Botanical Name: Sutera cordata
Common Name: Sutera, Creeping

 

Use: Outdoors
Indigenous/Exotic : Indigenous
Evergreen/Deciduous : Evergreen
Plant Type : Perennial
Flower Colour : White
Foliage Colour : Green
Best Season : Summer and autumn
Light : Shade to semi-shade
Hardiness : Semi-hardy
Attributes : Groundcover
Height (m) : 0.15
Spread (m) :
    
Notes : This low-growing plant, which comes from the coastal regions of the eastern Cape, is an asset in any garden where conditions are favourable. It is related to the popular Wild Phlox (Sutera grandiflora). Although Creeping Sutera bears small, white flowers in summer and autumn, it is usually grown for its very pretty, tiny, bright green leaves. It will spread a graceful carpet among perennials and shrubs; or you could keep it trimmed to form a neat edging to beds and borders; or plant it in a rockery, where it will grow over the rocks in a dainty green mat; or place it among paving stones and pathways to soften the harsh outlines. With its bright green leaves and its liking for shady places, Sutera also makes an outstanding foliage contrast specimen.

 

Although this groundcover prefers warm, frost-free conditions, it is a fairly adaptable perennial, which can be grown in summer-rainfall areas of light frost as well as in winter-rainfall areas. It does best at the coast, and is not well suited to very dry, inland regions.

 

To ensure that its foliage stays bright green, Sutera should be grown in semi-shade. In sunnier positions, the leaves tend to be smaller and somewhat dried up. It prefers a light, sandy, well-drained soil and should be well watered in dry weather.