A great list of ground covers

After spending a good amount of time in the garden pulling weeds, I have been thinking about what ground covers to add. Here is a great list from Better Homes and Gardens. Most of them are for our zone too! Thyme is my favorite since it tastes good too.

Astilbe Love

I've grown to love astilbe this year. It can be a great addition to a "woodland" style garden. I like seeing it in a large mass like this.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Perennial Pathway

This pathway transformed a bland hillside into a lush focal point in a backyard. It leads to a vegetable garden that is disguised by well placed perennials. The stone steps were designed to look as if they had been there forever and the plants were placed to look natural as well. We chose hardy perennials such as salvia, yarrow, coneflower, ornamental grasses, veronica and russian sage. Hardy shrub roses and rhododendrons were used to anchor the perennial garden. A perennial pathway is a nice way to add a little excitement to your daily walk to the vegetable garden.

Backyard Oasis

This beautiful backyard was designed with entertaining, outdoor living and gardening in mind. Actually, it was one of our first completed projects here at Olive Branch. The perennials have had a several years to get established so I snapped a few photos the other day. The perennial garden includes hydrangeas, hostas, iris, allium, penstemon, wild geranium and daphne shrubs. We also plant up their containers each year. This year we filled them with cosmos, zinnias, impatiens, cannas among other tropicals. The plants are only a small feature of this versatile garden. There is also a spa and water feature that accompany the space and make it usable year round. We have had a lot of fun working on this project and watching it grow.