I love flowers, I really do. But the blossoms come and go, and the leaves stay all season. That’s why I think about leaf color and shape when I plan some areas of my garden. One of my favorite areas is especially good in spring, when the colors are sharp – but it’s nice all year long.

Along both sides of the path I have Lysimachia nummularia Aurea as a groundcover. It’s a lovely light yellow-green, and the color stays fresh and nice all summer. You can see why it was nicknamed moneywort when you look at the shape of the leaves; they’re like little gold coins. I don’t know why it’s also called creeping jenny.

It’s supposed to be hardy in zones 4-8, and is billed as a ‘fast-spreading’ cover. It spreads nicely in this corner where many plants struggle (too close to the maple tree), so I suppose it might be a bit invasive if it were more comfortable. The soil is heavy, lots of clay, with a pH close to neutral.

One side of the path gets about half-day sun, and the other side gets less. I still get a nice chartreuse color, but friends who grow a starter I passed along from this bed get green leaves in half-day sun. I don’t really understand that, but oh well, it looks great here! In fact, it's so good that I've planned other plantings to show off its bright fresh color.