My Top 4 Easy Groundcover Perennials for Food Forest Gardening

Learn all about the benefits of my favorite perennial groundcovers and how to grow them:
Trifolium repens- White Clover
Fragaria chiloensis - Coastal Strawberry
Fragaria vesca - wild strawberry
Viola odorata- violet
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#groundcover #garden #clover #parkrosepermaculture #permaculture #pdx #gardening #beekeeping #urbanfarm #permaculturedesign #foodforest

[@elisabethdenisar8240]

I am new to permaculture gardening. By far, your channel is the most informative for the newbie to permaculture and has given me so much information. I keep taking notes and have been processing everything you are teaching! Permaculture can be overwhelming with all of it's moving parts. Could you create a video on how to start? What are three or four simple things you can do in your space to get started??

[@joannewolfe5688]

You have such a classic Oregon garden! Makes me quite nostalgic. Loved seeing the diversity of plants.

[@dawnpettiglio6930]

Your garden is incredibly inspiring. Thank you for all that you have shared.

[@valeriemelendez5860]

My first time here. I never really understood that permaculture is more than ‘organic gardening.’ This video was perfection! The explanation and concern for our feet was just so considerate! Thank you so much for this video🧡🫶🏼 Godbless 🙏😊

[@lettingmyhearttakethelead8018]

I have lots of violets. Oh, and wanted to let you know that I'm transplanting all my mints outdoors! I feel comfortable in doing so after watching your video. Please keep the videos coming. I'm a newbie and need all the help and instruction that I can get! Thank you!

[@chiomascharm4596]

Every video that you make is so informative! I take notes! Thanks for sharing 💜

[@SunnyOnTheInside]

I have had a great experience using salad Burnet as a ground cover lately. It's such a delicious cool weather salad addition and the bees grow crazy for the flowers en masse. It's spreading (self seeded) but doesn't seem to be invasive and handles being hacked back to open up a little space for spring plantings.

[@CopperheadRoadHomestead]

I enjoy your videos. Trying to implement permaculture principles on my farm in western Kentucky. Keep it up!

[@jonburt2695]

I'm in Louisville KY, also trying to get a permaculture farm up and running. How are things going for you?

[@Coolguyallthetime2k]

I love this channel so much. The voice, the view, the peace!

[@maggiemanzke7926]

So glad you created this video. I'm on the lookout for good groundcovers (wildlife support, edible crops, etc), and these are great, thank you! Contrary to some opinions, I love your technique of putting your hand out to identify the plants, and we don't see faces through most of the video. I get the other opinion, but for me, it's all about the plants. Keep up the great work!

[@dorismeehan7260]

Love this. I planted various violets under blueberries because I love them and I'm glad to see you did too. Also cranberries help the blueberries grow in a damp area.

[@sharonross4535]

Loved seeing your ground cover perennials. I’m in zone 5 and I am going to plant a lot of the white clover. I’m a beekeeper and they love them. Great video. Keep up the great work. God Bless you.

[@lesliekendall2206]

I've sown white clover in my main path and would like to try lemon balm in the smaller ones to smell the scent as I walk.

[@emwing1458]

I have a lot of volunteer lemon balm. Be aware, it grows 2-4 feet high and really loves to spread - not so good for a path.

[@ChristopherJohnsonArtist]

I love violets they grew in our shady back yard when I was little.

[@holisticheritagehomestead]

This was an awesome video. Subscribed! Thank you so much. We are starting our food forest project in zone 6b and this gave us many ideas/things to consider. We are documenting our experience on our channel. Happy to have found this channel.

[@PegsGarden]

Hi Angela!! I wish we had some rain here in SW Florida, it has not rained in over a month which is very strange because we are suppose to be in the rainy season from May to Sept, learning more about permaculture by watching your videos and others who are also doing permaculture. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.

[@trishwest1809]

Great recommendations on perennial low growing ground cover. Thank you !

[@meowtotheworld4801]

I love this channel. You give me so much useful information. It also helps that I live in Roseway, so we have the same conditions. 😀 Thanks for doing this.

[@kitdubhran2968]

Oohhh. I haven’t been to the Roseway theatre in ages. They have the best popcorn. 😭

[@charlesbale8376]

Information was very helpful, thank you.

[@jacobhenry3153]

Violet leaves are delicious also not only the flowers. I enjoyed the video you do a great job at making informative videos.

[@jeaninecelayeta3370]

Thank you for sharing your information 🤙🏻

[@tamaracampbell2167]

I'd love to hear more about how to keep adding mulch, and not bury the wee plants. I have a heck of a time keeping the fragaria vesca growing with my annual addition of (street) leaves to control "weeds." Mint doesn't mind, but annual ground covers and those strawberries just disappear...

[@wildberrygarden]

Very informative, thank you!

[@thepetlosscompanion6602]

Great, helpful video.

[@chachadodds5860]

This is awesome. I've been overly attracted to choosing tall growing herbs and florals lately, and have noticed that they seem to more abundantly available in retail, than shorter, and low growing plants and ground covers. That set me in a mission to find suitable plants in the later categories, which hasn't been easy. I'm also moving into an urban setting, that has a humongous Elm, in the backyard, that shades a large part of the property, so I need shade lovers. I never thought about growing clover, because of preconceived notions, but you've convinced me that this is a winner for the terribly depleted "dirt," that lies barren at the moment. Just found you yesterday, and am binge watching, just loving all the knowledge you impart. A year ago, I was setting things in motion, to move up to Oregon; sadly, it didn't work out, and I almost grieve the fact that I won't be living where I can grow a really lush garden, like yours. What you've done, is amazing. A lot of hard work went into what you've achieved. It's incredible!

[@johnfitbyfaithnet]

Great information thanks

[@kitdubhran2968]

My top weed is a weed, without a doubt. Grass. It is actually a weed that was bred and bred to be even more weed-like so that you can ignore it and have it all take over the ground, and choke out other plants. Grass is my nemesis. Shading the soil is also good to keep the sun from baking the nutrients from the soil. And killing the beneficial fungi and bugs (earthworms etc). Clover likes getting treated poorly. Like getting stepped on, covered or pruned. It’s a whole Irish pride thing. 😂 I love violets. I lived somewhere that had some. I definitely want some of that underneath my fruit tree patch in the back yard. Speaking of my back yard. It used to be full of grass. We have adhd and anxiety and depression, so we have trouble doing massive projects. So we set our sights on the front yard, as far as getting permaculture started. We’ve left the back alone except to make paths to go back and prune the trees (finally!) and now my back yard is moving from grass to shrubland. I had mostly grasses and a few tall “weeds” and Queen Anne’s lace. Now there’s vetch, and wild geranium, and blackberries (which we’ll need to pull up, but are trimming now to keep “tame”) and at least two small trees or shrubs have been planted by local raccoons, which I have yet to identify. Also our cherry and plum trees have been reseeded by the same bandit fellows. So our back yard has trees all the way in the back and fades to shrubland then meadow. I really like it and I’m thrilled that leaving nature to do as she likes instead of mowing has led to her evolving the yard as she sees fit. It proves that the land will find its way back to natural, whether we like it or not. 😂

[@holisticheritagehomestead]

The Irish pride thing had me laughing. Haha! It sounds like you are well on your way to growing success. Grass is difficult. I agree.

[@gg-gn3re]

Yea I go around my yard with the weed whacker killing grass. It's my enemy too

[@jkennedy299]

I love love love Australian voila sp Especially v. Banskii 😍

[@afriendofB]

violet is also really good as a medicinal herb.

[@edieboudreau9637]

I like scarlet & white clover.

[@michaeltrimming215]

Fascinating. I am only an Engieer with 3 degrees, so it would help in future if you have a small card with the names of the ground covers so that I know what to Order. Enjoyed your presentation.

