Thoughts on Blue Star Creeper
Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2016 1:51 pm
I have a stepping stone path through my garden and have been trying to establish some ground cover in between the stones. Initially I alternated between mazus reptans and wooly thyme, but this is my 3rd year trying to get the wooly thyme established and I’ve decided to give up on it. Growing up in Colorado, we always had wooly thyme thrive between flagstones and it’s probably my favorite ground cover, but despite this location being sunny and sandy, the water also flows down the path during rain storms and it’s just too wet for the drought loving thyme. This April was extremely dry and the thyme flourished and filled in beautifully, but as soon as rainy May hit the thyme all but disappeared with the exception of a spot where it cascades over some rocks. I’m sure the humidity in our area doesn’t help either!
Anyway, I’ve been transplanting plugs of mazus to fill in the bare patches and I’ve been happy with this option for the most part. One thing is that I hate the smell of it… I find it nauseating when it’s pulled or crushed! It definitely spreads fast, but I don’t find that it smothers any of the plants and happily grows around them, which is what I wanted and it has the space to do this without being anywhere near the lawn. I do try to keep it from extending too far into the bed though and haven't had a problem pulling it up when needed.
There’s one section of the path inside of our fence that had been reserved for the thyme and now it’s nearly bare. I’d wanted a different ground cover here to distinguish the transition from front to back yard and purchased some blue star creeper. I haven’t planted it yet and started reading up about the plant. Unfortunately what I’m reading has me scared to plant this delicate little ground cover! My question is, just how aggressive is it? Am I going to regret putting this in the ground? I purchased it because I’d seen it recommended for pathways in about a million magazines and websites and I just wanted something different than the mazus. It also seemed like it would do well in this spot.
Has anyone grown this? Do you love it/hate it?
Anyway, I’ve been transplanting plugs of mazus to fill in the bare patches and I’ve been happy with this option for the most part. One thing is that I hate the smell of it… I find it nauseating when it’s pulled or crushed! It definitely spreads fast, but I don’t find that it smothers any of the plants and happily grows around them, which is what I wanted and it has the space to do this without being anywhere near the lawn. I do try to keep it from extending too far into the bed though and haven't had a problem pulling it up when needed.
There’s one section of the path inside of our fence that had been reserved for the thyme and now it’s nearly bare. I’d wanted a different ground cover here to distinguish the transition from front to back yard and purchased some blue star creeper. I haven’t planted it yet and started reading up about the plant. Unfortunately what I’m reading has me scared to plant this delicate little ground cover! My question is, just how aggressive is it? Am I going to regret putting this in the ground? I purchased it because I’d seen it recommended for pathways in about a million magazines and websites and I just wanted something different than the mazus. It also seemed like it would do well in this spot.
Has anyone grown this? Do you love it/hate it?