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Pachysandra terminalis is the botanical name for Japanese Pachysandra, an evergreen ground cover known for loving it in the shade. It, however, grows just as well in full sun. It grows 6-7 inches tall, getting rather insignificant flowers some time in summer. It is hardy in USDA Zones 3-8. This extremely vigorous grower prefers a humus rich, well drained soil but can tolerate a poor soil, a clay soil and even a wet one. It is unappetizing to deer so they aren’t likely to bother it and it is easily propagated by cuttings. With all this going for this venerable ground cover it won’t be difficult to discover uses for the Japanese Pachysandra in landscape design.
For the bare and barren stretch of land under trees where the grass never quite grows in nicely Japanese Pachysandra would be perfect. Where there are protruding roots making lawn mowing or weed whacking a pain both for the gardener and the poor, defenseless tree it is even better. As the Japanese Pachysandra grows rather thickly the protuberant roots of the tree won’t be visible any longer. A circle around the tree in with the Japanese Pachysandra planted within would fix those problems and look great doing it.
In a woodland setting the Japanese Pachysandra would do wonderfully to provide a weed free area under and around trees and shrubs. It would be very much like a living mulch doing all the usual things any other type of mulch can do except this one will look green and alive. As it grows in a compact form Japanese Pachysandra would not likely allow weeds to invade. The humus rich soil usually found in the forest will get the plants spreading like wildfire.
In the front of the house Japanese Pachysandra could be used as an edging plant along walk ways, driveways and under foundation plantings. It could serve in this manner, again, as a living mulch preventing moisture from evaporating too quickly and it would keep down the weeds.
Japanese Pachysandra makes a great addition to a rain garden mostly because it can take any amount of water thrown at it. It will soak up any runoff before it gets away from you. Around lamp posts and mail boxes a patch either circular, square or any shape the Japanese Pachysandra would give just a bit of class and greenery to an otherwise empty spot.
Cascading over rock walls the Japanese Pachysandra would look rather nice as would it when placed in a rock garden once again to provide a living green mulch around other plants and to keep the normally dry, poor soil in Rockeries a bit more able to retain moisture. It also cools the soil for the very hottest sites.
There you have just a few suggestions on how you can use the Japanese Pachysandra in the landscape. Surely you can come up with more uses once you see the versatility of this wonderful little ground cover the Japanese Pachysandra.
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Author Bio Box: Glory Lennon
 For amusing short stories visit http://www.helium.com/users/32782. For an intriguing novelette-in-progress visit: http://www.myspace.com/glorygarden.
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