Monday, April 4, 2016

What Do You Know about Kurapia as a Ground Cover?

I have been doing some research on drought resistant ground covers suitable for growing here in Northern California. I have started changing my grass lawn to drought resistant ground covers.  Last week I have installed Hypericum calycinum( creeping St John Worth) on my side yard, but have not done anything thing in my front yard. I am looking into kurapia for my front yard. However, from what I heard it will be twice as expensive as the Hypericum ground cover. Do you have or know of someone with a kurapia lawn? I would like to know if the cost will be justified with its value and savings from lawn watering and moving. 

The following is some information about this drought resistant ground cover originally from Japan.
    
Kurapia [Phyla (Lippia) nodiflora (L.)E. Greene] is a low growing, herbaceous, perennial dicot groundcover belonging to the Verbanaceae or Verbena family. Although the species is either native or naturalized to California, Kurapia is a sterile, non-invasive, cultivar from Japan, which is propagated vegetatively by plugs or creeping stems (stolons) only. Kurapia’s dense canopy and deep root system provide excellent drought tolerance and soil stabilization even on steep slopes.It is also tolerant to a wide range of soil conditions including salinity, but generally prefers sandy, well-drained soils. Kurapia reaches a maximum height of 3 to 6 inches and produces numerous small, white flowers from spring to late summer. As a result, mowing is not required. However, regular mowing with a rotary or reel mower as low as 2 inches can be used to minimize flowering. Kurapia can tolerate partial shade and light traffic when maintained either non-mowed or mowed similar to a lawn; however, it is not recommended for use under intensive, concentrated traffic. 

Kurapia is adapted to climate zones of 7b and higher. In regions where average daily temperatures remain above 45 °F, Kurapia will stay evergreen; however, growth will gradually decrease and enter dormancy when average daily temperatures fall to around 38 °F and Kurapia has been known to survive temperatures as low as 13 °F. These temperatures are provided as estimates, as Kurapia greenness, dormancy, and survival will depend upon specific location and environmental factors. ( www.kurapia.com)

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