Why I Oughta...

Yesterday, I posted a couple of photos of a pair of Silver Swirl Dusty Millers and talked about how I was using them to fill up some space in the new pizza oven bed.  Today, I'm showing a few more annuals-as-groundcover plants:  three Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime Sweet Potato Vine plants.  Below are a few photos showing these 'accent plants' that normally are sold for the 'spill' in your containers:  Here's what Proven Winners says about them : Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime boasts brilliant lime green, heart-shaped leaves that bring a refreshing pop of color to any garden. This heat-tolerant beauty requires no deadheading, making it a low-maintenance addition to your landscape. It excels as a ground cover, spreading quickly to fill in spaces, and also works wonderfully as a foliage component in mixed plant combinations. Sounds perfect, right? Fills up a space. Just what I need.  I spread out three of them in a triangle and got busy planting them.  I'm ...

I've posted a number of times about groundcover and how I've evolved as a gardener when it comes to planting groundcover.  It was (for me) an afterthought.  (Unfortunately...the same could be said about conifers, but I've begun to change that fact).   The first groundcover that I 'got to know' and planted was Ajuga 'chocolate chip'.  I've planted it in a number of spots and will continue to add it when I can find it.  Over the years, I've added some sedums ( Angelina, a variegated variety and something that I've grown to love: John Creech Sedum .   But, I've also begun to get smarter about using annuals as bedding plants over the years.  And, thanks to some of the garden tours I've watched on YouTube has lead me to think about annuals as groundcover.  I've done *some* of that with Coleus.  And...  #6 on my 2025 to-do list was to use more coleus as a bedding plant.   And, #16 on my list was to 'keep going on groundcover'...