In this article, the focus will be on different types of plants that can be used as fillers and ground cover in garden designs. Chuck, a seasoned gardener, has put together a list of around 40 plants that he has personally used and recommends. One of the key strategies he employs is creating ledges and filling them with clumping and trailing plants, which adds visual interest and texture to the design.
Chuck emphasizes the importance of using a variety of plants for fillers, including clumping and ground cover plants. While sedums are often the go-to choice, Chuck also introduces other options such as crassula pellucida and crassula arborescens. Throughout the article, Chuck shares his knowledge and expertise on each plant, including their growth habits, color variations, and best uses in garden designs.
Key Takeaways
- Creating ledges and filling them with clumping and trailing plants can add visual interest and texture to garden designs.
- Sedums are a popular choice for fillers, but there are other options such as crassula pellucida and crassula arborescens.
- Choosing a variety of plants for fillers, including clumping and ground cover plants, can create a more dynamic and visually appealing garden design.
Creating Ledges and Filling with Plants
Chuck, from Let’s Plant Lug, has been working on his freestanding pergola and filling it up with plants. He has created a bunch of ledges and filled them with clumping and trailing plants. When thinking about fillers, Chuck suggests using clumping plants or ground cover plants. He has put together a list of around 40 odd plants that could be used as fillers and ground cover.
Chuck’s list includes various types of sedum plants, such as Sedum Adolphi, Sedum Clevedon, Sedum Mexicanum, Sedum Reflexum, and Sedum Album. He describes the physical characteristics of each plant and explains how they could be used in a garden design. For example, Sedum Adolphi tends to grow low and spreads out in the ground, making it a good contrast against all of the greens and loose that tend to be in a garden. Sedum Clevedon grows and spreads so prolifically that it is great to use as fillers, especially if you just want to cover the ground quickly.
Chuck also suggests using various types of Crassula plants, such as Crassula Pellucida and Crassula Arborescens Subspecies Angela Toffoli. He explains that Crassula Pellucida is a variegated form with tiny leaves and is mostly yellow and green. When stressed enough, it starts developing pink along the leaf tips. Crassula Arborescens Subspecies Angela Toffoli, also known as Triple Jade, is a shrubby plant that can grow quite high. However, if trimmed or cuttings are taken every year or so, it can be maintained at a certain height.
Chuck’s list is not exhaustive, but it provides a good starting point for anyone looking to create ledges and fill them with plants. It is important to consider the physical characteristics of each plant and how they could be used in a garden design.
Understanding Fillers and Ground Cover Plants
When designing a garden or landscape, fillers and ground cover plants are essential elements to consider. Fillers are plants that are used to fill in empty spaces between larger plants or to add texture and contrast to a design. Ground cover plants, on the other hand, are low-growing plants that spread out and cover the ground, providing a lush and uniform appearance.
Chuck, in his Let’s Plant series, has showcased a variety of fillers and ground cover plants that can be used in any garden or landscape design. One of the most common types of fillers are clumping plants, which are also known as ground cover plants. These plants are often seedlings and have common names that are variations of the word “stone crop.”
Chuck has put together a list of around 40 plants that can be used as fillers and ground cover plants. Some of the plants he recommends include:
- Sedum adolphi: This plant has yellow or orange leaves that grow low and spread out, making it a great contrast against other plants. It tends to go leggy as it grows, so it’s important to chop off the heads and replant it to maintain a short, clumping look.
- Sedum clevedon: This plant grows and spreads quickly, making it a great filler plant. Its chubby, rounded leaves provide a nice contrast in texture compared to other plants.
- Sedum mexicanum and sedum morepestrey: These lime green and blue-green plants, respectively, provide a nice color contrast with each other and have a similar texture. They also tend to turn yellow or orange under stress.
- Sedum reflexum: This plant has larger, plumper leaves and can be used as a transition plant between thin-leaved and thick-leaved plants.
- Sedum album: This plant gets its name from the flowers it produces, which eventually dry out and become unsightly. However, removing the dry stems and flower stalks is easy, and the plant produces lots of offsets, making it a fast-growing ground cover plant.
- Sedum rubra and sedum pachyphyllum: These plants have larger leaves and turn red or purple under stress, creating a nice contrast against other plants.
- Crassula pellucida and crassula arborescens subspecies Angelatoffoli: These plants have tiny leaves and provide a variegated or wavy appearance, respectively. They can be used as fillers or as backing plants in a garden or landscape design.
Overall, fillers and ground cover plants are important elements to consider when designing a garden or landscape. With Chuck’s recommendations and list of plants, anyone can create a lush and beautiful design that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing.
