What is an easy, flowering, ground cover perennial for full sun in zone 7?

[wildeyed]

I have a couple of hot areas that could use a boost. I already have some day lilies and daffodils planted, but I wanted to fill in a little in front of the day lilies. Coreopsis maybe? Is the new red one any good?

[BOSSHOG]

1. You might try Portulaca (Moss Rose)

Low maintenance, ground cover that likes lots of sun. Small blooms are almost flourescent.

[wildeyed]

2. Portulacas are pretty.

Kind of succulent. I bet they would look nice in front of the spiky day lilies. Hmmm, good idea.

[BOSSHOG]

3. We have had great luck with Wave Petunias this year

We have one that has grown at least ten feet around and its low to the ground. It does require a lot of deadheading but keep it watered, a little shot of miracle grow every two weeks and they were well worth the pittance we paid for them.

[wildeyed]

6. I like petunias, too.

I think this area might need something a little lower maintenance. It is by my mailbox, which is a ways from the house. I want something cheerful, but that doesn't need a lot of work. I tend to drive past and not really think about the spot from one week to the next. But the neighbors notice, I am sure.

[BOSSHOG]

8. We put Lantana around our mailbox

but you have to keep an eye on it or it will get away from you. It grows incredibly and requires a lot of pruning. It does attract the butterflies though.

[wildeyed]

9. Someone in our neighborhood has lantana around their mailbox, too.

Looks great and it sounds like it will tolerate the heat. Aren't they kind of tall, though? Maybe I should put them behind the day lilies, if I can figure out how to squeeze them in. They come in white and yellow/orange, right?

[NMDemDist2]

10. lantana grows in PHX so it can take the heat for sure. but it does

attract whiteflies so be aware if they are in your area you'll not want them too close to the house

[BOSSHOG]

11. They are almost a hedge

but you can sculpt them to your liking. We have had one plant in the south end of our one acre for the past two years and its twenty feet around and five feet tall. Quite a site.

[Skidmore]

31. They thrive in heat and with mimum watering. Blooms

profusely. And although they are billed as an annual in our zone (#5), I've had them come back if they are in a sheltered area. My daughter lives in Chicago area and her Portlaca planted in containers came back this year. That was even more amazing given that Chicago is alway 10 degrees colder than here and she bought those little plants toward the end of the season when they were looking the next best thing to being dead as they could get.

[TygrBright]

4. Verbena

There are a good many creeping verbenas that will cover an area quite nicely, though I wouldn't use them in traffic areas.

horticulturally,
Bright

[wildeyed]

5. Are there hardy creeping varieties?

I planted some that were not by my deck one spring, but they come back every year. I guess they get enough protection in that one spot.

I have Verbena bonariensis, too, but that is a very tall plant, although quite lovely. http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/01144.html

[TygrBright]

7. Hardy in Zone 7, yep...

...there's a purple one, can't remember the name offhand, but it came back every year in our MD Zone 7 yard along the south side of the house. It got a little out of hand, actually, I ended up whacking it back and finally yanking it out, but that might have been because it found the poor, struggling delphiniums it was surrounding such an easy mark. I never HAVE been able to do squat with delphiniums.

regretfully,
Bright

[Skidmore]

32. I love verbena and always have them in at least one bed ad

a container or two. They are so colorful and bloom profusely. They are so Victorian. This year I got peach colored ones and planted them up next to burgundy and lime coleus, bocupa, and this daisy-like flower (forgot the name but it started with G) which was peachy colored with hints of blue and burgandy around the egdes of the petals and intensly royal blue centers with bright orange stamens, and some of those miniature petunias in rusty orange shot through with little reddish veins. It was a wonderful display on my deck balanced out with pots of lime green sweet potato vines.

[Skidmore]

33. Try four o'clocks--an old fashioned standard.

You just toss a handful of seeds in the ground and they go crazy. They will reseed themselves.

http://www.acornfarms.com/mumsreferenceguideBRONZE.htm#acorn

[Blue Gardener]

12. There are many varieties of sedum

This is golden sedum, a ground cover hardy in zones 3-8.



http://henryfields.com/product.asp?pn=70084

[wildeyed]

14. Do you like this seller?

The Henry Fields prices seem good. How is the plant quality? They have a dragon's blood sedum that looks great, too.

[Blue Gardener]

18. I've never actually bought from them

I think my Mom used to years ago. I like to buy from the local nurseries whenever possible. They should have several kinds of sedum. It's a pretty hardy, low-maintenance plant.

[Imalittleteapot]

13. Ruellia Mexican Petunia

See here: http://home.att.net/~larvalbugbio/ruellia.html

I have white and purple varieties. This plant is great in 7, returning year after year. Some are in hot afternoon sun, some in shade and some in part shade. All bloom nicely.

[wildeyed]

15. I like free spirited plants that cast their seeds about.

This sounds like it fits the bill!

