Last year, you gave me suggestions for my "very-difficult-to-grow-things-in" brick planter next to my front porch, remember? Here's the old picture:
There were great ideas for making the planter into a sitting bench, and turning it into a koi pond, and adding plants in pots. And then there were suggestions for planting mint or wild ginger and that got me thinking about invasive plants. Great idea! I thought. Plant something invasive so it can invade that barren planter box! Of course, I wanted something only mildly evil that would take over the planter box and not the whole Oregon landscape. I tried mint but believe it or not, it wouldn't take. I was going to try wild ginger but it was too pricey to get a lot of (around here anyway). I tried sweet woodruff (not invasive but good and fast growing for shade) but that didn't take either. I finally settled on something I remembered being easy to grow in one of my old gardens— Creeping Jenny.
I think of Creeping Jenny as a plant for sun but even in the shade it's perky, stays green all year, and still grows like a weed (a controlled weed, though). It took a little doing and a lot of watering in the beginning but now it's finally starting to take off.
And dripping over the sides of the planter like I'd hoped it would.
In a sunnier spot, Creeping Jenny would be a lighter, almost lime green with little yellow flowers. It doesn't get enough sun for that here so instead it stays this even, grassy green.
And that works for me.
