How to Grow Carpet Bugle (Ajuga Reptans)

Carpet bugle has blue flowers in early spring. This evergreen ground cover for part shade thrives in USDA zones 6 to 8.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fertilizers
• Garden Hoses
• Garden Trowels
• Mulch
• Plants
• Plants

1. Look for plants at nurseries in spring and summer, year-round in warmer climates.

2. Choose healthy-looking plants with signs of new growth in leaves and flower buds. Buy carpet bugle in 4-inch to 1-gallon containers.

3. Choose a site in part shade with well-drained soil.

4. Dig a hole for each plant no deeper than the plants were growing in the containers. Space the holes 1 foot apart.

5. Add a light application of organic fertilizer to the planting holes before setting the plants in.

6. Mulch around but not on top of the plants with 3 inches of organic compost.

7. Water well until soil is completely moist, and water weekly during summers with no rainfall.

Tips & Warnings

• Carpet bugle spreads by stolons - underground stems - so it's easy to contain when planted around stepping-stones or in a bed surrounded by concrete.
• Three plants will fill in an area that's 2 feet by 5 feet in a couple of years.