Whether you’re creating beautiful planted containers, or want to soften the edges of raised garden beds and retaining walls, cascading plants are fabulously useful. With their long trailing stems, these are plants that grow naturally as groundcovers but, when given a little height, will attractively cover the vertical rather than the horizontal. And they’re all perfect choices for hanging baskets too.
Convolvulus sabatius makes a delightful spillover plant or dense groundcover for sunny parts of the garden. The lovely lilac-blue trumpet shaped flowers appear through spring and summer.
Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’ has long trailing stems with tiny leaves of the most iridescent silver. It’s very hardy and tolerant of both sun and light shade.
Helichrysum petiolare is a shrubby perennial plant, which sends out long stems covered in small felty leaves, which can be either silver-grey or lime-green, depending on the variety. It’s happy in both sun and light shade.
Bacopa (also known as Sutera cordata) has trailing stems and small single flowers in white, pink or mauve which appear through summer and beyond. A very compact grower, it suits sun or light shade and is extra handy as an edging plant for large pots.
Golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) is a low-growing trailing plant with leaves of golden green. It’s a vigorous grower and looks great cascading out of pots or over rocks. Plant it in sun or shade and keep well watered during hot weather.
Scaevola, known commonly as the fan flower, is an Australian native groundcover which bears pretty little blooms, mainly in shades of mauve, blue and purple. Blooming on and off between spring and autumn, it does best in full sun and well-drained soil, with good watering through dry weather.
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