Tips to weed out those pesky garden creepers

Aim to cover all your soil

Weeding is one of most gardeners least favourite jobs! One of the easiest ways to reduce weeds in the garden is to ensure that they have nowhere to grow. Annual weed seeds in articular are opportunists and will quickly colonise any small patch of bare earth. To prevent this I aim to have all bare soil covered with plants, or where this is not possible a mulch of some sort whether it be bark chippings, gravel or even a permeable membrane which can be covered with a layer of decorative mulch. There are certain plants classed as ground covers which may not look the most exciting plants in the gardens centre and often do not have showy flowers however their ability to cover the soil and suppress weed growth makes them worth their weight in gold.

My favourites include Epimediums which are fabulous plants with lovely heart shaped leaves and heads of delicate hooded flowers in spring in colours ranging from white, yellow, orange through to pinks and reds. Evergreen E.x perralchium “Frohnleiten” is one of the most vigorous varieties, E. x versicolor “Sulphureum” , the best all round Epimedium with strong growth, lots of pale yellow flowers in spring and coloured foliage in spring and Autumn. Some are evergreen, others deciduous, some colour well in Autumn but all grow in dry shade where most other plants perish. I like to cut all the foliage to the ground in January so that the flowers that emerge in spring can be seen and the lovely new foliage that follows is not spoiled being amongst the old leaves.

Other good ground cover plants include Alchemilla molllis which does need to be dead headed after flowering to prevent self seeding. Ajuga reptans Atropurpurea is another groundcover I would recommend with purple leaves and spires of blue flowers in May. A r.” Cattling’s Giant” an excellent form with larger leaves and flower spires.

Even in a shrub bed when newly planted with small plants there will be a lot of bare earth for the first season or two. A generous layer of bark chippings will not only reduce weed growth but will help retain moisture in the soil reducing the need for such frequent watering.

A really low maintenance option is to use gravel over a permeable membrane, which will almost totally exclude weed growth for many seasons. The membrane and gravel not only reduce moisture loss but also allow the soil to retain heat meaning that plants often termed as not totally hardy will thrive. The gravel entrance garden and the Seaside Garden here at Green Island Gardens are really good example of this.

Green Island Gardens are open 6 days a week . All the above plants can be seen growing and purchased here.For further information visit: www.greenislandgardens.co.uk

Other good ground cover plants for shade include Gallium odoratum, Pachysandra terminalis and Euphorbia robbiae, the latter can become invasive so I would avoid planting it where it would need to be restricted. Similarly Euphorbia cyparissus Clarice Howard is a lovely little perennial with ferny foliage, red new growth and heads of sulphur yellow flowers in late spring.

For a dry sunny spot Stachys lanata often known as lamb’s ears makes a lovely textured silver carpet. In fact I am not keen on the flower spikes and usually cut them off leaving just the foliage covering the ground. The variety Stachys Primrose Heron has a golden hue to the leaves and so is good for different colour schemes.