This Flowering Orange Ground Cover Is Sure To Bring Hummingbirds To Your Yard

Incorporating ground cover in the garden is an excellent way to protect your soil, prevent weeds, retain moisture, and draw in beneficial species. Often called "living mulch," groundcover provides many of the same benefits as adding wood chips each year without the need to reinvest in it regularly. If you prefer a ground cover plant with vibrant colors, carpet hummingbird trumpet (Epilobium canum ssp. garrettii) might make the perfect addition to your beds and borders. As the name suggests, this is a ground cover variety that'll attract hummingbirds to your yard and garden, plus its bright orange trumpet-shaped blooms add welcome visual interest to any space.

While some types of ground cover work great for replacing grass, this variety is a better fit for areas you don't intend to walk on. Orange carpet hummingbird trumpet doesn't require mowing, and it will grow up to six inches high and two feet wide. You'll see the orange trumpet-shaped flowers making a grand entrance in the later part of the summer, and they'll usually last a long while. This flowering ground cover is beneficial to pollinators and easy to maintain in dry regions.

Finding ground cover varieties that are low-maintenance in your particular environment is the key to success with this aspect of the garden. Orange carpet hummingbird trumpet is native to the western United States and loves the sun. It's a hardy perennial in USDA zones three through eight, making it a great choice even in cooler regions. Be careful not to confuse orange carpet hummingbird trumpet with trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans), which is an invasive weed that will take over your yard and can cause skin irritation upon contact.

As far as soil, this groundcover variety is conveniently undemanding. It can thrive in rock gardens, clay soil, and sandy soil. Just ensure that the soil drains well, particularly in the winter months. Add orange carpet hummingbird trumpet to your yard by transplanting it into the ground once temperatures stay above 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the springtime. This timing will allow it to get established before facing the winter chill.

The maintenance requirements for orange carpet hummingbird trumpet are relatively simple. It will barely need supplemental watering in its first couple of years, and once it's established you shouldn't need to water it at all. After the flowers die back and the temperatures begin to drop, leave the plant alone. The remaining leaves will help protect it from the frost. In the early spring, trim back old leaves and stems. This will help encourage new growth and allow the plant to spread further.

Growing orange carpet hummingbird trumpet as ground cover offers several benefits for your garden and your local ecosystem. Providing nectar for your neighborhood hummingbirds helps support them through the late summer season, promoting pollinator health as a whole. Getting to see these beautiful birds grace your yard is a welcome perk! On top of pollinator support, orange carpet hummingbird trumpet also provides a beautiful splash of color and fun-shaped flowers that bloom for a long time, making them a whimsical ground cover to intermingle with the rest of your flower garden.

On top of being conveniently low maintenance, orange carpet hummingbird trumpet is also drought tolerant and spreads easily. It's a great option if you live in a dry place and want to keep your water bill and your environmental impact under control. It spreads easily through underground rhizomes season after season, so if you've got an expanse of garden floor you need covered, this species may be the perfect solution. There's little to worry about in terms of pests, and the plant is deer-resistant. Flea beetles may pose a temporary problem in some years, but the plant will generally recover for the next growing season.