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The Noninvasive Flowering Ground Cover That Can Take The Heat
By BROOKE YOUNGER
While it's true that some varieties of speedwell are highly invasive, spiked speedwell is completely safe for your garden. Plus, it is able to withstand the summer heat.
Spiked speedwell is an herbaceous perennial with pale green, pointed leaves, tall stalks, and conical, pillar-like blooms with either pink or deep purple flowers.
This low-maintenance plant is native to coastal and mountainous regions of Europe and Asia, where it thrives amid the sun, rocks, and tumultuous weather conditions.
This plant grows fast but won't overrun your garden. It grows in neat, tall clumps and can be treated like a perennial shrub or ornamental grass when it comes to landscaping.
As such, it's useful for filling in bare areas where nothing else seems to survive the hot summer sun, and it will quickly make itself at home in rock gardens and perennial beds.
Spiked speedwell can also be grown quite happily in raised beds and container gardens, as long as it receives enough sunlight. It also prefers moist, well-draining soil.
This perennial needs about an inch of water per week until it is mature enough to handle drought, but avoid overwatering, especially when sunlight is weak, to prevent root rot.
Spiked speedwell blooms from late spring to mid-summer. To encourage re-blooming in the fall, cut the plant down to its basal rosette after the first set of flowers have faded.