens-and-Chicks | New Zealand Wind Grass | Redtwig Dogwood | Toyon
Great design trees:
Bald Cypress | Chinese Witch Hazel | Western Maple | Manzanita | Persian Ironwood | Smoke Tree | Tree Aloe
Great design blossoms:
Catmint | Golden Creeping Jenny | Pacific Coast Iris | Red Kangaroo Paw | Sally Holmes Rose | Slipper Plant | Snake Flower