Native groundcovers for pollinators: William Glenn, Greensleeves Nursery

William Glenn
Greensleeves Nursery

White avens (Geum canadense)
Part shade, shade
Dry, moist, most soils
White flowers in late spring

Cedar sage
Dry, part shade
Red flowers in spring

Soft-hair marbleseed
Dry shade, well-drained soil

Purple skullcap
Sun, part shade
Well-drained sand, loam, chalk, limestone

Heartleaf skullcap
Sun, part shade
Well-drained sand, loam, chalk, limestone.

Muhlenbergia utilis (Aparejo grass)
Sun
Dry well-drained soil

Woolly stemodia
Sun
Dry, well-drained soil

Menodora heterophylla
Part shade
Clay, gravel, sandy loam

Gregg dalea
Sun, part shade
Well-drained sand, clay, loam, limestone

Hello, I’m William Glenn with Greensleeves Nursery and today we are going to talk a little bit about groundcovers. There are a lot of things out there called groundcovers. As the name implies, these are things that cover the ground. They tend to have a low form and a spreading habit. And there’s a lot of things out there too that are non-native and maybe don’t have such a great ecological benefit. But we have plenty to choose from here in Central Texas, so I thought that today we could go over a few of those that would have an ecological niche, a benefit, a context that would maybe improve your garden in terms of having some of the wildlife that’s associated with it, also with the little bit of lower maintenance that would be associated as opposed to say a lawn. We use these plants in between larger plants, or if you’re considering a lawn conversion or reducing the size of your lawn, there’s some excellent choices out there beyond what we’re gonna go over today. The first one that we’ve got is a soft-hair marbleseed. This one’s a little bit taller when it blooms, but it is a absolutely stunning plant that has a pendulous bloom, white, that’s followed by a little black seed that gives it its name, the marbleseed. It’s just a really classic, beautiful, dry shade groundcover that is typically not messed with by deer. Next, we’re gonna jump over into a couple of the skullcaps. This here is a purple skullcap. It stays squat and short. It has nice little purple blooms on it. It’s in the salvia family. And to circle back to deer resistance, a lot of times when you’re looking for something that is deer-resistant, the rule of S is a good thing to remember. Is it a salvia? Is it spiny? Is it stinky? Is it silver? Those things will help you. If you get any two of those, you’re pretty safe that it’s going to be deer-resistant. So that’s the case with this one. A purple little tubular flowers that are really beautiful and sometimes visited by maybe butterflies that are smaller and occasionally even see hummingbirds dancing around them. So this is the purple skullcap. And I will also show you the heartleaf skullcap, which is even more shade-tolerant. Also a beautiful sort of periwinkle bloom on this one. It’s really an underused plant and does well in the shade. So sometimes when you have some challenges with shade, this is gonna be a good one to sort of think about in terms of maybe just filling in a gap under a beautyberry, or maybe a Turk’s cap, or something like that, where you’ve got some stems that you wanna hide under the skirt of this. Let’s hit one of our native grasses that’s maybe not as well-known. This here is called muhlenbergia utilis. The common name is aparejo grass. And it’s kind of like a miniature bamboo muhly for those of you who are familiar. But it’s great for bank stabilization, erosion control, that sort of thing, because it has a vigorous outward growth. But it also is gonna provide things like nesting material for birds. It’s just an underused plant. You can mow it, you can walk on it, you can let it kinda go. And it has a billowy, really pretty sort of effect out in the landscape. So if you wanted a bit of a wilder look, this one is a really wonderful choice as a groundcover. Next, we will hit one of the more popular ones. This is woolly stemodia, and I think it’s a great substitute for another popular native called silver ponyfoot. Silver ponyfoot is a wonderful groundcover. It’s easy to take care of, but sometimes it fails after a year or two, and people are puzzled as to why. This one really doesn’t do that as often. It likes dry and hot once it’s established, and it also has pretty little kind of periwinkle blooms. It’ll cascade, it’ll spread. And it’s just really a nice contrast in terms of color and foliage. And then we’re gonna go over this one. This is a menodora. This is a really pretty little groundcover. It only gets about eight or 10 inches tall, and then it blooms with this tubular sort of peachy yellow that is very alluring to me as a gardener. Really, a pretty addition if you want that sort of lily look and a really short plant. Obviously, filling a low space. And finally, we’re gonna jump over to this. Gregg’s dalea. Some people say dalea. It is a member of the legume family, so it’s gonna improve your soil. It also has pretty little blooms that are purple. Underused, wonderful as covering the ground like a blanket and also cascading over things. So when you’re thinking about making some green mulch, if you will, eliminating the look of the wood or the gravel and getting more green in there, consider some of these native perennials. Local provenance is always preferred. That means the seeds or the mother plant was locally obtained, and that will ensure or at least hedge against failure.