Northeast Gardening: Ground covers with bulbs, 1 by rcn48

rcn48 wrote:
Jamie, another new member - welcome to DG!! I think the Euphorbia you're thinking of is E. cyparissias http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2005/index.html. It's a great groundcover that tolerates even the poorest soil - only complaint I have is it's hard to keep weeded - doesn't form enough of a solid mat to keep the weedy grasses from growing up through it. Of course that doesn't mean it's not growing in my garden, just makes a little more work for me!

The Ajugas are great, especially love the mahogany foliage of some. We also have a pink flowering Ajuga with green leaves - one of my favorites from my Maine garden that made the trip with me six years ago :) It's a great companion with the blue flowers of the darker foliaged Ajugas.
Just make sure wherever you plant Ajuga that it's in an area where you don't mind it traveling because it can be quite aggressive.

Meg, Lamium has been mentioned here and although I'm a big fan of the variegated Lamiums, one you might want to consider is Lamium maculatum 'Aureum'. Brilliant gold foliage with the typical pinky-purple flowers in spring, but the best part here in Zone 6 - keeps its foliage all winter! Of course it gets a little "ratty" looking by January, but at least it's something to look at when everything else is dormant. Although we don't have ours planted with bulbs, this is one combination we have that I love every spring, planted with Geranium 'Terra Franche'.