Siberian Carpet (Microbiota decussata) is underused in Connecticut landscapes.
For one thing, Siberian Carpet looks like a Juniper without the prickliness. As a matter of fact, you can run your hand over the shrub without scratching.
In addition, it likes partial shade and average to dry soils. Most literature doesn’t recommend planting in full sun but the shrub will do great under those conditions.
Siberian Carpet may become leggy after several years. Therefore, use selective pruning to keep it in bounds. Another small issue is trapping leaves in the fall and winter. As a result, it’s going to take a little extra time for cleanup.
Plant in odd-numbered groupings and let it grow together for maximum effect.
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4 responses to “Siberian Carpet | This is What it Does”
Oh, you have sooooo many more plants to work with than we do here in ND, which has the least amount of hardy perennials than any other state in the union. Which basically means we don’t have to know as much as everybody else in the other 49, but if we move we have to go through a re-education crash course, which would actually be fun and exciting!
Good one Kay! I bet you’ve got some amazing natives with that climate.
Siberian Carpet grows as far north as Zone 3. Perhaps that makes it marginally hardy for you.
I’ll have to check that out. Probably likes acid soil, ours is alkaline clay. Siberian does give something of a hint to it’s cold tolerance, doesn’t it.
The clay might be a problem. The Siberian carpet I see thriving are usually in soil that dries out fairly quickly.