The Newness of Spring

Spring must be the favorite season of most gardeners. Sure, it’s fun to see everything in the garden at its peak in summer. But spring… new, new, new!

Spring is undoubtedly the season of new beginnings. By now, with just about a month of spring behind us, new shoots of greenery have already sprung up. New foliage is now showing in a big way, and it's that perfect new greenery that has not a sun scorch, not an insect nibble, not a blemish. New and fresh blooms on the earliest-flowering plants have opened. And all around the garden, there is new life: robins’ eggs, dressed in gorgeous blue and awaiting their own opening day… busy chipmunks that seem propelled by tiny motors… wet worms that, when first unearthed, elicit an “ick” that is quickly followed by a “glad you’re here in the garden”….. We gardeners know all these “new” sights. And we know that spring hosts all this newness.

What “new” are you planning to add to your garden this year? Will you choose a new color scheme for your Supertunias or Calibrachoas? These annuals may be familiar, but the ones you choose and the way you combine them will give you brand new sights to enjoy. Will you try a no-till method of gardening, turning the soil as little as possible when you add your plants so as not to disturb a wondrous ecosystem? Will you cover ground using new methods, such as using Trifolium (Clover) or flowering ground covers such as Phlox subulata or Mazus reptans?

For me: My “new” will involve focusing on what is low to the ground, and using petite foliage to hold back weeds that would otherwise pop up in pure soil. For years on end, I have wanted to “mulch” with plants, meaning avoid the purchase of bark or leaf mulches by using low-growing plants to have much the same effect as mulch does. I have done this to some extent with Creeping Phlox. In a broader area in the garden, this may be my year to add to this approach of using “living mulch”. Mazus reptans, or Creeping Mazus, looks wonderful under large plants that do best in sun or partial shade. Yes, a fine dark mulch can make a garden bed look well-tended, can hold down weeds, and can retain moisture to help the plants that nestle within it. But a living “mulch” of greenery with tiny blooms… well, that’s even better.

Mazus reptans spreads quickly, and surely that is important for a living mulch. Without filling the cart too completely with this ground cover, you can begin to cover enough of your garden beds to reduce the need for other types of mulch, little by little. In USDA horticultural zones 5-8, Mazus reptans does well. A semi-evergreen perennial, it likes moist soil, and this “like” is shared by many of the taller plants you might want to add to your garden. Because nutrient-rich soil is also on its list of “likes”, Mazus reptans is an ideal neighbor for annuals that want the same nice environment—decent hydration, adequate feeding.

Spring. New, new, new. As I take in all the new plants I might want to add to the garden this year, I feel a little lighter, a little happier… a little “newer”, at that. And when I weigh my options of shoveling some mulch into a flatbed for transporting to my home, or stacking up bags of the stuff for purchase… well, purchasing multiples of Mazus reptans seems a lot more attractive. Like other ground cover plants, it serves as a “new”/old way of mulching… and a new method of caring for my garden beds which I aim to try.