Red Clover

[AnulTheMagnificent]

Could anyone tell me if this would be good as ground cover in a bed with roses and small shrubs, under a fairly large tree?

The surface of the soil is solid where it has been trodden on over the years, the only way to get to the roses and tidy the tree is to walk on it. All the shrubs etc. were inherited with the house and I don't mind leaving them in situ due to lack of time at the moment, I don't want them to be destroyed by anything I plant.

Do you know the pH of your soil? Clover tends to prefer a slightly alkali soil, though will grow in a lightly acidic one too. Some of the red varieties are stunning and I have recently seen them start to appear in garden centres as ornamental plants. (Don't buy them this way, it's way cheaper to get seed)

However, a couple of caveats - firstly, they can grow quite large, though, so it's worth checking the height of the variety to make sure it will look good against your roses. Secondly, I don't know if you need to resow each year after cutting - I've only used clover as a green manure, so someone else may be able to advise. Thirdly - where they do grow, they grow strongly. I wonder if they might be a bit thuggish in their relations with other plants?? I wonder if you might be better off with something more conventional, like a silver lamium, which will cope with dry shade, is evergreen, and has beautiful pink flowers. My local garden centre sells small plants in the spring for 80p each. so you could add a belt of it very inexpensively.

Crimson clover? Yes it will be fine. It is an annual so will self seed. It is glorious when in flower. Mine has just gone over so will be collecting the seed in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks, I have a packet of seeds I was going to put elsewhere but then realised they would probably take over so was looking for somewhere else to put them.

The bed doesn't look great, it is a mix of various shrubs but I don't want to re-do it, they are all thriving and I don't have time for more than a bit of tidying up, my time goes into the back garden which really needs help.

Silver lamium looks pretty, I will give it some consideration.

Where do you buy clover seed?

In the green manure section of the seed section of most nurseries and garden centres. Or online.