I am located in Toronto, and have a front garden with a two or three foot paving stone retaining wall fronting on the sidewalk, a staggered, slightly step-like (but each step only about two inches deep). The wall itself is not terribly attractive and one "quickfix" (or at least amelioration) I am considering is growing something aggressive and tough directly behind it, with the intent that it will tumble forward and cover (some of) the retaining wall.
I welcome any and all suggestions.
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Periwinkle [Vinca] is a shade-loving evergreen that blooms in early spring. Foliage can be green or varigated. Flowers are white, pink or blue [you may have to hunt for the unusual varieties]. Propagation is by cuttings or division [snag some early from a neighbor or friend] It shouldn't be mixed with other plants in a border as it takes over.
Another shady thug is Lamium. Flowers are white, pink, yellow or purple. Foliage is varigated and can be long and stringy [hanging baskets], fairly controlled or [usually] terribly invasive. Another one that doesn't play well with others.
Other choices would be a mix of sedums [including evergreen varieties] or alpines. Blue Rug Juniper - a flat-growing variety that doesn't resemble its overgrown cousins at all. Cotoneaster 'dammeri' is another LOW grower - sun or shade - with white flowers in spring and red berries in fall.
Experimenting with grasses - evergreen and herbaceous - could be quite spectacular.
that is a very nice groundcover, as well. I will keep trying to figure out what it was, and will post it if I do. Thanks very much for your suggestion, though.
I think you're talking about lamium. The flowers can be white or pink. It's a nice groundcover as well. If the link works, here's a picture of it -
http://www.waltersgardens.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&pl...
...do you happen to know the name of another plant that I have seen used for a similar purpose, which has sort of bulbous white flowers (which are themselves a collection of little flowers)?
Periwinkle (aka myrtle, I think) is a good groundcover. We also live in Toronto and have a very tiny front garden. Half of it is covered with periwinkle. It gets a pretty flower some of the time. We do have to "prune" it occasionally - it spills over, but it's nice and it's hardy.