Re: [SG] Under a Blue Spruce

Hi Sheila,

I just consulted my copy of Ezra Haggard, PERENNIALS FOR THE LOWER
MIDWEST. You are not quite in the Lower Midwest, but he has a yummy
picture of a blue spruce with the pink and red flowered Potentilla 'Miss
Willmott'. His blue spruce is a globe shape, so the potentilla is next to
it rather than serving as a ground cover, but in your case it could work
as a ground cover. He says they spread and get wider than tall. The only
thing is, is the area fairly sunny?

Another possible combination with the spruce would be the low-growing St.
John's Wort (Hypericum), which is really a spreader, has beautiful yellow
fls, and doesn't mind some shade. H. calcinum grows to only 18" tall,
whereas frondosum gets to 3', but has bluer foliage.

A third possibility for a very quick grower would be deadnettle or Yellow
Archangel: Lamiastrum galeobdolon 'Variegatum', but there's been a recent
name change. The leaves have beautiful silver markings and the fls are (to
me) a gorgeous, soft, pale yellow.

Bobbi Diehl
Bloomington, IN
zone 5/6

----
Sheila Smith wrote:
I have a single blue spruce in front of my house, with an
ever-expanding bare area beneath it.  The bare spot is about 8' in diameter
so far.  What kind of groundcover will grow in such a space?  I want to
plant up to about a foot from the trunk.
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