Photo by L.A. Jackson
It's hard not to like golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’) in the summer. Why? Well, because this low-growing groundcover’s small, rounded, brilliant chartreuse leaves help break up the blanket of green that slowly slips over a landscape as temperatures peak for the year.
The problem with creeping Jenny is that it can do its job too well as a groundcover. In some states to the north, the straight species’ aggressive tendencies have earned it the title of “invasive weed.” The cultivar Aurea tends to be a more restrained grower, but even it can go for a romp if left unattended.
In the right conditions, Aurea (a common find at garden shops, by the way) easily spreads its strings of bright leaves through a planting bed, covering the ground with a growing, glowing greenish-yellow carpet. And as a bonus, in late spring to midsummer, small yellow flowers enhance the showy foliage.
If you like the look of Aurea but are afraid it might go crazy in your garden and beyond, there are confined ways to display this beauty. Golden creeping Jenny loves moist conditions, so using it as a marginal plant in a water or rain garden with hard borders will help restrain its stretch.
And although Aurea is happy in damp areas, it is still tough enough to thrive in container plantings, where its golden leaves readily spill out like coins from a treasure chest. This not only adds more interest but also helps to visually soften the lines of a pot’s rim.
Aurea can be a real head-turner when allowed to flow over a retaining wall because, just like with pot rims, the masses of dazzling, dangling leaves will break up the horizontal hold a long stretch of garden wall can have on the eyes.
Golden creeping Jenny is rated hardy in USDA Zones 3 through 9, so it is a perennial quite capable of weathering winters in our state. It will do well in partially sunny to shady locations, but with more sun (especially morning light) comes a more golden yellow to the leaves.
And if, by chance, in your search for golden creeping Jenny, you come across a fair-foliaged beauty named Goldilocks instead of Aurea, pull out your wallet—it is a different cultivar, but it has the same glow that will brightly grow in your garden.
July in the Garden
- Mix three cloves of garlic and two hot peppers with a quart of water, and what do you get? Certainly not lunch! But if you liquefy this mix in a blender and strain it through a coffee filter, it becomes an all-purpose repellant spray solution to try against such garden beasties as whiteflies, aphids, vine borers, hornworms, slugs, cabbageworms and spider mites.
- To help prevent moist conditions that can be ideal for the development of foliar diseases, water plants early in the morning so the leaves will dry off quickly in the rising sun. Or use soaker hoses to irrigate your garden.
Tip of the month
As summer temperatures rise to their typical stifling levels, shady spots in the garden become inviting escapes. And while the green canopy typical in such sanctuaries where the sizzling sun doesn’t shine brings relief from the heat, it could usually use some extra pizzazz. So for those who prefer a little botanical bling in such retreats, plenty of plants can put on colorful shows in the shade, whether potted or in-ground, including caladiums, begonias, variegated hostas, heucheras, old-fashioned impatiens (Impatiens walleriana), Japanese painted ferns and polka dot plants.
L.A. Jackson is the former editor of Carolina Gardener magazine. Contact him at lajackson1@gmail.com.