When Good(ish) Plants Go Rogue, Part II

I’m not a big fan of ground cover. I get its function…to cover the ground. It’s quick-growing, but that’s the problem. Once it covers the ground you want covered, it just keeps covering ground you don’t want covered.

I have a lot of ground cover among my “a lot of plants” stock. There are a few different kinds of ground cover, but the most prevalent (and most invasive) kind is actually my kindred spirit: the curly ground cover. You may not have heard of it, but I assure you that is its name.

I believe there is a more technical name but it is irrelevant. While the curly ground cover and my hair may share commonalities, these similarities have done nothing to promote fondness. Basically, the curly ground cover has an evil root system just like my shrub and is near impossible to remove. It has taken over garden beds and extended far beyond the intended boundaries.

I also have an old well right behind my house. It has a concrete cover that can be removed so that one can easily fall right down to the bottom if one so chooses. When I made sure the well was indeed just a well (I pulled out an old hose and wanted to make sure it wasn’t needed), I kept thinking of baby Jessica in Texas  in 1987. The well isn’t used now because the landfill down the road contaminated all of the wells and so ABRACADABRA! the city had to provide public water to the houses in my area.

Here’s a photo to connect the well and the curly ground cover. Well on right, mounds of curly ground cover throughout bed.

Another job that took far longer than expected–I should just get used to this. But, also another job that was well (ha ha) worth the effort. And this time I found an unexpected treasure. Underneath all of the curly ground cover was an older concrete slab leading up to the well.

I like the concrete slab because it breaks up the garden bed a bit. Plus, it provides a sort of showcase for the well, which highlights it rather than it being buried among ground cover. Once everything is cleaned up, the well will become more of a focal point as something unusual and interesting in the landscaping.