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Great Design Plant: Plumbago
A multifacted ground cover with an enormous range, plumbago solves landscape problems with panache
I’m a writer, designer, and lifelong gardener. I'm also author of "Why Grow That When You Can Grow This?", a book due out from Timber Press in November 2012, and I host/produce a podcast and column called Garden Confidential at Fine Gardening Magazine. My company, Oakleaf Green, is a boutique landscape design firm specializing in planting design with primarily sustainable and native plants. Oakleaf Green is currently on hiatus while I wrap up a book, for Timber Press, due out in Fall 2012. In the meantime, you can find me here or on my blog, Garden Smackdown.
I’m a writer, designer, and lifelong gardener. I'm also author of "Why... More »
Off the top of your head, how many exciting plants can you think of that grow just as well in Boston, Atlanta, St. Louis, Santa Fe and Seattle? There are a few, but this one is a star. Meet plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides), a ground cover that may just be your new best friend.
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by Andrew Keys
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Botanical name: Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Common names: plumbago, leadwort
USDA zones: 5 to 9
Water requirements: Low to medium
Light requirements: Full sun to partial shade; afternoon shade in hot climates
Mature size: 6 to 12 inches tall and at least 1 to 2 feet wide; spreads by rhizomes at a moderate pace
Tolerances: Clay soil, drought, shade, deer, coastal
Photo by André Karwath (Aka) via Wikimedia Commons
Common names: plumbago, leadwort
USDA zones: 5 to 9
Water requirements: Low to medium
Light requirements: Full sun to partial shade; afternoon shade in hot climates
Mature size: 6 to 12 inches tall and at least 1 to 2 feet wide; spreads by rhizomes at a moderate pace
Tolerances: Clay soil, drought, shade, deer, coastal
Photo by André Karwath (Aka) via Wikimedia Commons
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| Plumbago blooms in flowers of the clearest cerulean blue, from midsummer into fall, finally segueing into winter with some outstanding red-to-purple foliage — yes, this is a ground cover with fall color, and while it's still in bloom. It's great for containers too. Photo by Magnus Manske via Wikimedia Commons |
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This "little plant that could" grows just fine in all kinds of soils as long as they're not soggy. It handles drought with aplomb as long as it gets a little shade in the hottest part of the day; it's happy in light shade all day too. It coats the ground with its luscious, lightly glossy foliage, which emerges in late spring. Deer don't like it, and it can even take those tricky coastal climates.
Photo by Magnus Manske via Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Magnus Manske via Wikimedia Commons
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| Plumbago may be a bit tender in the northern reaches of its range, but since it dies back in the winter, it's what you could call self-mulching. Add a bit of additional mulch after it dies back and don't cut it back until early spring, before new growth pops up, and it should do just fine in zone 5. It makes good bedfellows with spring bulbs because it wakes up on the later side, and with taller perennials as well. I remember walking into a nursery when I was a kid and seeing several untouched flats of plumbago, growing and blooming up a storm. Why untouched? Simply because no one knew what it was. Get to know this ground cover and don't make the same mistake. Photo by Wouter Hagens via Wikimedia Commons More great design plants: Black Mondo Grass | Blue Chalk Sticks | Cape Rush | Feather Reed Grass | Hens-and-Chicks | New Zealand Wind Grass | Redtwig Dogwood | Toyon Great design trees: Bald Cypress | Chinese Witch Hazel | Japanese Maple | Manzanita | Persian Ironwood | Smoke Tree | Tree Aloe Great design flowers: Catmint | Golden Creeping Jenny | Pacific Coast Iris | Red Kangaroo Paw | Sally Holmes Rose | Slipper Plant | Snake Flower |
Ideabook published on Feb. 23, 2012.
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In the photo they are in the back along the fence. You can see how tall that one had gotten already by July.