Groundcover plants are gorgeous, and they provide us with so many unexpected benefits! If you haven’t tried growing groundcovers in your garden, you should definitely consider it. It’s a bit of a broad term, but groundcover generally refers to any plants that are more low-growing and form lush carpets of colour across the landscape. Here are some of our favourites for Southern Ontario.

The Best Groundcover Plants for Simcoe Gardens

There are so many groundcover plants we can grow in Simcoe—many are native to Southern Ontario, so they’re some of the best low-maintenance plants for our gardens! Here are a few noteworthy varieties you can plant here:  

• Creeping Juniper

• Ostrich Fern

• Blue Star Creeper

• Bugleweed

• Creeping Phlox

• Sedum

• Delosperma

• Creeping Thymes

• Lamium

Some are a bit taller and have more texture and colour, while others remain quite low and can handle some foot traffic, making them excellent lawn alternatives. Whatever the style or function you’re hoping to add to your landscape, you’ve got plenty of options for gorgeous groundcovers to grow here. 

The Benefits and Uses of Groundcover Plants

Groundcovers’ shape and growth habits offer some surprising upsides and functional uses. Here’s how you can use them strategically in your landscape design. 

 

Erosion Prevention and Terrain Stability

Sloping terrain can shift and erode over time due to rain, wind, or unstable ground. Extreme weather can cause messy, expensive landscape issues like mudslides. Luckily, groundcovers have such thick root networks that they help stabilize the ground by penetrating the soil and creating a woven barrier that holds loose dirt in place. 

 

Soil Moisture Regulation

When the sun shines down on the soil all day, it can evaporate available moisture quite quickly. Covering up the bare spaces in the garden with groundcover plants can help shield the soil surface from the sun, keeping the soil cool and moist for longer. Groundcover plants also help deliver nutrients back into the soil, maintaining a healthy ecological balance of good bacteria, microbes, and macronutrients.  

Weed Prevention

If you fill the bare patches of soil in your garden with groundcover plants, there won’t be any free space for weeds! Weed seeds are tenacious and can survive in the soil for years before sprouting, but if there’s nowhere for them to take root, the problem is solved. Less time spent pulling weeds sounds pretty good to us!

 

Much Prettier Than Mulch

We’ve got nothing against mulch—that stuff works wonders!—but it just isn’t as pretty as a sea of lush, blooming garden plants and colourful, textured foliage. Groundcovers offer many of the same functional benefits as mulch, plus so many more! While mulch breaks down and needs replacing every year or two, these perennial plants will look even more beautiful and bright with each passing year. 

Less Lawn, More Life

If all that time spent maintaining a uniform, plain grass lawn feels unfulfilling, why not reduce your lawn size and grow more low-growing plants and flowers? Planting groundcovers adds more visual impact, and if you stick to native, drought-tolerant varieties, it can be much more low-maintenance. The local pollinators will love it, too— blooming groundcovers provide plenty of valuable sustenance for bees, butterflies, and even hummingbirds. 

Discover even more of the best groundcovers in Simcoe by visiting Eising Garden Centre! We have many distinctive varieties with unique features and benefits. Feel free to ask our staff for some pointers on how to care for your groundcovers for the first year after planting!

Now that gardening season is in full swing, you're probably thinking about when and how to apply fertilizer—or perhaps you haven't thought about it at all! Here's an overview of everything you need to know to keep all your landscape plants looking lush and healthy from spring until frost. 

 

Is Spring a Good Time to Fertilize?

Yes! Spring is when your plants begin their big growth spurt for the year, and they're going to need lots of nutrients to help fuel this growth—that's a fact! The nutrients found in fertilizers are essential for plants to perform their basic functions, and if there isn't enough in the soil, plant growth will be lacking. Fertilizing through spring, summer, and early fall will keep plants consistently nourished, but you won't want to apply anything after fall, as this will disrupt your plants' growth cycles when they need to go dormant over winter. 

 

Understanding NPK Ratios

The three numbers on the fertilizer bag represent the ratio of the three primary chemical nutrients your plants need: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K).

Nitrogen is necessary for the growth of healthy foliage. Phosphorus stimulates root growth and flower production, which in turn leads to fruit production. Potassium supports overall plant health and basic functions like nutrients and water uptake. 

Not all formulas are the same, and many are for specific kinds of plants. You can use all-purpose fertilizers as a one-size-fits-all solution, as they have a balanced 10–10–10 NPK ratio, but using specially formulated products will yield the best results. 

Since some plants have tons of foliage and no flowers, a high nitrogen formula is appropriate in those cases. However, if you give a high nitrogen formula with low phosphorus to a flowering plant, you'll get lots of leaves and barely any flowers; this is why it's essential to be choosy about which formula you use for your different plants. 