[@abzafox7777]

I use alfalfa, lambs ear, and purple Ice plant. I live in a cold desert so I have to employ drought tolerant species. I also grow beach strawberry because it can tolerant alkaline soil and it goes insane when you irrigate it.

[@tgardenchicken1780]

zone 4 for me, groundcovers: white clover, purple or white violets, wild straberry, alpine strawberry, canadian ginger. Trying again, sweet woodruff.

[@Iamam313]

If I want to plant a couple tree guilds and use white clover as a groundcover in really bad soil full of weeds how should I proceed? My plan is to decompact soil at the beginning of September, leave it a month and pluck any weeds that come out again in a months time and then plant the trees in vermicompost with mycorrhizae and then put white clover in as well everywhere and next spring I want to add in the companion plants: comfrey/nasturdium/chamomile/fennel/lemongrass/mint/artemisia/yarrow/sweet cicely. for the trees and bushes (peachtree/apple tree/raspberry bush/honeyberry/almond tree/fig tree) and some lupin flowers. What do you think? is it a good plan? I also want to put in 6 lilac bushes for windbreaks on 2 sides of the plot because there are some strong winds in the winter there.

[@joansmith3492]

I want some violets in my yard! I will have to find some seed. Sowing clover seed into the lawn makes my lawn more tolerable to me. Sadly, I live in an HOA neighborhood and am required to have 50% lawn (crazy). Gotu Kola makes a nice ground cover IMO. Frog fruit had also done well for me.

[@Big-Government-Is-The-Problem]

HOA rules like that disgust me. i wonder how society got so dumb. half of the western states have a massive water shortage every year and some HOA's require you to water a lawn so it stays green. its crazy indeed lol.

[@erikjohnson9223]

If you have frogfruit, you may need to research native violets and order from a native plant nursery. Phyla is mostly in the Deep South, and I would be a little surprised if European species like Viola odorata will tolerate your summers. Herb catalogs (Strictly Medicinal, Ritcher's, etc) will usually sell Viola odorata.

[@MartinaSchoppe]

Does anybody use plantain [Plantago major] as a groundcover? I'm thinking it should work great, because it doesn't mind being walked upon, likes compacted soil, is edible and medicinal and grows very low to the ground.

[@sharonross4535]

That’s a great idea. Wherever it wants to grow I let it grow. Can it be transplanted? I will do some research. I don’t think you can buy seeds for it but I’ll research that as well. It really wouldn’t hurt to just experiment and see that way as well. What works for some sometimes don’t work for all. Good luck in your adventures. God Bless.

[@MartinaSchoppe]

@@sharonross4535 I have not transplanted Plantago major as of yet, but Plantago spicata transplants very good. Those transplanted also flowered in the same season, so I could have taken seeds and propagate it that way. I'm trialling P. spicata as an edge plant for my beds.

[@erikjohnson9223]

@@sharonross4535 Jellito Seeds (German, but does ship to the US) sells seeds of some red/purple leaved cultivars of Plantago major, and I have occasionally seen Plantago coronopus in herb catalogs and JLHudson. P. major and P. lanceolata are such common lawn "weeds" in much of the country, that you could probably collect seeds from front lawns if they aren't already in yours. Of course most of the "weedy" plantains are European hitchhikers, so in climates like south FL that are very unlike Europe, they may be absent and purchased seed might not be effective either. Some plants need winters.

[@ilnpa2722]

Hello, I’ve been hearing about ground over for some time now but nobody seems to address the issue of mulching and composting. Every winter with snow and rain the levels of soil go down so you find yourself having to top off every autumn and spring. How do you do it without burying these plants? I tried doing it around them but ended up with uneven surfaces. If I spread over them, won’t they die? Thank you

[@geriannroth449]

Would these work in a tropical climate like Barbados in the Caribbean?

[@maplenook]

Arborist chips 👌

[@pimpleonureye]

You should look into wintergreen.

