Hate weeding? An easy solution
These fast-growing flowers beat the weeds at their own game
If you’re a regular reader, it will probably come as little surprise that I am a passionate believer in the therapeutic power of horticulture. I love witnessing the miracle of life unfold by sowing seeds, the satisfaction when a tree first bears fruit, the fresh scent of a mown lawn. However, there is one job I really can’t hack, especially at this time of year of peak plant growth, and that’s weeding. The hours of back-breaking work rooting out weeds between cracks in paving and in gravel drives, only to have to repeat the whole process a week later is (even to me) just too much like outdoor tidying up.
Fortunately, there is a simple trick you can deploy to beat nature at its own game. You can harness the power of tough, low-growing ornamentals to out-compete weeds for space, water and nutrients in these nooks and crannies. Not only will this dramatically reduce the amount of time you’ll need to spend weeding, but it will also turn a desert of paving and gravel into a colourful, living surface that will withstand any amount of trampling. Here are some of my favourite, hard-working candidates to fill cracks and crevices and get down to the business of fighting weeds.
If you have a sunny patio, creeping thymes will spread a dense, evergreen carpet less than an inch high. Aside from emitting a wonderful herbal fragrance when stepped on, they will blush into flower in pastel shades though the summer months. There are plenty to choose from: Thymus praecox ‘Pink Chintz’ is, as its name suggests, a real showstopper with candy pink blossom, while ‘Albiflorus’ has pure white flowers.
For lovers of the verdant mossy look who garden on dry, sunny spots, Silene acaulis is hard to beat. Its fluffy emerald foliage, with tiny pink summer flowers, makes it a thing of wonder. If a jaw-dropping blaze is more up your street, it is well worth hunting down the rare Turkish speedwell, Veronica liwanensis, which dazzles with ground-hugging clouds of cobalt-blue flowers appearing as if by magic between cracks in paving.
While the above species require fast drainage and hours of bright sunlight, there are plenty of others with similar habits that will revel in more moist, shady spots. I have had a life-long fascination with the Australian violet, Viola hederacea, with its carpet of small ivy-shaped leaves, crowned in summer with exotic flowers that are almost more orchid than violet and float in slender stems above the foliage. It looks incredible in shady spots under benches or flowing between rocks and paving slabs in sheltered gardens protected from hard frosts. While you are at it, the tiny fern-like fronds of Leptinella potentillina make an excellent pairing in a similar spot, as would the soft, apple green foliage of baby’s tears Soleirolia soleirolii, which creates mossy green hummocks. With options like these, you will wonder why you ever spent hours rooting out weeds from a space that could be filled with colour, fragrance and the feel of flowers between your toes.
Email James at james.wong@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @Botanygeek
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