Using Sedums as Fillers
When it comes to fillers for gardens, clumping and ground cover plants are usually the first to come to mind. And among these plants, sedums are a popular choice. Sedums are known for their ability to grow low and spread out, making them a great contrast against the greens and loose soil in gardens. Chuck, the host of Let’s Plant, recommends using sedums in garden designs and for various purposes.
Chuck has compiled a list of around 40 sedum plants that can be used as fillers and ground cover. Here are some of his top picks:
- Sedum Adolphy: This sedum is also known as Sedum napsamarianum. It usually has a yellow color, but it tends to turn orange with enough stress. It grows low and spreads out in the ground, making it a good contrast against other plants. It tends to go leggy as it grows, so it’s important to chop off the heads and replant it if you want to maintain the short clumping look.
- Sedum Clavatum: This sedum has rounded and chubby leaves, providing a nice contrast in texture compared to other plants. It grows and spreads quickly, making it great for covering the ground quickly.
- Sedum Mexicanum: This sedum is a bright, fluorescent lime green color that turns yellow under stress. It’s known by various names, including Gold Mound and Angelina. Chuck likes to mix it with Sedum Rupestre because they have a similar texture and provide a nice color contrast.
- Sedum Reflexum: Also known as Blue Spruce, this sedum has larger and plumper leaves compared to Sedum Mexicanum and Sedum Rupestre. It can be used as a transition onto other bigger plants because of its thick leaves.
- Sedum Album: This sedum has tiny, rounded leaves that contrast with other plants. It’s named after the flowers that it produces, which dry out and become unsightly. It’s easy to remove the dry stems and flower stalks, and the plant grows quickly.
Chuck also recommends using various cultivars of Sedum Rubra, such as Sedum Pachyphyllum and Sedum Rubrotinctum, which turn red and provide a nice contrast against other plants. He also suggests using Crassula plants, such as Crassula Pellucida and Crassula Arborescens Subspecies Angiolatopoli, as fillers and ground cover.
With these sedums and other plants, gardeners can create beautiful and unique designs for their gardens.
Sedum Adolphi
Sedum Adolphi, also known as Sedum Napsa Marianum, is a low-growing plant that spreads out on the ground, making it an excellent contrast against the greens and loose plants. The plant is usually yellow, but it tends to go orange with enough stress. As the plant grows, it tends to go leggy, especially if it’s not getting enough sunlight. To maintain the short clumping look, it’s advisable to chop off the heads and replant it.
The plant tends to go well with other plants, especially those with sharper leaf pieces. It’s an excellent filler for covering the ground quickly since it grows and spreads so prolifically. The plant is tiny, but it tends to clump a lot and produce lots of offsets, making it easy to fill up spaces.
Sedum Adolphi is one of the many Sedums that can be used as ground cover filler plants. It’s an excellent plant for those who want to create a mixed arrangement since it contrasts well with other plants.
Sedum Bottom
Sedum Bottom is a type of sedum plant that is commonly used as a ground cover or filler plant. It has small, rounded leaves and grows low to the ground, making it a great contrast against other plants. Sedum Bottom tends to go leggy as it grows, especially if it’s not getting enough sunlight, so it’s important to chop off the heads and replant it if you want to maintain the short clumping look.
Sedum Bottom is just one of the many sedum plants that can be used as ground cover or filler plants. Sedum adolphii, also known as Sedum nussbaumerianum, is another popular choice. It is usually yellow but tends to go orange with enough stress. Sedum mexicanum, also known as Angelina, is a lime green plant that turns yellow under stress. Sedum reflexum, also known as blue spruce, has larger and plumper leaves than Sedum mexicanum and can be used as a transition onto other bigger plants. Sedum album, also known as white stonecrop, produces lots of flowers in summer but eventually they dry out and get unsightly.
In addition to sedum plants, there are also many crassula plants that can be used as fillers or ground cover. Crassula pellucida, also known as petite bicolor, is a variegated form with tiny leaves that are mostly yellow and green but turn pink along the leaf tips when stressed enough. Crassula arborescens subspecies angolatoffoli, also known as triple jade, is a shrubby plant that can be maintained at a certain height by trimming or taking cuttings. It has wavy or undulating leaves and likes to fill up any space that is given to it.
Overall, there are many different types of plants that can be used as ground cover or filler plants, and the choice depends on the desired look and the amount of sunlight and stress that the plants will receive.
Sedum Mexicanum and Sedum Morepestre
Chuck from Let’s Plant Lug has shared some ideas for plants that can be used as fillers and ground cover. He has put together a list of around 40 plants, and two of them are Sedum Mexicanum and Sedum Morepestre.
