Pachysandra terminalis Variegata
Notify MeJapanese spurge is one of the few plants that will carpet shade under trees and stay looking deliberate. The variegated form has diamond-shaped leathery leaves to about 5 cm, dark green with a clean cream margin, held in whorls at the top of short upright stems. Short spikes of small white flowers appear in spring. The plant is evergreen and holds its variegation right through winter.
It is a ground cover first and last. Use it beneath established trees and large shrubs, along a shaded path, in the strip beside a building that never sees sun, or in a shaded courtyard bed. Once it knits together it suppresses weeds without any attention, and the cream edges lift a dark corner more than plain green would.
Plant in part to full shade in moist, humus-rich soil with compost dug in, spacing plants 25 to 30 cm apart. It spreads by underground runners and forms a dense mat, so give it a bed it can have rather than a narrow gap. Growth is slow to start and then steady. Full sun bleaches and scorches the pale leaf margins.
Makes a mat around 0.2 m tall, spreading indefinitely at the root.
Trimming: Almost nothing required. Shear the whole planting over in late winter every few years to refresh tired foliage, and cut back any growth creeping past its edge with a spade.
Deadheading: Not needed. The flowers are small and short lived, and the spikes disappear under new growth as it expands.
Fertilising: Mulch with compost or leaf mould in spring, especially under thirsty trees. A light slow-release fertiliser at the same time helps a young planting close up faster.
Watering: Keep the soil moist through the first two summers. This is a plant for moist shade rather than dry shade, and it thins out and browns where a large tree takes all the water.
Pest Control: Slugs and snails graze the leaf edges, and the damage stays visible on evergreen foliage. Scale insects occasionally build up on the stems in still, sheltered positions.
Disease Management: Leaf blight and stem canker show as brown blotches and dieback in crowded, humid conditions. Thin the planting, clear fallen tree leaves off the mat in autumn, and remove affected growth.
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