Ground cover plants: decorative and weed-repelling!

A ground cover is more than a nice decorative layer in your plant border or flower box. It prevents weed growth by shielding the weed seeds in the soil from sunlight. This prevents the seeds from germinating and you have to do less weeding! In addition, ground cover also serves as a protective layer. It protects your plants against severe frost in winter. However, ground cover also retains moisture so that your border can get through the dry summer months better.

Which ground cover do you choose?

Tree bark

Tree bark is the most popular type of ground cover. The two varieties we see most often in the ornamental garden are pine bark (Pinus sylvestris) and French pine bark (Pinus maritima). Although they look very similar, there is an important difference: Pinus maritima lasts 5 to 7 years while the sylvestris lasts on average 3 to 4 years in our garden. In addition to choosing the bark, you also need to choose the right size. Most customers choose 20-40 mm. This bark has a coarser structure and is therefore more decorative. However, bark of size 10-20 mm will protect the soil and plants even better! It is therefore often slightly more expensive. On average, you will need to provide a bark layer that is 7 cm thick.

Coconut Bark

Besides tree bark, there is also coconut bark. This is a 100% natural product made from the bark of coconuts. Because of its high decorative content, this bark is also very suitable for filling flower pots and containers. Coconut bark decomposes slowly and retains its colour well.

Mulch

The third option is mulch. These wood chips are more budget-friendly than the alternatives above, but they also decay more quickly. You should therefore replenish the border annually.

Our conclusion?

In the short term, mulch is the cheapest option but with bark you make a sustainable choice.

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