Rockery plants: Cerastium tomentosa

If this plant proves as vigorous as claimed,
perhaps I can stick a few sprigs of it in the
between the rocks in my backyard and drive out
the Centaurea solstitialis (star thistles) so
thoughtfully brought to me from the neighboring
cattle ranchers' pastures...




--- John MacGregor <jonivy@earthlink.net> wrote:

> on 1/10/05 8:51 AM, Linda Starr at
> mtnstar@ocsnet.net wrote:
> 
> > A good gray foliage ground cover is Cerastium
> tomentosa or Snow in Summer,
> > gets covered in small white flowers in the
> early summer, hence the name.
> > Likes the heat and exists on very little
> water.
> 
> Pamela, Linda
> 
> Cerastium tomentosum (snow-in-summer), despite
> its beauty,  is a plant to
> avoid when planting a rock garden, unless you
> intend for your rock garden to
> consist exclusively of Cerastium tomentosum
> (which, intend it or not, will
> inevitably be the case if you plant it).  It is
> extremely invasive,
> spreading by underground stolons, that spread
> between and below the rocks
> and these are impossible to remove without
> disassembling the entire rock
> garden.  Even the tiniest fragment of root will
> resprout to restart the
> invasion.  Once established, they will crowd
> out and smother any small
> neighboring plants and climb up into shrubs,
> shading the lower branches and
> leaving them bare of their own leaves.
> 
> Cerastium makes a good groundcover that must be
> sheared back at least once a
> year, but be careful where you plant it,
> especially if you value any of its
> small neighbors!
> 
> John MacGregor
> South Pasadena, CA 91030
> USDA zone 9   Sunset zones 21/23
> 
> 



		
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