Urban Landscape, Native Landscape: Groundcovers in the Cascadia Garden

Ajuga reptans & Fragaria vesca May 2009

Hypericum cerastioides May 2009

Pratia pedunculata May 2009

Euphorbia cyparissias ‘Orange Man’ April 2009

Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco' January 2009

There are over 5,000 square feet of ground to cover at the Cascadia Garden in sun & shade. I really count on my groundcovers to fill up space & discourage weeds. Some of these are better at the job than others. The really hard workers are Ajuga reptans, Dicentra formosa, Fragaria vesca, Geraniums, Lamium maculatum ‘Beacon Silver’, Laurentia fluviatilis, Liriope spicata ‘Majestic’, Maianthemum dilatatum, Oxalis oregana & Veronica pectinata. Together they cover a lot of ground. The others are smaller. Even though they don’t spread very far, they are useful in tight spaces. Sedums are wonderful groundcovers in pots. Pots often get weedy without them.

Achlys triphylla (Vanilla Leaf): shade

Aegopodium podagraria ‘Variegatum’ (Bishop’s Weed): shade

Ajuga reptans (Carpet Bugle): sun or shade

Arctostaphylos x media: sun

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Kinnikinnick): sun

Asarum caudatum (Wild Ginger): shade

Blechnum penna-marina (Little Hard Fern): shade

Blechnum spicant (Deer Fern): shade

Campanula poscharskyana (Serbian Bellflower): shade

Dicentra formosa (Native Bleeding Heart): shade

Euphorbia cyparissias: sun

Euphorbia myrsinites (Myrtle Spurge): sun

Fragaria vesca (Woodland Strawberry): sun or shade

Gaultheria procumbens (Wintergreen): shade

Geranium cantabrigiense (Cranesbill): sun

Geranium himalayense (Cranesbill): sun or shade

Geranium orientalitibeticum (Cranesbill): sun

Geranium phaeum (Mourning Widow): sun or shade

Gymnocarpium dryopteris (Oak Fern): shade

Hypericum cerastioides (St John’s Wort): sun

Lamium maculatum ‘Beacon Silver’: sun or shade

Linnaea borealis (Twinflower): shade

Liriope spicata ‘Majestic’ (Creeping Lily Turf): shade

Luzula piperi (Wood Rush): shade

Mahonia nervosa (Longleaf Mahonia): sun or shade

Maianthemum dilatatum (False Lily of the Valley): shade

Microbiota decussata (Carpet Cypress): sun or shade

Oxalis oregana (Redwood Sorrel): shade

Pratia pedunculata (Blue Star Creeper, formerly Laurentia fluviatilis): sun

Sanguinaria canadensis ‘Multiplex’ (Bloodroot): shade

Sedum aizoon: sun

Sedum anacampseros: sun

Sedum dasyphyllum: sun

Sedum divergens: sun

Sedum forsterianum: shade

Sedum grisebachii : sun

Sedum gypsicola: sun

Sedum kamtschaticum: sun

Sedum obtusatum: sun

Sedum oreganum: sun

Sedum oregonense: sun

Sedum palmeri: sun

Sedum rupestre: sun

Sedum sexangulare: sun

Sedum spathulifolium: sun or shade

Veronica pectinata: sun

Zauschneria latifolia: sun

About This Blog

This blog began in 2008 as Metropolitan Gardens to provide information on gardening in Seattle & places like it. Click on Gardening in Cascadia. The blog expanded to include Parks P-Patches Public Gardens in the US, Canada & Europe. Then Nature was added. (The difference between nature & gardens is intent. Nature happens. Gardens are planned.) Many recent posts are not about Seattle, or even Cascadia. They are Urban Landscape: streetscape & architecture. Cascadia is the region including the Cascade Mountains of Washington & Oregon. If you want to contact the blogger, leave a message in comments. Comments are moderated & private messages will not be posted.

Our Land & Climate

The city of Seattle rests between 2 bodies of water: Puget Sound & Lake Washington. Puget Sound is a substantial part of the Salish Sea & a very small part of the Pacific Ocean. The Salish Sea is set apart from the Pacific by the Olympic Peninsula in the state of Washington & Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia. The dense, wet clouds of the Pacific Ocean travel as far as the Cascade Mountains, near the Salish Sea & not very far from the ocean. East of the Cascades lies the desert of the Columbia Basin. The moist, temperate climate of Seattle extends south to northern California & north to southeastern Alaska. The Pacific Northwest Coast from San Francisco Bay to Cook Inlet shares a flora dominated by evergreen coniferous forest. The central portion, west of the Cascade Mountains, is called Cascadia. The climate is cool & wet from fall to spring, warm & dry in summer. The Olympic Mountains block Seattle from much of the Pacific rainfall. Seattle is drier than the Atlantic coast of North America & northern Europe, cooler in summer & warmer in winter. It lies near the latitude of Paris & Quebec City.