[@ChristopherJohnsonArtist]

Walking barefoot is only fun if you live where there are no scorpions :-)

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

very true :) I definitely wore shoes in Tucson as a kid. We don't have any dangerous venomous spiders, snakes, nor scorpions here. We're pretty sheltered in that regard.

[@meowtotheworld4801]

We have scorpions. Little brown scorpions. I’ve never seen one in Portland, but I’ve seen them in Corbett.

[@joansmith3492]

or fire ants!

[@ravingcyclist624]

Excellent video! What about perennial peanuts? And plantain lilies?

[@erikjohnson9223]

Perennial peanuts are subtropical. You should look into a Florida channel (Pete Kanaris?). On the other hand, "plantain lily" is usually another name for Hosta, and those perish (winter is too short) on the Gulf Coastal Plain and southward. They have value as a shade ornamental edible, but are slow clumpers, so not very economical as groundcovers. More of a specimen plant, or something for small clusters in perennial bedding schemes.

[@carmenguardia8255]

Hello, please let me know what are the names of the 2 wild strawberrys? Thanks You

[@erikjohnson9223]

According to lepidopterist James Scott, North American Speyeria fritillary caterpillars die on Viola odorata, so those into butterflies and within the range of these species will probably want to plant native Viola species instead, though I haven't found many to be fragrant. Of course here in the urban Midwest, Viola sororaria (=V. papillonacea) is everywhere and those butterflies are virtually absent. I think this is because V. soraria is mostly a lawn "weed" and most powered lawn mowers create an upward air current (intended to pull grass blades vertical before lopping their tops off), essentially sucking the caterpillars (which tend to hide in litter during the day and feed on violet leaves at night) into the spinning blade. In most other cases, where host plants are abundant, butterflies are seen at least occasionally during their normal flight season. I have seen a Speyeria fritillary only once in 20 years of living here.

[@pisanhinativepisanmona2215]

Wonderful channel with a lot of informations for me. I've subscribed. (I gave a thum up but mistakenly push the wronf button with my big fingers? I've changed it and hope that it works🥴 Sorry).

[@davidsauma2574]

Hello I just came across this video I am in Miami zone 10B and looking for a ground cover that would be a substitute for grass in other words no mow so cant grow to high been looking at the dwarf mondo grass. but not sold on it some one recommended red creeping thyme but some say good to zones 8 /9 others 10 what would you suggest ? Thanks!

[@erikjohnson9223]

You will probably have to mow at least annually, or tree/shrub seedlings will take over. I haven't heard of thyme doing well in Florida. Coleus amboinicus (Cuban oregano) usually takes its place as a culinary herb in South Florida and the Caribbean, but it won't take foot traffic. Middle Eastern herbs like zaatar can probably be grown on limestone rock piles. Dade County has some alkalinity due to surface limestone, but much of the rest of Florida is a bit too acidic for most Mediterranean herbs to thrive.

[@roygaurav999]

Hii dr 💗 i always watch your video's, so good and helpful your video's i want to talk with you

[@amjoyful1]

Hi From Florida. Really good information. (Way to many break in commercials)

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

Unfortunately I don’t have any control over where KZbin puts the ads or how they spread them out in the video or even what kind of ads they are. It’s definitely not a perfect platform but it is the only one available. Thank you for watching!

[@BreadNButterArt]

Is White Clover, Dutch Clover?

[@erikjohnson9223]

Yes

[@kolapyellow7631]

Clovers! We try to get rid of the from our lawn.

[@erikjohnson9223]

Yep. Herbicide company marketing has had its effect. However before the 1950s, Dutch clover was intentionally seeded into lawns to fertilize the grass.

[@lesliekendall2206]

Strawberries for a path? Sounds squishy.

