Groundcovers are blooming!

Hello again! May is here and with her she has brought more rain. When will it stop? The season has come to a yellow light. Proceed with caution! Once the rain has stopped, hopefully the light will be green and the season and our companies profitable. This week, I want to share some of the groundcovers that are doing well in the landscape. Also a completed woodland project I'd like to tell you about. So without further ado, here we go!


Heuchera 'Georgia Peach' PPAF
Emerging nicely from the ground a pale red with silvery overlay. This Heuchera has H. villosa in its' bloodlines. Therefore making it more heat and humidity resistant and overall a better landscape plant. Not to mention the cool color of it's foliage. A highly recommended plant!

Phlox subulata 'Emerald Blue'
At this time of year, how can you not enjoy the early blooms of creeping phlox? Whether blue, pink, red or white, they are stunning. Sharp pointed foliage covered in the starry blooms are very nice in a well drained location. Too much moisture will lead to rotting.





Waldstenia ternata
Barren strawberry is one of my favorite early season blooming groundcovers. Yellow flowers carpet the strawberry like foliage in spring. In a time of season where white and blue dominates the landscape, a little yellow groundcover really opens eyes.

Lamiums

'Anne Greenaway' is a uniquely variegated dead nettle. Yellow, green and white cover the plant all year. Pink flowers add to the garishness. But people like it! The only issue I'm seeing at this point as far as Midwest Groundcovers producing it, is that there is a lot of reversion where the foliage is all yellow. I'm going to keep watching and see if they continue to be unstable.

'Ghost' is a completely white foliaged variety. This was bred by Illinois native Brent Horvath from Intrinsic Perennials. This could be a great plant for the landscape. In our Lamium trial area, this has the cleanest foliage and will be blooming soon. It looks to be a real winner.

This is just a reminder to stop and enjoy the tulips while they last. It's such a short season, and we in this industry need to sometimes remember why we are in the industry. Yes, money is definately an object, but the beauty that we get to share with our clients makes the world better.

Shrubs:

Sorbaria 'Sem' PP 16.336

One heck of a foliage plant. This one is much more compact than the species and has wonderful red new growth. Only growing to 3' x 3' it could be a nice substitute for Spiraeas. It does have a suckering habit, but seems to do so slowly. This plant should have lots of potential at the Garden Center or for the landscaper. While it is still in a trial stage for us, with enough feedback, it could make our product line.

Viburnum x juddi

Judd Viburnums hold a lot of personal value to me. This was the first plant in my horticulture days that I ever planted. Looking back on that, I am so happy I chose such a cool plant. It could have very easily been Flowering Almond or Goldmound Spiraea, but I chose the best fragrance of any plant in my opinion. If you have not stopped by your local fragrant viburnum and taken a quick sniff, I beg you to do so. You will not regret it!



In the landscape:

At this time, Midwest Groundcovers finds it very important to work towards being a more "Green" company. One of the ways we work towards that is with our own native landscapes. At our Michigan facility, our native woodlands remain untouched and pristine. Trillium grandiflorum, Blue Cohosh, Trout Lily, Bloodroot and Spring Beauties are all part of that landscape. Seen in bloom, it is quite breathtaking. In St Charles, a section of our woods was just planted with native woodland plants native to Kane County. The picture on the left shows the area. Being a shrinking habitat with all the development in the area, we felt it was a good idea to restore one of the natural treasures given to us. In doing so, we are looking forward to next spring when all the Hepatica, Trillium and Dodecatheon start to bloom. These are both a benefit to the humans who walk the paths, and the birds that migrate through it. The path in St Charles is by guided tour only as we do not want too many people tromping through the area.

While it is trendy to be "Green", it is also very important if we want our next generations to enjoy what so many of us take for granted. How many times have we driven over bridges and never thought to take a look at the view from the bridge? Too many times to count? This will not be a process that happens over night for any company. But if we are diligent in working towards a more healthy environment, we will all be much better off. Thanks for reading, and until next time, have a great day!