These Power-Packed Creepers Are Best for Indian Gardens
Climbers grow vertically and creepers spread horizontally, even as the terms are often used interchangeably.
Just like their vertical counterparts, creepers can add texture, colour, and even fruits and vegetables in your garden and patio. If you have a large tract of ground to grow plants, consider creepers. You can grow flowers, fruits and vegetables in your garden and they can also form an unique alternative to lawn grass. Here are some creeper plants that you can consider growing on your ground.
Strawberry
One of the best-known creepers is strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa), though you might not have thought of it as a creeper. It is considered a creeper plant because the plant sends out runners that grow across the soil. Along the runners are nodes that throw roots into the soil, where a new plant forms. So it grows by running across the ground rather than standing upright into individual plants
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One of the best-known creepers is strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa), though you might not have thought of it as a creeper. It is considered a creeper plant because the plant sends out runners that grow across the soil. Along the runners are nodes that throw roots into the soil, where a new plant forms. So it grows by running across the ground rather than standing upright into individual plants
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Watermelon
Another common creeper is the watermelon (Citrullus lanatus). This plant also has weak stems and sends out long shoots that cannot support the fruit vertically or climb without some support. Some varieties of small watermelons can perhaps be made to climb vertically. However, the larger ones will only come to fruition when they have space to grow on the ground.
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Another common creeper is the watermelon (Citrullus lanatus). This plant also has weak stems and sends out long shoots that cannot support the fruit vertically or climb without some support. Some varieties of small watermelons can perhaps be made to climb vertically. However, the larger ones will only come to fruition when they have space to grow on the ground.
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Sweet potato
Given how easy it is to grow this fast-spreading creeper, one would never imagine that a nutrition-packed food such as sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) would come out of it!
The only thing it requires is space, sun, some good compost and practically no care at all. It thrives in hot climes and can be grown as ground cover under the other fruit trees. It is a great utilisation of otherwise vacant ground soil, yielding fruits high in B and C vitamins, beta-carotene anti-oxidants and most minerals needed by the human body, such as calcium, selenium and iron.
How to Attract Birds & Bees Into Your Garden
Given how easy it is to grow this fast-spreading creeper, one would never imagine that a nutrition-packed food such as sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) would come out of it!
The only thing it requires is space, sun, some good compost and practically no care at all. It thrives in hot climes and can be grown as ground cover under the other fruit trees. It is a great utilisation of otherwise vacant ground soil, yielding fruits high in B and C vitamins, beta-carotene anti-oxidants and most minerals needed by the human body, such as calcium, selenium and iron.
How to Attract Birds & Bees Into Your Garden
Betel Leaf
The humble Indian paan (Piper betle) has shiny green leaves that are wrapped round chopped areca nut, certain pastes, flavourings and ingredients (ranging from rosepetal jam to tobacco) and chewed as a mouth freshener and a digestive.
This is a creeping plant and can cover the ground in partial shade as well. It will spread horizontally and will throw roots wherever the nodes touch the ground. The leaves are attractive and give a peppery scent when crushed, and have medicinal and culinary uses.
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The humble Indian paan (Piper betle) has shiny green leaves that are wrapped round chopped areca nut, certain pastes, flavourings and ingredients (ranging from rosepetal jam to tobacco) and chewed as a mouth freshener and a digestive.
This is a creeping plant and can cover the ground in partial shade as well. It will spread horizontally and will throw roots wherever the nodes touch the ground. The leaves are attractive and give a peppery scent when crushed, and have medicinal and culinary uses.
Get inspired with garden photos on Houzz
Creeping daisy or yellow dots
This hardy creeper (Wedelia tribolata) is the considered best alternative to a grass lawn for the Indian climate. It grows quickly and can cover large areas of land in a very short time. Since it doesn’t require too much care, this is a great alternative for the usual lawn.
It is very easy to grow. By just putting the roots in the ground, and leaving the plant horizontally on the surface, it will start spreading by throwing out roots from its nodes.The tiny flowers are not only attractive for butterflies, bees and birds but also to the human eye.
This hardy creeper (Wedelia tribolata) is the considered best alternative to a grass lawn for the Indian climate. It grows quickly and can cover large areas of land in a very short time. Since it doesn’t require too much care, this is a great alternative for the usual lawn.
It is very easy to grow. By just putting the roots in the ground, and leaving the plant horizontally on the surface, it will start spreading by throwing out roots from its nodes.The tiny flowers are not only attractive for butterflies, bees and birds but also to the human eye.
Creepers are so useful and so easy to grow that with their ability to cover ground rapidly, they are indispensable for usage in large gardens. Use creepers as borders of flower beds, below trees or just to fill out empty ground which will otherwise become tough to maintain. You will see that with all their goodness and ease to grow, these creepers are not creepy at all.
Read more:
A Beginner’s Guide to Urban Terrace Farming
A Beginner’s Guide to a Seductive Sensory Garden
Tell us:
Have you used creepers as ground cover in your gardens? Tell us your experience in Comments below.
Read more:
A Beginner’s Guide to Urban Terrace Farming
A Beginner’s Guide to a Seductive Sensory Garden
Tell us:
Have you used creepers as ground cover in your gardens? Tell us your experience in Comments below.
The much celebrated pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima) grows on a creeper. This plant is a glutton for space and it can spread very fast to take over all the ground available. Each plant can cover upto 50 to 100 square feet, as each fruit needs runners that are at least 10 feet long for nourishment. Their yellow flowers look cheerful and pretty; plus, they are edible, too!
Fun fact: While pumpkin, squash and zucchini are considered different vegetables, they are actually the same genus and species and can interbreed with one another. Their flowers look very similar, too.