Ground covers serve many purposes in the landscape including weed control and aiding in the prevention of erosion. Ground covers prevent weeds from invading planting beds. The ground cover smothers the ground surrounding your plants thus inhibiting the growth of unwanted weeds. It also acts as a protective barrier while protecting beneficial earthworms from predatory birds. In the same way your lawn keeps the soil beneath it in place, the roots of ground cover also keep the soil beneath it in place. Hillside situations require deep-rooted ground covers that provide erosion control to stabilize the slope. In addition to preventing erosion, these roots also prevent the lose of water through evaporation. Planting ground covers in your garden also conserves water by shading the soil beneath from direct sunlight. Shallow rooted ground covers planted under trees and shrubs will break up the soil thus improving the porosity of the soil and also nutrient intake for the taller plants. When selecting a ground cover choose a variety that best suits your garden. Various species are adaptable to sun or shade and typically do not grow than six inches. Ground covers typically require little or no fertilization and most become drought tolerant once established. Besides the most popular ground covers such as pachysandra, ivy and vinca there are other ground covers to consider. For example, creeping thyme, creeping phlox, low growing sedums, liriope, wild ginger, ajuga and sweet woodruff also make great ground covers. 
This article was contributed by Shane Holderer of Landscape Plus LLC
Shane Holderer
Landscape Plus LLC
4734 Applebutter Road
Pipersville, Pa. 18947
215-646-1235
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1 comments:
Very good article-good info and straight to the point. I would just be careful of introducing vinca to a a landscape that is near the woods: it is kind of invasive if left unchecked:)
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