Category: Ground cover
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Cyclamen hederifolium
There can be no more useful Genus of small plants for a shady spot than the species Cyclamen and this species has to be the best and easiest to grow. Flowering from mid February to May and then having lovely leaves through to the spring what more could you ask. I have written a full
Stephen Ryan
Fascicularia bicolor
This Chilean tough as they come pineapple relative is a must have for any garden, With its attractive evergreen foliage in large drought tolerant mounds. The colonies can get to 1metre tall by half as much again so allow room for it. Although if all else fails it can be divided easily. When it decides
Stephen Ryan
Griselinia scandens
I first saw this South American arching shrub at the Mt. Tomah Botanic gardens and immediately knew I had to have it. It has elegant long arching branches clothed with stemless glossy apple-green leaves and in winter it produces open clusters of tiny chocolate flowers. It is however its habit and leaves that it should
Stephen Ryan
Convallaria majalis var. rosea
Lily of the valley is one of those iconic flowers that we all seem to have a soft spot for. It is not always easy to make it happy but a site with good light but no direct sun shine in a moisture retentive soil heavily laced with compost and leaf mould is a good
Stephen Ryan
Epimedium ogisui
No garden can do without these stunning woodland plants with their beautiful leaves and sprays of tiny spurred flowers at this time of the year. Most are fairly hardy and make lovely clumps under any deciduous tree or shrub. I keep collecting different species and forms and this one I originally imported from England and
Stephen Ryan
Asarum magnificum
The wild gingers as they are called are fabulous clumping or ground cover plants and in the case of this one it has large glossy evergreen leaves often well marked with white. Under the leaves it produces stranger black and white flowers well worth looking for in late winter and spring. This one makes a
Stephen Ryan
Jasminum nudiflorum
This indestructible plant will grow in sun or shade cope with drought and the roots of the most vicious kinds and can be grown as a sprawling shrub, a trailing wall cover, a climber or a standard. It is particularly good thrown up through the lower branches of an uninteresting tree trunk. It produces its bright
Stephen Ryan
Trachelospermum jasminoides ‘Tricolor’
This amazing ground cover form of star jasmine which is usually a climbing plant is ideal as a slow growing plant for a small spot in semi- shade where it will light up the area with its pink and white variegated foliage. I have one in the garden that has been there 10 years or
Stephen Ryan