Chocolate Chip Ajuga - From Plug to Plant In 90 Days - August 2023

At the end of May - just about 90 days ago - I planted a series of Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' plugs around the beds including a border of six right in front of some well-established Fanal Astilbes.  They went in small and have put on some size in the Summer as you'd imagine.

I recently posted about a different set of Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' in our front yard that had grown to fill in the bed.  Those, however, had a six-plus month headstart because they went in the Fall of 2022.  The six in the backyard can be see in the photo below.  They're not near touching each other, but they've put on that two-toned foliage and look good at the front of the border:

Last Fall, I added a bunch of Autumn Ferns (only some of which made it over-winter), but it sure feels like if I come across a good late-season deal on Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip', there's like...I don't know...a dozen places I could plant A LOT of them:  the front porch beds, sideyard(s), in the front of just about every bed, back the firepit.  You want to talk about mulch?  These are 'living mulch' and every plug that I put in reduces the amount of hardwood mulch that I'd need to add every year to the beds.