yes, I may need to go to the nursery for some more thymus vulgaris...

I love clover! And bees love it, too.

One downside is that it's also loved by rabbits and deer! One local gardener had no deer at all until she converted to a clover lawn, and they started coming for the clover feast.

You know what else I love but can't grow is oregano 'Ken's Beauty.' I've killed several.

Catmint20906 said:yes, I may need to go to the nursery for some more thymus vulgaris...

It's pretty easy to grow from seed. But then you have to wait.

Funny you should mention deer, Terri! We have never had deer in our neighborhood for the 3.5 years I've lived here--but just this spring/season apparently they've been spotted occasionally, and they've definitely visited my backyard, as occasionally I'll find the tops of taller plants chomped off! Fortunately, they don't seem to make it up this far very often...

kylaluaz said:

It's pretty easy to grow from seed. But then you have to wait.

yes buying and planting seed would deprive me of an excuse for a trip to the nursery--but maybe that's best!!

SS ...

Kent's Beauty is another plant that is perfect for my arid climate. It likes it HOT and DRY. I've planted a start of it in what I call my "H*ll Bed. That bed gets hot afternoon sun and reflected heat from the house wall. I didn't think anything would grow there, but KB seems to be quite happy.

I don't have any rabbit problems and the house pad level is well deer fenced. Well, kind of ... The deer fence at the top of the slope is held up by wishful thinking, but the deer don't know that. They haven't even bumped into it in the ten years I've been planning on replacing it.

My biggest problem with the clover is that it always likes to grow right next to the canes at the base of the roses ... exactly where I don't want any plant material.

Smiles,
Lyn

Ok going to jump in here with my Negative Nancy input. First I just love ground cover and have quite a lot of different varieties. I think they can be a beautiful addition to any garden. "But" there really is a but, just because you have a ground cover doesn't mean you won't have weeds. Also it is harder to weed a ground cover it is more like grooming. If you have a mulched area you can take a hoe to that area or spray it with round up or some type of herbicide. When you have ground cover with weeds mixed in you can't do that. It is a more time consuming job. My creeping phlox is beautiful "but" I spend hours grooming grasses, creeping charlie and clover out of it each year. I just recently spent more hours cleaning wild strawberry and grass from my vinca and Ric has been pulling honeysuckle vine out from under it,. You would be surprised the things that can get started and grow unseen in there until you have a real infestation. Just like playing Hide and Seek with weeds A mulched area hides nothing.
Now I am not saying don't plant a ground cover, what I am saying is if you like the look of ground covers, yes they make a great addition "but" if you are thinking that they will make less work for you then you may want to re think this idea. Here are a few pics of my Vinca Minor an area that has not been cleaned and an area that has been. I will say it is particularly beautiful in the Spring when it flowers. I took these pictures for an article I have been thinking about writing on this subject.

Csandt, I noticed how close you live to me and would like to offer some of my ground covers if you do decide to go that direction. We can walk around and dig some up for you.

Good point about the weeds that sprout up in groundcovers, Holly.

HollyAnnS,

Thank you for your generous offer. I would love to see your groundcovers. It is 90 degrees today, and the forecast for the coming week is about the same. But I would love to take you up on your offer in another month if that would work for you.

Yes it would. I will send you a tree mail. I have a lot more than just the ground covers that you might be interested in.