Sedum Mexicanum, also known as Gold Mound or Angelina, is a lime green plant that turns yellow or orange under stress. It grows low and spreads out in the ground, making it a good contrast against other greens and blues. Chuck likes to mix it with Sedum Morepestre, also known as Blue Spruce, which has larger and plumper leaves. Sedum Morepestre can be used as a transition plant to other bigger plants because it has thicker leaves.
Sedum Album is another plant Chuck recommends as a ground cover. It produces lots of flowers in summer, but the flowers can dry out and become unsightly. Removing the dry stems and flower stalks is easy, and the plant grows very fast.
There are also different cultivars of Sedum Rubra, which means “red died.” The regular Sedum Rubra Tinkham is usually green but turns red with enough sunlight. The Aurora Sedum Rubra Tinkham is the pale version of the regular one and turns pink under stress. Chuck also shows a dwarf form of Crassula Pellucida called Petite Bicolor, which is variegated with tiny leaves. Crassula Arborescens Subspecies Angela Toffoli, also known as Triple Jade, has wavy leaves and can be maintained at a certain height by trimming or taking cuttings every year.
Chuck recommends using these plants as fillers and ground cover for their various textures and colors.
Sedum Reflexum and Sedum Album
Chuck, in his video, showcased various plants that can be used as fillers and ground covers. Two of the plants he mentioned were Sedum Reflexum and Sedum Album.
Sedum Reflexum, also known as Blue Spruce, has plump and large leaves that resemble the texture of Sedum Mexicanum and Sedum Morepestrey. Its leaves are larger than the previous two plants, making it a perfect transition plant to bigger plants. On the other hand, Sedum Album, as its name suggests, produces a lot of flowers during summer, but the flowers tend to dry out and become unsightly. The plant grows quickly, and the dry stems and flower stalks can be easily removed by pulling them out.
Both Sedum Reflexum and Sedum Album are low-growing plants that spread out on the ground, making them great contrast against the greens and loose plants. Sedum Reflexum has a bluish-green color, while Sedum Album has green leaves that turn red or purple when exposed to enough sunlight. These plants are perfect for anyone looking for low-maintenance ground covers and fillers.
Sedum Pachyphyllum and Sedum Rubrotinctum
Chuck, the host of Let’s Plant, has been showcasing different plants that could be used as fillers and ground covers. He recommends using clumping and trailing plants, particularly sedums, as they are known for their ability to spread out in the ground and provide a nice contrast against other plants.
Chuck’s list of around 40 odd plants includes Sedum Adolphii, which is also known as Sedum Nussbaumerianum. This plant has yellow or orange leaves that tend to grow low and spread out in the ground. It is recommended to chop off the heads and replant it if you want to maintain the short clumping look. Sedum Clevedon is another clumping plant that spreads prolifically and is great to use as fillers, especially if you just want to cover the ground quickly. It has chubby, rounded leaves that provide a nice contrast in texture compared to other plants.
Chuck also recommends Sedum Mexicanum, which is a lime green plant that turns yellow under stress. It is known by different names such as gold mound and Angelina. He likes mixing it together with Sedum Rupestre, which has a bluish-green color and a more muted texture. Sedum Reflexum, also known as blue spruce, has larger and plumper leaves compared to Sedum Mexicanum and Sedum Rupestre. It could be used as a transition onto other bigger plants because of its thick leaves. Sedum Album, on the other hand, has tiny, rounded leaves that contrast with the previous plants. It produces lots of flowers in summer but eventually dries out, which could be easily removed by pulling out the dry stems and flower stalks.
Lastly, Chuck shows different cultivars of Sedum Rubrotinctum, which is a bean-like plant that turns red or orange under stress. Sedum Pachyphyllum, on the other hand, has large leaves that tend to turn red or purple tips when they get enough sunlight. It serves as an accent or highlight on the plant itself.
Crassula Pellucida and Crassula Arborescens
Chuck, the speaker in the video, introduces two plants that can be used as fillers and ground cover. The first plant is the Crassula Pellucida, specifically the dwarf form called Petite Bicolor. This plant is variegated with tiny leaves that are mostly yellow and green, but can turn pink along the leaf tips when stressed enough. As temperatures drop during winter, Chuck expects more leaves to turn pink.
The second plant Chuck introduces is the Crassula Arborescens subspecies Angela Toffoli, commonly named Triple Jade due to its wavy or undulating leaves. This shrubby plant can grow quite tall, but can be maintained at a shorter height by trimming or taking cuttings every year or so. Chuck likes to use this plant as backing or to fill the back of the garden due to its fast growth and ability to fill up any space given to it. In a previous episode of Let’s Plant, Chuck only snuck in a few cuttings of this plant but was able to achieve significant growth.