Living groundcovers fill spaces, provide a backdrop for trees, shrubs, and flowering perennials, and are an important component of every landscape. Many people use herbaceous perennial groundcovers that disappear in winter and return with vigor in spring. However there are a few woody groundcovers that grow from one woody trunk and send trailing branches across open spaces. They are easier to irrigate, more drought-tolerant, and longer-lived than their soft counterparts.
If given a choice, many local homeowners would choose Squaw Mat as their favorite groundcover. This temperamental and extremely drought-tolerant native has beautiful blue flowers, glossy dark green foliage, and hugs the ground, gracefully climbing over stumps and rocks. Unfortunately, Ceanothus prostratus is nearly impossible to grow. We, at Villager Nursery, seldom offer Squaw Mat for sale and instead have searched for woody alternatives to use in the natural landscapes, and the following plants are our most reliable.
Massachusetts Bearberry Manzanita (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi A ‘Massachusetts’), also called kinnikinnick, tolerates exposure to drying winter sun better than others, has small, rounded, glossy green leaves year-round, and clusters of pink bells in early spring, with little red ‘apples’ appearing in late summer. It seldom grows more than four inches tall, and one plant may spread to over ten feet. It drapes beautifully over rocks and walls, and, like most Arctostaphylos, it is very drought tolerant and prefers well-drained soils.
Eichholz or Oakwood Bearberry Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster dammeri ‘eichholz’) is similar to the Bearberry Manzanita, but has white flowers, stems that root as they spread, and a tendency to grow up a slope. Eichholz can grow to more than 15 feet across and up to a foot tall, but looks great if pruned back each spring to a few inches in height. Some of the leaves turn scarlet before they drop in fall, and the red berries are attractive into winter.
Hancock Creeping Coralberry (Symphoricarpos x chenaultii ‘Hancock’) is closely related to our native creeping snowberry, but with coral instead of white berries. This plant spreads rapidly in sun or shade, growing up to a foot tall and eight feet wide. It is great for taking up space and for erosion control on hillsides. Hancock has blue-green leaves on long, delicate, arching branches that root when they hit the ground. This variety is deciduous with soft yellow fall color.
Mountain Lover (Paxistima canbyi) has very glossy, dark, evergreen leaves similar to but smaller than those of Squaw Mat. It grows eight inches tall, and spreads up to three feet wide. The flowers are inconspicuous.
Bush Penstemon (Penstemon fruticosus) looks like our Mountain Pride Penstemon but with lavender instead of pink flowers. It has glossy, evergreen foliage and grows to a height of four inches with flowers a few inches above. There is a nice patch just up the street from the Truckee Library.
Pine-leaf Penstemon (Penstemon pinifolius) is available in yellow and red, and is a hummingbird magnet. It forms a six- to eight-inch mat that will spread up to two feet. It is very drought-tolerant, and looks great among rocks or hanging over a wall.
Sunrose (Helianthemum nummularium) is a little subshrub that comes in several soft colors, from yellow to red. It is very drought-tolerant, and provides great summer color when mixed in among other woody ground covers like manzanita..
Common Juniper (Juniperus communis) is the world’s most widely distributed conifer. It looks great growing out of a crack in a big salt-and-pepper granite slab. I have a powerful aversion to most suburban junipers, but this alpine native is artistic.
Siberian Cypress (Microbiota decussata) is one of the only hardy evergreen groundcovers that tolerate shade. Siberian Cypress has soft, green, feathery foliage, and looks great in a woodland garden, subtending a nice rock, or in front of a swath of Monkshood.
Sulfur-flower Buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum) is called a subshrub for its woody nature and low-growing habit (less than a foot). This showy, summer-blooming native thrives from the Sierra crest to the Nevada deserts, is very drought-tolerant, and thrives in full sun. Its umbels of mustard yellow flowers start blooming in early June.
The following groundcovers are rare but worth finding:
Yezoalpina Trailing Willow (Salix nakamurana v. yezoalpina) is extremely hardy and very low-growing. Its foliage is large and silvery, and it looks incredible creeping over rocks toward a stream or pond.
Arctic Raspberry (Rubus arcticus) spreads underground to form a sparse woodland groundcover six- to eight-inches tall, with intense pink flowers.
Trailing Black Currant (Ribes laxiflora/coloradensis), a high-elevation Rocky Mountain native, prefers shade, and spreads quickly with robust, trailing branches and large, dark-green, maple-like foliage. It serves a similar use as thimbleberry in our landscapes, but it is much lower growing and the branches are perennial.
