Carpeting plants should do three things: (i) hide every inch of soil; (2) furnish attractive foliage for seven months; (3) bear some interesting flowers. It is possible to carpet the whole of a bed, but there is no point in doing it if the shrubs or perennials in the centre would hide them. Consequently, the edge of the bed is all that needs carpeting. However, it is often a good plan to fill every inch of a bed with small bulbs like crocuses, glory of the snow, or scillas, which bloom in March and April before the bushes put forth their leaves.

I suspect that tufted pansies or violas will become the most popular plants for covering the ground because they bloom all spring and summer (except for an enforced rest of about ten days) and they have a great range of colours.

There are fully one hundred hardy perennials suitable for edging and carpeting. Among them are: