Besides rooting cuttings and sowing seeds, there are other
ways to increase ground-cover plants, says a University of
Georgia expert.

First, it helps to know how your ground cover spreads, says
Bob Westerfield, an
Extension Service horticulturist with the UGA College of
Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.

Ground-cover plants spread by stolons (aboveground runners)
or rhizomes (underground
stems), Westerfield says.

Plants With
Stolons

To propagate plants from stolons, such as flowering
strawberry or ajuga, peg runners
into contact with the soil or composted leaf mulch.

Keep the area moist, and the stems should root within one
to
two months. Separate new
little plants from the parent in late summer or early
fall.

Plants With
Rhizomes

Plants with rhizomes, such as lily of the valley, are easy
to propagate, too. In early
spring or early fall, use a spade to slice through the lateral
stems that connect a parent
plant with a newly developing plantlet.

Make sure each plant has at least one bud, Westerfield
says.
Replant them at the same
depth.

For more information on ground covers, see the UGA
Extension
Service publication on the
Web at www.ces.uga.edu/pub
c
d/L121.htm.