Dymondia margaretae
Dymondia margaretae on Low water in November 2022. Photo: JA Sisneroz.
Summary
UC Davis is located in Davis, California, this site has a silty clay loam soil and plants are irrigated with potable water. More information about the field sites is located in the Nuts & Bolts section.
Silver carpet is a low growing, compact groundcover, with the undersides (abaxial surface) of the leaves colored silver, hence the common name. Bright yellow ray flowers appeared from spring through fall. To replicate commercial conditions silver carpet was planted from flats, with ¼-flat used for each individual planting hole. After installation, the plants were surrounded with bark mulch. Over the course of the trial, the plants appeared to have an uneven, lumpy appearance, probably due to the very low height of the plants mirroring the topography of the mulch underneath the canopy. This is a response of adapting the species to meet the trial protocol. In most landscape applications silver carpet is used as a turf alternative, forming a uniform flat groundcover. While the silver carpet in the trials did grow over the mulch, in a landscape setting, a much finer mulch with smaller particle sizes would be recommended. In the first year after planting, weeding between the individual plants that made up each replicate was required, with this need tapering off as the plants became established. Although in cooler, coastal conditions this plant may produce its sunny yellow flowers abundantly, its blooms were consistently very few in our conditions. At the Open Houses, silver carpet rated well, especially at the October event, ranking as one of the plants most participants would use professionally at both events. The 20% and 50% treatments performed statistically better than the 80% treatment, while there was no significant difference between the 20% and 50% treatments. Thus, we recommend that silver carpet be irrigated on low water in WUCOLS Region 2.
Basic Info
| Submitted by: | Climate Ready Landscape Plants Team |
| Site(s): | UC Davis |
| Trial Exposure: | Sun |
| Year evaluated: | 2022 |
| Height & Width after 2 years: | 2-3" x 1-2' |
| Reported Height & Width at maturity: | <3” x 2.3-3' |
| WUCOLS plant type: | Gc |
| Water Needs & WUCOLS Region: | Low - Region 2 |
| Mean Overall Appearance rating (1-5 Scale, 5 is highest) | 3.8 |
| Flowering Months: | May-October |
Growth and Quality Data
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Dymondia margaretae on Low water in June 2022. Photo: SK Reid.