In mid-March, after posting to this forum and reading many responses,
I planted 'Blue Star Creeper' in my partly-shaded garden in Riverside
CA (about 60 miles east of Los Angeles).

The garden is 350-feet-square so I cut 612 plugs (each about 2 1/2"
square) from 17 flats and planted the plugs 8 inches apart.

For the first two months, the plugs looked great!

However, by mid-June -- 3 months after planting, only a dozen plugs
can be found and they look near-death. The other 600 plus have died
(in fact, I can find no evidence that they ever existed).

From the day the plugs were planted, I used an oscillating sprinkler
to water the garden:

Over the 3 months, the daytime temperatures ranged from 55 to 95
degrees and the nighttime temperatures ranged from 35 to 60 degrees.

During cool weather, I watered the garden at least every 3 days;
during warm weather, I watered every day.

Can anyone tell me what went so terribly wrong?

=====================

I now want to plant a different (preferably flowering) groundcover
that grows less than 6" tall.

Any recommendations?

On Jun 8, 5:18 pm, gary wrote:
In mid-March, after posting to this forum and reading many responses,
I planted 'Blue Star Creeper' in my partly-shaded garden in Riverside
CA (about 60 miles east of Los Angeles).
snip..............

Over the 3 months, the daytime temperatures ranged from 55 to 95
degrees and the nighttime temperatures ranged from 35 to 60 degrees.

During cool weather, I watered the garden at least every 3 days;
during warm weather, I watered every day.

Can anyone tell me what went so terribly wrong?

=====================

I now want to plant a different (preferably flowering) groundcover
that grows less than 6" tall.

Any recommendations?

I think you overwatered the plants. Up here in the North Central
Valley, where it also gets hot, BSC seemed to prefer to be on the
dry side. When we had an exceptionally wet winter, they did not
survive.

There are other possibilities: gophers or slugs/snails
Do you have problems with either?

Suggestions:
Clover, Trifolium 'Dark Dancer'
Strawberry 'Pink Panda'
Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' a very small and dainty version
of Ajuga "so far" it has not been as agressive as the
other larger Ajugas. We'll see..............
Oregano 'Kent Beauty'
Potentilla verna 'Nana' (also sold as P. tabernaemontanii)!!
Tansy (Tanacetum densum amanii) needs good drainage

Emilie
NorCal

Hi Emilie,

"Watered" may be somewhat inexact. What I really intended to convey
was that, for the first few weeks after planting the BSC plugs, I
"sprinkled" them daily. After that, I watered the garden whenever the
soil looked dry or on the warmer days. I never "flooded" the garden.

No, I don't have gophers, snails or slugs.

I'm looking for a fairly low-growing, flowering groundcover that will
form a dense mat (to reduce the incessant weeds) and that will
tolerate Riverside's 115-degree summer days and 20-degree winter days.

On Jun 8, 9:23 pm, gary wrote:
Hi Emilie,

"Watered" may be somewhat inexact. What I really intended to convey
was that, for the first few weeks after planting the BSC plugs, I
"sprinkled" them daily. After that, I watered the garden whenever the
soil looked dry or on the warmer days. I never "flooded" the garden.

No, I don't have gophers, snails or slugs.

I'm looking for a fairly low-growing, flowering groundcover that will
form a dense mat (to reduce the incessant weeds) and that will
tolerate Riverside's 115-degree summer days and 20-degree winter days.


Gary
Well, sometimes BSC just curls up its toes, and dies.......:^(

All of the ground covers that I listed do very well up here in Chico
which has just about the same temps as Riverside. Hot, dry summers
and cold winters. We get a little more rain than you do. (usually)

The pink flowered strawberry is very nice, has edible berries, and
will
fill in with runners as do regular strawberries.
I have all the plants I suggested in my garden and all are very nice,
and are 6 inches or less.
The Potentilla has little yellow flowers and also spreads by runners.

Do you have Sunset Western Garden Book? It's an excellent source
and has great lists of plants for all needs: hedges, groundcovers etc
with appropriate areas of CA. You might find it at your library or buy
a copy. It is an excellent reference and well worth the money.
Good luck
Emilie