Natalie...

It seems to root and spread by itself. It spreads the same way that ivy spreads. It sends out runners and then tip roots.

As I said above, the vinca behind the rose is covering a vertical wall. I have never done anything to that area except to water it now and then. I haven't even cleaned out the dead growth caused by snow that stuck around longer than a few days. I haven't even fed it. The most I do to that bed is trim around the edges.

I hope you don't mind, but I'll post that photo in this thread, too, so you don't have to go back and forth:





For the bed shown in the photo in the post above of the bed by the driveway, I have had to clear out a bit of native grass that tried to get into the bed, but I fed it a couple of years ago and the vinca grew in thicker. As you can tell, I don't spend much time caring for the vinca. I forgot to feed it this year

The star thistle has tried to grow around the vinca bed and in the rose bed, but has never invaded the vinca. I have a very small battle with the start thistle in this part of my garden.

Yes, I do think it will stabilize the slope and I agree that you will want to make sure it does not move into your lawn area. I made the deer cage larger this spring and the vinca you see in the photo below has since been removed because when I put up the cage, I put it across the base vertical wall and this photo was taken before I weeded and removed the vinca. The rose has no blooms because I disbud my roses every spring to keep rose curculio weevils from breeding in my garden.




Smiles,
Lyn

Natalie.......

I have found 'Candytuff' doesn't spread in my climate, but does make a beautiful addition to border beds in my climate.

My 'My Snow In Summer' is planted in a bed under the eves of my home and does just fine because it never gets any snow cover, but I do have to remember to water all plantings under the eves of the house at least once a month during the winter months.

I use 'Creeping Thyme' as a green mulch under some of my roses. It looks kind of ratty coming out of winter, but I can walk on it when I am cleaning up a rose in spring. So if there are areas like that in your garden, it's a good addition.

Smiles,
Lyn

Lyn, I guess the deer don't eat the vinca? That is another plus. We have deer here all year!

I really do love Creeping Thyme. I love everything about the plant! It spread really fast for me, but was easy to control. It did look a bit ratty after winter, but quickly recovered, and was soon blooming. I always shaved off the spent blooms, and it usually bloomed again later in the year. I don't think I'll plant it on the slope though, since I want to be able to run my fingers through it! I really love the smell of it!

Natalie, cerastium does fine here so it's probably not too warm ther. Would be worth a try. It's easy to start from seed.

Debra, those are all great suggestions!

Thanks Arlene. There are two things that I really don't like about cerastium. It's a bit tall, and it's white. Other than that, it's probably perfect! It may be a great plant here though, since it does good in the conditions that I have. Maybe if I mix it in with something else, I'd like it more. My neighbor that planted it is really good with plants, so I don't know why it wouldn't grow for her. I'll have to investigate further. Oh, and I just remembered that she had some nice ground cover that I wanted to steal She just told me that she had been out of town for a few days, so I missed my chance for a safe raid! I'll have to ask if she's going out of town again soon. The neighbors here are so far away that we can never tell if they are home or not!

Natilie...

Sorry, I forgot to answer your question about the deer. NO ! They don't eat the vinca !

One evening after I put up the new deer cages, I saw eight, yes eight, deer walking up and down the deer cages trying to find a way in to eat the roses. I loved seeing them so frustrated instead of me being the one that was frustrated !

I am going to look up the other plants mentioned in this thread. I am really a novice gardener. The only thing I truly know how to grow is roses and weeds Everything else survives by pure luck and surviving long enough for me to learn how to care for them.

Smiles,
Lyn

I'm an expert at growing weeds, as are most people here! We are in good company! My obsession is daylilies. If you don't grow any, I would recommend trying a few, but they can become addicting! The deer seem to like them though, so I have mine planted in the veggie garden, which has a very tall fence. I hope to get some more property fenced off eventually so that I can move them to a better area. Well, maybe not a better area, since the veggie garden is perfect for them, but I'd like to have the veggie garden for veggies!

Roses have to survive on complete neglect from me, since I'm lousy at taking care of them. I had a couple at my last house that did okay, but they could have been better. I have lots of wild roses here at our new house, and they don't require a bit of care, so they should do just fine!

I just remembered that I have some nice stonecrop ground cover! Not sure if it will do good in full sun though. It's in mostly shade now, and is doing great. It's Cape Blanco, and I love the color! The flowers are nice, but it only bloomed for a very short time. So, it might be a good filler.

Better hope your neighbor isn't reading these posts!

No worries there! She doesn't have a computer!

Here is a picture of my Creeping Thyme at our house in Utah. It's the plant in the bottom right corner, and that is only half of it. I'm still looking for the picture of it in full bloom. I can almost smell it from the picture! The second picture is of the Dead Nettle in the backyard.

BEAUTIFUL! Maybe a flowing combination of plants?

I had creeping thyme in MD planted between the slices of tree trunk stepping stones DH made. It is wonderful and spreads quickly.

The lamium is gorgeous! I have a hard time getting it to live for some reason. I have some in my shade garden now and I'm hoping it comes back in the spring.

Those are beautiful Natalie! Your Dead Nettle looks better than mine. Mine is ugly and people here joke about the purple flowers, they are everywhere in March. I think each plant drops 100 seeds and so one plant will turn into a thousand real quick, too quick!! SMH.

Oh, mine were pink flowers, Pink Pewter. But I like the purple too!

The hot weather kills them so I do not know why I waste time pulling them up, except they look ratty. I got some preen for southern gardens and hopefully that will prevent so many weeds next year. I sure hope so, other wise I will just have to mail them to Natalie.

You're just full of funnies tonight Susan!

except natalie might actually want them. (snicker-snortle-chort)

Did someone mention weeds?

Got the giggles again! Thanks!!!!!

My dead nettle never once reseeded. It just spread, and at a nice enough pace to where I could easily keep up! But, if each flower dropped 100 seeds, it would have been a weed, for sure!

Natalie said:Did someone mention weeds?

Sorry Natalie!! Didn't mean to get you so excited!