[@ParkrosePermaculture]

They are native. The berries are incredibly small and don’t cause issues

[@smokeydabeecharlescoleman8365]

After watching several of your videos I am seeing a reoccurring problem. You keep giving permaculture lessons to us and it feels like you are preaching to the choir. You spent the first third of this video spouting your permaviews , (new word) hope you like it. The title was 4 top easy ground covers, not why, how and when I believe . How many times does this rabbit have to run around the bush before you believe we see a rabbit? I liked and shared a few vids but would like more if you would relax a bit and stop preaching. This is not a face to face so you only see the text and not the smile on my face as I write this .Nothing malicious intended just a Friendly comment that you invited me to make.

[@butterflyj685]

@Smokeydabee Charles Coleman. I have been a certified permaculturist since 2014 and I like Angela's approach to how she does her videos. Most permaculturist I know have a heart and passion about it and are always in a teaching mode. It is evident here. You make the assumption that every viewer already knows and understands the concepts she's explaining. She knows her faithful followers don't need anymore convincing. As a content provider she must take the approach that everyone that clicks on her videos are new viewers or have never heard of Permaculture and it's principles. People learn differently and because there's a lot to remember, for some people repetitious information is the key to getting these concepts to sink in. For others they've tried some of these concepts and have failed or sometimes have forgotten about why certain concepts are important or why certain applications are better than others. These videos allows everyone no matter where they are in following Permaculture principles to be able to comeback and see proof of concept and get the encouragement and motivation they need to try again, even if it means going back to basic fundamentals. Finally, there are those that may have commented and disagreed with Permaculture and it's concepts from KZbin and have attacked Angela on her other social media platforms and these videos gives her a chance to explain these cincepts in greater detail. There's nothing wrong with her approach. Sure she could follow the trend and make a list. Even Geoff Lawton said there are a lot of people out there doing Permaculture principles and not really understanding why they do them and just apply them and becoming very dogmatic in their approach, simply because someone else was doing them and not fully understand the concept as to why. And because of this he even stated that a lot of people have a misconception that Permaculture is only about organic gardening. We should be supporting Angela and not tearing her down. What you could have suggested in a loving way was for her to do a timestamp in the description where she could mention an intro, concepts, her beliefs, her list of ground covers, then finally a conclusion. Then everyone would get what they want. If you are only looking for a list then you are in the wrong place. This not to be malicious towards you I'm smiling aswell!

[@janetnorris2255]

I actually appreciate the depth and the approach to her information she provides!!

[@hivicar]

I'm exhausted by all the Native only purists, myself.

[@Zeeangelofdeath]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@butterflyj685that’s nice that you enjoy it. But the title doesn’t reflect what she is talking about. Almost 6 minutes of opinion and trying to be politically correct is just silly. This person needs a script and stick to it Because at some point you can hear her trying to think of things to say. Telling people how to walk around a plant as if they have never seen a plant is a new annoyance unlocked for me.

[@FATTONYKAUAI]

To much UP SpeaK

[@danielgeci4513]

Miss, I appreciate the video but it was painfully long winded. I zoned out like 8 times. Mainly the 5 plus minute intro about why we should be using ground cover was driving me bonkers. Like we are here for 4 easy ground covers not a dissertation on why to use ground cover. We know why to use it miss, that's why we are here for the list in the title. Save your lecture on why to use ground cover for another video. this would benefit both the audience and you more. The other thing is do we really need tangents about walking barefoot in clover like we are 5 years old and telling us to brush our feet when we walk etc etc etc. I'm really not trying to be a Richard here miss because you seem sweet, but boy oh boy can you drone on. Someone should buy your husband the "wrap it up box" from the Chappelle skit...poor guy

[@ravingcyclist624]

Wow! Talking about long winded. Look at the length of your comment! :-)

[@danielgeci4513]

@@ravingcyclist624 it's only allot to you because sadly a paragraph is the most you've read in the last 5 years, it also took you 5 years to read said paragraph

[@Zeeangelofdeath]

These comments are gems 😂 I was lost for the first 5.5 minutes And by the time she got to the point i wasn’t even interested.