Euphorbia Cyparissias (Cypress Spurge or Bonaparte's Crown)

Do you take your life in your hands when you mow the tufts and bumps of ‘lawn’ adhering miserably to a steep, dry incline? Have you got sunny banks or slopey bits of your patch where other things just won’t stick? Are you tired of those barren scratchy surfaces where you long for something verdant? Try ‘Cyparissias’

This is a cracker of a ground cover plant for that hot sunny bank or tricksy dry spot under trees. Naturally occurring on dunes, grasslands and headlands, it can be a bit of a thug but should spread slightly less vigorously in shade.

One of those inexorably-spreading perennials which we’d suggest planting generously in a big space so you can watch their edges join up in a very satisfactory manner to achieve a frothy-floaty rug which takes care of itself. The leaves are needle-like, a bit blue-ish and with masses of greeny-yellow flowers thrown-in they associate really well with other dry garden stalwarts like Lavenders (purple and chartreuse? YES!) if you’re after a punchy planting scheme.

In the brightest spots, their blooms can become tinged with a very cheerful apricotty orange and they’re generous about producing them throughout spring and summer. Hardy and deciduous and resistant to all kinds of pests and deer won’t touch them because of their milky sap, which you should avoid too.

Any aspect, either exposed or sheltered, on any free draining soil that you can get a spade into. Caution on those slopes, please.

N.B. When clipping several plants with the same tool, have a bucket containing a 5% bleach solution and swish your blades around for 30 seconds between plants to sterilise them. This will help avoid the chance of cross contamination of disease.