Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Ground Cover for Dry Shade

Viola hederacea or Australian Violets grow in shady areas in both my gardens. They spread easily with runners, however I would not consider then invasive. They have charming little white flowers with purple spots and can do well with much less water than many other shade plants require. In the picture above you can see that the baby tears in the cracks of the path are almost dormant from lack of water and yet the violets are quite content. I wouldn't call them drought tolerant, however they can grow among other plants that will suck up all the water and still thrive.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

that's very pretty too!

David in Kansas said...

Good! I've been looking for ground cover for some of the shady spots in my yard.

CiNdEe's GaRdEn said...

I have these too(-: I love violets. I have a lot of the big purple ones that bloom in the spring. Those I guess would be invasive since they are all over my yard. But I love them! I don't like bare dirt. I really like plants to fill in all the areas. Violets seem to do that well(-:

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Thank you Sheila! I might try it in my garden.

Gail said...

Sounds like a charming plant...sad, flowers and some drought tolerance. gail

Gail said...

ps...that is supposed to be shade...not sad! gail