Bulbs and Groundcovers: Planning New Garden Spots
By Cindy Bellinger  The trouble with gardening is you have to think two seasons ahead. Here it is the end of October. And here it is time to plant for spring. Because autumn really is a finite amount of time, fall planting now always feels like a scramble. Winter is approaching. There's pressure.
All spring and throughout the summer, I kept my eye on a few spots. One edges a stonewall draped in shade. The other curves inside a new wall with hours of full sun. I wondered and worried about what to put in those spots. But watching the--
 passage of sun (to find areas of warm and very heated soil) - the play of shadows (to how much shade different beds have)
- where the moisture catches (to see places that could sustain more water-loving plants)
--kept me pretty busy. I think. I don't remember any of this.
Ruminating passes through the mind rather blithely, hardly making a dent in our thoughts. Then time comes to plant. Suddenly everything you've noticed comes alive.
Groundcovers
I didn't know this, but thoughts of the perfect groundcover kept sneaking in. Trouble is which one--
 Veronica (Turkish Speedwell) Zones 4 to 8- Thymus (Minus Creeping Thyme), Zones 4-9
- Delosperma (Hardy Purple Ice Plant), Zones 4-10
These grew at my place before the entire garden was torn up so I know they will all grow.
Now what I want is to plant bulbs with the groundcover. There's nothing better than a mat of thick green with bright red, pink or yellow bulbs poking through it.
Bulbs
The bulbs I like with groundcovers are the smaller varieties--
It may take a season or two before this combination starts working--especially for the groundcovers to take off, especially if you live in the higher elevations. But when the groundcovers and bulbs settle into their own growing rhythms, they work beautifully together.
Read My Little Garden Patch - gardening column by Cindy Bellinger.
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Muscari