On Feb 6, 1:38*pm, Jim xzy wrote:
Chris Hogg wrote :





In my salt-gale-exposed garden I grow Ulex gallii Mizen Head, a very
prostrate gorse, but I'm not sure if it would take your very alkaline
soil. I also grow a prostrate rosemary, possibly R. officionalis
prostratus, but it has darker flowers than the picture in the RHS
encyclopedia, so may not be that one and may just be kept prostrate by
the exposed conditions. I also have a prostrate white hebe, possibly
H. chathamica, that covers the ground fairly well, and a ceanothus,
probably C. thyristiflorus var. repens, which keeps fairly low here,
although none of them are what I would call fast growers, and I don't
know how they would cope with your soil.

Not a shrub, but I find Bergenia very good ground-cover, and it stays
evergreen. I grow B. eroica, as it has the darkest flowers of any that
I've come across. Again, whether suitable for your soil, I don't know.

I have grown Convolvulus cneorum, but it never did very well for me,
and the last two winters have seen it off, even down here in west
Cornwall. I still have surviving, the blue-flowered C. sabatius, which
although almost extinguished in the last two years, is still hanging
on. Tops get killed right off, but it comes again from the spreading
roots.

Hottentot Fig (Carpobrotus edulis) has been mentioned, and it
certainly covers the ground to the exclusion of everything else. It
grows on the cliffs down here, but it suppresses everything, and
attempts are being made to eradicate it in some areas (bit like rhodo
ponticum). But large areas of it were killed in the last two winters,
even on cliffs only a few tens of feet above sea level. I have never
found it a very prolific flowerer.

Chris,
Thanks for your input. Some great suggestions there. I'm in west Dorset,
so I guess the climate is similar to West Cornwall. I'm not sure whether
the soil is similar. The substrate here is white limestone, hence high
alkalinity soil.

The gorse idea is a good one. *There is a very prostate *gorse that grows
wild in my immediate area, so that makes it a possibility. It would look
pleasantly natural growing on my plot, for that reason. I love the
coconut-like fragrance that gorse gives off on a warm day.

I also like the creeping rosemary idea. I favour plants that have
medicinal or culiniary uses, and this one is happey in alkaline soil, I'm
told. I'll give that one a try.

I like the look of the ceanothus thyristiflorus too, as it is easy on the
eye. I gather it needs fairly fertile soil though. I don't know if it
would like my limestone-rich, poor clayey soil. Mind you, the weeds seem
to LOVE it, so who knows!!

Jim- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I would stay well clear of Gorse, that is the saingle type as it
throws it seeds quite a way, you can get a double form which doesn't
set seed, on the other hand you could use GENISTA hispanica (Spanish
gorse), a lovely mound forming shrub.