Let Goldilocks
gild your garden
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
A couple of years ago, I wrote about a plant called Goldilocks. Since then, I have fallen head over heels for the plant and use it in a variety of ways around my home. Lime green remains one of the hottest colors for the landscape, and this plant has the ability to steal the show.
Goldilocks is a variety of Creeping Jenny, or moneywort, and is known botanically as Lysimachia nummularia. It is perennial over much of the country and is cold hardy to zone 4. It is extremely low growing, reaching only 4 to 6 inches tall, and it is touted as being deer resistant.
The foliage is bright lime green with morning sun and afternoon shade, and it turns a golden chartreuse in full sun. Goldilocks can be used as a boldly colored ground cover as it spreads to about 36 inches. Use it in the foreground with perennials like blue salvias.
At the Mississippi State University Truck Crops Experiment Station, we have used this plant to create a street of gold between Montauk daises and in front of Mystic Spires Blue salvias and Stella d’Oro daylilies.
My favorite way to use Goldilocks is as a spiller plant in mixed containers. I draped it down one of my favorite Old World-style containers, contrasting it in dramatic fashion with Matrix Blue pansies and Easy Wave blue petunias.
In another container that looks broken and is lying on its side, the Goldilocks seem to bubble up and then fall outward. Here, I also complemented it with Easy Wave Blue petunias.
I use Goldilocks on my deck in mixed containers with Super Dwarf Cavendish bananas for a tropical appeal.
If you are a lucky person with rocks in your garden, you will love how Goldilocks makes the landscape come alive by draping over and around the rocks. In hanging baskets, let the plant plummet downward as far as you like.
Goldilocks plants are not hard to find, so do a little bed preparation before you shop. Amend tight, heavy soil with 3 to 4 inches of organic matter and work it shovel deep, or 6 to 8 inches. As you probably have gathered by now, I am a proponent of incorporating a little pre-plant, slow-release fertilizer like a 12-6-6.
When planting Goldilocks, be careful not to plant too deeply. Place the plant so the top of the root ball is even with the surface of the soil. The Goldilocks and other varieties of Creeping Jenny will spread, so space them 18 to 24 inches apart.
Water the plants to get them established, and then water sparingly. A light application of a slow-release, balanced fertilizer a month after transplanting should be sufficient for vigorous growth. They respond well to cutting back, so don’t hesitate to pinch or prune as needed to keep them within their confines.
Goldilocks is one of the best choices for lime green in the garden. Use it as a ground cover or spiller plant in mixed containers or baskets and your neighbors will think you have captured the proverbial green thumb.
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Released: June 12, 2008
Contact: Norman
Winter, (601) 857-2284
Editor's Note: Ideal publication dates of Southern Gardening columns are within one month of their release. Editors should examine older columns carefully for any information that could be time sensitive.
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