Lawrence resident Elaine Fellenstein is pictured in her garden with her backyard companion, “Hambone,” a French bulldog. Fellenstein has used a variety of different ground-covering plants to fill her garden. She believes such plants are timesavers in that they come back every year and help with weeding.

Elaine Fellenstein displays a photo of her home from July 1982.

The Fellensteins’ front yard features a variety of groundcovers.

Perilla is one of the ground-covering plants used by Fellenstein.

When Elaine Fellenstein and her husband, Keith, bought their home, the new yard was bare save for a pin oak and a few other trees fresh from the garden center. Now, 27 years later, groundcovers and perennial flowers flourish in the shade and make this yard a sanctuary.

Fellenstein did not consider herself to be a gardener when she started planting flowers.

“I had put petunias in a pot before, but that was about it,” she says.

With the help of Fellenstein’s mother and a few friends who were gardeners, the garden began to grow, literally.

Groundcovers are typically defined as low-growing plants that spread by themselves, and Fellenstein uses many different varieties of both annual and perennial groundcovers to create visual interest in her garden. Plants with different colors and textures, planted en masse, out-compete weeds, prevent erosion, enhance the beauty of other plantings and are an appealing alternative to turf.

Although some groundcovers are considered problematic, Fellenstein has found many that work well in her garden. She cautions to do a little research before planting, though, since vigorous growers usually live up to their name. Sweet autumn clematis, liked by many gardeners, spread farther than Fellenstein preferred and proved difficult to remove from the garden later. Variegated Bishop’s goutweed, however, spreads slowly enough to be manageable here, although it is considered invasive in some Eastern states.

Perilla, an herb that is most closely related to mint, fills in among other perennials in the shade of the backyard. Although perilla is an annual, the plants re-seed themselves in the garden each year. Fellenstein simply pulls out any perilla that grows out of bounds and is able to maintain the planting.

Another low-growing, shade-loving groundcover in Fellenstein’s garden is chameleon plant. The pink-tinged leaves of chameleon plant are as colorful as many flowers and tie in nicely with multiple shades of green from the other groundcovers nearby.

Out in front, the space under the now mature pin oak is filled with cranesbill, low-growing sedum and lamb’s ears. A native wildflower commonly referred to as butter and eggs also flourishes here, though Fellenstein may move it to a sunnier flowerbed nearby.

Fellenstein says her favorite season in the garden is April through October, and her favorite plants also change with the seasons. Like many other gardeners, she enjoys the showy flowers of roses, clematis and phlox, but she knows the groundcovers enhance the flowers’ beauty and are usually season-long performers.

With the carpets of lush groundcover, birds chirping at the feeders, and the jingle of chimes on the breeze, I still have a hard time picturing the yard as anything other than the quiet haven it has become.

— Jennifer Smith is the Douglas County Extension Agent-Horticulture for K-State Research and Extension. Contact her or an Extension Master Gardener with your gardening questions at 843-7058 or dgemg@sunflower.com.