[Gato Moteado]

16. i suggest Gregg's Blue Mistflower

Eupatorium greggii

it's a drought tolerant plant that will quickly fill in an area, even in heavy clay soil. it blooms constantly from spring to fall and is a perennial in zones 7 and above.

in my experience, it generally doesn't get much taller than a foot to a foot and a half but a few times a year, when it would get a little wild looking, i would whack it all down to the same level, 8 to 12 inches off the ground, with a weed whacker and it would quickly respond by flowering even more.

the best thing about this flowr is that it produces an enzyme that attracts monarch and queen butterflies. plant it and it will fill in the area quickly, produce a thick blanket of powder blue to violet, soft looking blooms, and start attracting butterflies to your mailbox in no time.

[wildeyed]

17. Wow, that looks like a great one, too.

Now I am never going to be able to decide, they are all so nice. :(

[Gato Moteado]

19. let us know what you decide.....

....and post photos of the mailbox!

[Gato Moteado]

24. hey wildeyed and babylonsister....look here.....

....here's a little more detail on eupatorium greggii:

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/53449/index.html

read the gardeners' comments at the bottom of the page, too.

the only thing different in my experience with this plant is that mine never got anywhere near 36" tall and i had a jungle in my yard with the best soil in all of texas. ask GOPisEvil if you don't believe me. he saw my garden. everything got huge back there. for years and years i had tons of gregg's blue mist and it probably maxed out at around 24" but it was usually a bit shorter. if it started looking overgrown and with a lot of spent blooms, i would just whack it back with a weed wacker. you can pretty much whack it back to just about any height you want and it will quickly come back and start blooming again. mine bloomed all summer and well into winter in austin. all summer long i had flocks of queen butterflies in my yard, and during the spring and fall monarch migrations there were times when i counted upwards of 200 monarchs at a time in my yard, mostly covering the gregg's blue mist. and i lived in the city!

[NMDemDist2]

25. hi Gato! did you have to water them much?

i'd love a hardy ground cover that won't send my water bill thru the roof

[Gato Moteado]

26. they're very drought resistant

we would have long droughts in austin and sometimes they'd look a little beat up in the 100+ degree days when there was no rain for weeks at a time but they never died. a little water gets them perked up.

[babylonsister]

20. aka Ageratum?

I know I've planted this, but IIRC it burns up here in Houston. Too hot, too much clay maybe?

[Gato Moteado]

21. ageratum looks like the same flower but they're different.....

...eupatorium greggii will have no problems in houston. i had it in austin and it was unstoppable.

[babylonsister]

22. I wish the plants you know about, Gato, would be common

knowledge in local nurseries. I don't think I've ever seen that here if it's different than ageratum.

[Gato Moteado]

23. in my experience, the big commercial nurseries don't know squat....

...about anything except marigolds, petunias, and other 99 cent annuals. you really need to find a local nursery that specializes in native plants and plants for xeriscapes. in austin there's barton springs nursery and several more. i lived in houston for a while but because i had an apartment i didn't search for any cool nurseries there, but i'm sure they have them. if not, take a saturday drive to austin and visit barton springs nursery. they have all the cool stuff you're looking for.

and, you're right...ageratum flowers do look a bit like gregg's blue mist flowers but they are very different plants. i believe ageratums are in the genus Ageratum. gregg's blue mist is in the genus Eupatorium. ageratum is a delicate annual if i'm not mistaken. eupatorium greggii is a robust, resilient, drought resitant perennial that is well suited for places like austin and houston. it's native to parts of texas, so it will flourish even in heavy clay soil.

if you want to learn more about native plants, there might be some local garden clubs in your area. in austin, at zilker park, there were all sorts of garden clubs that met monthly. members are constantly sharing and exchanging seeds and plants.

[babylonsister]

30. Thanks, Gato! You're right about the nurseries. I've been told

the main division office buys for all the surrounding areas. In my case, if the office is in Dallas, we get what they order for 'up there' even though it's hotter and/or more humid here.
I'm just about out of property to plant anything else, unfortunately, though I'm eyeballing some azaleas for the front that bloom twice a year.

Encore azaleas, blooms in spring AND summer, tolerates zone 6!

People who adore spring blooming azaleas can now enjoy an explosion of Encore Azalea® color season after season. Each of the 23 Encore varieties begins their performance with the spring flowering season. Once this “first act” of blooming concludes, new shoots begin to grow and set buds. The Encore Azalea's "second act" opens when these buds begin blooming into full flower mid-summer. The curtain drops on this unique bloom season with the onset of cold weather. But, the show goes on. As an "encore," these exceptional azaleas flower again with traditional spring azaleas and the process starts over.

http://www.encoreazalea.com/encore/index.cfm

[spinbaby]

27. Leadwort

Leadwort has an ugly name but it's a nice, well-behaved ground cover with brilliant blue flowers from midsummer until frost. I find it's a slow starter, so the first year or two you may wonder if it's ever going to go anywhere. After its slow start, it starts to send out runners underground and crowds out the competition.

[TygrBright]

28. AKA Plumbago.... HIGHLY recommended...

...it was one of the first things I planted in our new yard, but it does indeed get off to a slow start, and it wants more shade than I think the OP has. At least in hot zones it does. It will sulk and get sunburned with too much exposure.

helpfully,
Bright

[spinbaby]

29. Mine does great in the sun

But we live in mostly-cloudy western PA.