Habitat

• native to Europe and western Asia
• hardy to zone 4
• can be grown in colder regions with snow cover
• Special Note: This species has demonstrated an invasive tendency in Connecticut, meaning it may escape from cultivation and naturalize in minimally managed areas. For more information, .

Habit and Form

• a low, trailing groundcover
• evergreen
• only 3" to 6" tall
• spreads many feet
• has thin, wiry stems

Summer Foliage

• simple leaves, margins entire
• leaves elliptical, 1" to 2" long
• dark, glossy green color
• opposite leaf arrangement
• leaves leathery when mature

Autumn Foliage

• evergreen, no fall color

Flowers

• species has blue flowers
• flowers are 1" in diameter
• primary blooming is in April, but sporadic blooming continues into summer
• showy in bloom

Fruit

• not ornamentally noticeable

Bark

• stems are so slender that bark is not an ornamental feature

Culture

• prefers partial shade
• tends to yellow in full sun and high heat
• best soil is moist, well-drained and fertile; relatively soil adaptable

Landscape Use

• one of the most commonly used groundcover in the northeastern U.S.
• as a filler around other plants
• useful for showy, early spring blue flowers
• useful for erosion control

Liabilities

• blight, canker, dieback and leaf spot
• disease organisms are Phomopsis and Colletrichum
• poor performance in hot, sunny locations

ID Features

• stems exude milky sap when broken
• opposite, evergreen elliptic leaves
• thin, wiry stems
• creeping groundcover
• blue flowers in spring

Propagation

• by division or cuttings
• very easy

Cultivars/Varieties

'Alba' - This is the common form with white flowers. Its growth is not as vigorous as the species. 'Alba Plena' (also listed as 'Albo Plena') is a form with double white flowers.

'Atropurpurea' - An old form with large blooms, this plant is notable for its deep plum-purple flowers.

'Florepleno' (also known as 'Flore Pleno', similar to 'Multiplex') - This is the double-flowered form with purple-blue petals.

'Gertrude Jekyll' (also known as 'Miss Jekyll') - This form bears pure white flowers on plants that are smaller in all their parts.

'Illumination' - A new cultivar that has taken the market by storm, this striking mutation features foliage with a large golden yellow blotch in the center of the leaf. The variegation is outstanding, as the margin of green is so thin that the entire plant appears yellow. It is hardy to zone 4 and offers vigorous growth and purple blooms. It is being used both as a landscape plant and container plant.

'La Grave' (also known as 'Bowlesii' and 'Bowles Variety') - Probably the most common cultivar, this selection is preferred for its profuse production of larger lavender-blue flowers. The plant appears to have a stronger clumping habit than the species, thus more plants may be needed to complete mass plantings.

'Ralph Shugert' - Similar in most respects to 'La Grave', this selection is notable for the regular border of creamy white around each leaf. 'Sterling Silver' is another form with cream variegated leaves and pale violet blooms. Other variegated forms exist, such as 'Argenteovariegata' and 'Aureovariegata'.