 

What Fertilizers to Use in Spring

Here's a rundown of what needs to get fertilized in spring and the best types of formulas to use. Always follow the instructions on the package carefully! Over-fertilizing won't produce faster growth—it will just stress out your plants and make them grow faster than they should, resulting in weak, leggy growth. Over-fertilizing can also cause microbial imbalances in the soil, and too much synthetic phosphorus can contaminate groundwater, harming our aquatic ecology by causing algae blooms. Using an organic formula tends to be gentler on the soil, so you can seek an organic option if you'd like to play it safe.   

Spring Lawn Fertilizer

Fertilizing in early spring with a "Weed and Feed" formula can help nourish your grass while preventing weeds from sprouting because it's mixed with a pre-emergent herbicide. However, it's too late to use a pre-emergent if it's already April or May. Instead, you can use a high nitrogen formula with a 3–1–2 or 4–1–2 NPK ratio. If you have a big lawn, you can use a broadcast spreader to make the application easy and even across the landscape. 

 

Shrub and Tree Fertilizer

Formulas with an NPK ratio of 16-4-8, 12-4-8, or 12-6-6 are usually appropriate for trees and shrubs. However, there are many formulas available for certain types of trees and shrubs, such as:

• Azaleas and rhododendrons
• Citrus fruit trees
• Roses

Spread the fertilizer at a diameter equivalent to 1.5X the size of the crown. Remember to follow the package instructions to calculate how much to apply at one time! Try your best to avoid getting any granules on your shrub's foliage, as this can burn the leaves. 

Perennial and Annual Fertilizer

Balanced all-purpose formulas are usually fine for your perennials and annuals, but you can also use something with slightly higher phosphorus to encourage more blooms. Just remember not to overdo it with the phosphorus! Granulated slow-release formulas will deliver a steady stream of nutrients to your flowers over a month or so, but if you want to give your plants an instant boost in spring, you can use a water-soluble formula that will go straight into the soil.

Vegetable Fertilizer 

Use a formula that is safe for use on edible plants. If you want to grow an organic vegetable garden, then stick to using an organic fertilizer! 

 

Eising Garden Centre has plenty of spring fertilizer for sale for all your plants, outdoors and indoors! Visit us soon—spring is almost over, and your plants need a boost so they can keep growing steadily throughout the rest of the year!

 

May Long Weekend is the perfect time to kick off patio season and host a party in the backyard! If you want this year’s party to be a hit—plus all the other backyard parties you’ll be having through summer and fall—get your backyard set up with these outdoor entertaining must-haves. 

 

Bring the Party Vibes This May-Long with These Backyard Essentials

A great party needs an amazing atmosphere! To transform your backyard into the perfect party zone, you’ll need to think about your overall layout and design. Here are some backyard design ideas and additions that will set the tone for your space.

Create an Outdoor “Room” for Entertaining

A sense of privacy actually helps to make parties feel more fun and lively. Think about it: if you bring twenty people into a huge room, it will feel awkward and empty, even though you’ve got plenty of people to talk to! In your backyard, you can create a more intimate setting with strategic design elements, such as:

• A gazebo or pergola to act as a room without walls
• Lattice dividers you can cover with beautiful creeping vines
• Outdoor rugs to place under your patio set, helping establish it as its own living space

You can strategically design other decorative elements like potted plants, patio furniture and garden art to create the illusion of a room or establish separation from other areas. Browse our garden centre to discover more creative backyard accessories to make your space uniquely yours! 

Embrace the May Flowers

May is known for its flowers, so why not decorate your outdoor space for the May Long Weekend with some of the most beautiful displays this magnificent month offers? Spring is a perfect time to plant—the soil is still cool, so your plants’ roots won’t get shocked. You can also buy flowering container arrangements and hanging baskets to place around your patio and seating areas. Visit us now to see what’s in bloom!

 

Decorate with Exotic Potted Plants

Large, exotic plants like potted palms, Birds of Paradise, and Monstera plants bring style, personality, and a bit of edge to your backyard entertaining area. Setting them up around seating areas helps establish that homey feeling, and the big, breezy foliage creates such a gorgeous green canopy overhead. We have an incredible assortment of exotic plants that you can bring back indoors for the winter, so visit us soon to see the entirety of our exclusive new collection!

It’s All About the Ambient Lighting

You can’t party in pitch black! Mood lighting in your backyard will dramatically improve the atmosphere, and there are so many creative styles to consider. There are endless possibilities for lighting up the landscape, from twinkly fairy lights to solar-powered garden lamps, festive lanterns, and colour-changing LEDs you can control from your phone. 

 

Get a Bonfire Pit

Something about a bonfire pit in the backyard naturally brings people together! The cozy warmth, the beautiful glow, and the heat source for cooking tasty party snacks always make for a great time with friends and family. All you have to do is send out a mass text that says “bonfire tonight?” and the people will come! 

Before setting up your bonfire pit in the backyard, check to see if your area requires a fire permit first, and be sure your space is large enough to accommodate the pit safely. Most places recommend that your bonfire be at least 10 feet away from any structures like buildings or fences.

 

We’re big into May-long weekend backyard parties in Ontario, so if you want to host this year’s spring bash, visit Eising Greenhouse to stock up on all the backyard essentials!