Plants Underutilized by Landscape Professionals

By Shannon McEnerney
Published in The Landscape Contractor, April 2024  

We’ve all been there. You see a new plant that looks great. From the description, it will do everything you could ask a plant to do. Then you buy one, plant it, lovingly care for it—and it’s a total dud. It’s no wonder we often see landscapes with the same old, same old—Hemerocallis Stella D’Oro,  Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’, Rosa Knock Out®. We use them because we know they work. But what if there was an in-between? Plants that have proven they perform but could stand to be used a bit more often. At Midwest Groundcovers, we have the good fortune to have a range of display gardens, which help us hone in on plants that fit this bill.

First up we have a plant that doubles as a groundcover and a shrub. Cotoneaster Nordic Carpet® has similar foliage to Cranberry Cotoneaster, but in a much shorter habit, about 3-6” tall. White flowers cover the plant in May, and it’s evergreen foliage is a lovely burgundy in fall. Plants can benefit from a bit of winter protection, but established plants will bounce back quickly from any defoliation that may occur.

Hosta is another plant that can be a two-fer; while typically listed as a perennial, some of the mini varieties make for great shade groundcovers. Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ has been popular for a while, but it has some friends that offer a wider color range—‘Mighty Mouse’—similar to ‘Blue Mouse Ears’, but with a gold margin, ‘School Mouse’—also variegated, but a brighter, more defined yellow margin and a twistier leaf, and ‘Sun Mouse’—a bright chartreuse. All varieties are about 6-8” tall and 12” wide, and display short stalks of lavender flowers.