A Tiny Garden

March 18, 2019
Larry Hurley
Inspiration, Perennial Plants, Public Gardens
0 Comments

There are a number of lines of perennial ground covers that we carry, including Stepables, Jeepers Creepers and Treadwells. Our perennial buyer/manager, Constance groups them all together under the name “Tiny,” because they are all small-scale plants of petite stature.

Five or six years ago I decided to plant a small display garden of some of these perennial ground covers in our perennial sales area. Space was limited, so we removed a display table and I worked with the ground where that table stood. This is a place where nothing much but moss should grow. The drainage isn’t great and it gets frequent watering from sprinklers that run in our perennial sales area nightly in the summer (not to mention water from people hand-watering with hoses.) Water doesn’t stand here in puddles, but the soil is always wet.

The area under the bed was covered with gravel, some of which I removed. I added a few bags of potting soil, and wound up with a bed a couple of inches above grade, so it would drain, and the area is on a slope, so I planted moisture loving plants at the lower end, and plants that are supposed to dry out at the other.

We’ve been surprised at how well it has fared over the years. Each year we have a couple of bare spots that we fill with a couple of new plants, but overall, the planting has thrived in a low-maintenance, very informal sort of way. It looks sort of like a planting on a green roof.

On the moister end we have dwarf acorus, Lobelia chinensis, ajuga, and mazus. Moving a couple of feet up the bed we have plants that we normally recommend for drier areas: several varieties of sedum; creeping thyme; Dianthus ‘Kahori’, which flowers off and on all summer; even some delosperma. None of these are plants that I would recommend for this bed, and yet, they are doing fine here.

To me, these “Tiny” ground covers are ideal for small beds like this where you can easily weed if needed and you don’t have much foot traffic. They can fight for territory, and may the best plant win. If you have small problem areas in your garden, check out our “Tiny” ground covers.

by Larry Hurley, Behnke horticulturist

Larry Hurley

Larry Hurley worked at Behnke Nurseries from 1984 until the business was composted in 2019, primarily with the perennial department in growing, buying and sales.

Before landing at Behnke’s, he worked as a technician in a tissue culture lab, a houseplant “expert” at a florist shop, and inventory controller at a wholesale nursery in Dallas. With this and that, ten years passed.

When his wife Carolyn accepted a position at Georgetown University, Larry was hired at Behnke’s for the perennial growing department and garden center at Behnke’s Largo location.

In 2021, Larry and Carolyn moved back to Wisconsin to be closer to family and further from traffic. After 37 years in a shaded yard in Maryland, he is happy to have a sunny lot where he can grow all sorts of new perennials, if only he can keep the rabbits at bay. He also enjoys cooking, traveling, and the snowblower.