Groundcovers are wonderfully practical and also decorative surface fillers - however, their unlimited spread is not always desirable. In which cases, when and how they should be cut, we explain below.
Sometimes it may be necessary to direct the ground covers into their paths
When to keep ground covers in check
Particularly pragmatic ground cover solutions are those that fill large areas - for example for greening, decoration and attachment of slopes, embankments or wall strips. Ground cover plants are also usually allowed to spread out quietly for underplanting shrubs and stem trees.
However, if a ground cover is used in a more targeted way, for example to visually structure a border of perennials or in a carefully designed rock garden, it needs to be kept in check a little. After all, it should only cover clearly defined areas or form compact cushions.
Another reason to cut back ground covers is that they are vigorous. Some varieties fulfill their ground-covering task a little too eagerly for gardening purposes and may spread to neighboring beds. These include ivy, blue cushion, lady's mantle or cushion phlox.
Even when used as a filling carpet for early bulb flowers, certain groundcovers such as lily of the valley, umbilicus or periwinkle can eventually gain the upper hand. Such fellows should also be regularly stopped.
The groundcover pruning reasons at a glance:
- to maintain specific, accurate bed structures
- simply to limit space-consuming spread
- to prevent excessive growth
When and how to cut back
In principle, autumn is the best time to cut back groundcover, as this is when they have completed their main vegetation phase. If you want to keep a ground cover in very clean shape, you can prune it several times a year, but four should be the maximum. In this case, you should work with a little fertilizer at the same time so that the plant is not weakened and thinned out too much.
Cushion-forming ground covers such as soapwort, stonecrop or cushion thyme are easily cut by trimming the surface and the edges. So you can effortlessly keep them in the shape you want.
In the case of varieties that form runners and tend to grow vigorously, such as Günsel, deadnettle or cranesbill, you should cut the vigorous shoots to a few centimeters at least once a year in autumn. If they expand too much in width, you can also cut off encroaching runners with a spade.
Such ground cover species can also be propagated by cutting off foothills.