Elaine wrote, >Hi, >I'm new to PBS. I'm located in Silicon Valley, CA area. I'm growing >summer growing bulbs like cannas, tulip, kniphofia, watsonia, >amercrinium and some winter ones like galanthus, bletilla >striata(not sure if this orchid is considered a bulb). I'm wondering >what are good ground cover plants that remain evergreen or >preferably bright green(not dull algae green) through the mild >winters here. I've started on some achillea millefolium 'Sonoma >Coast' and low growing manzanitas I got from Yuerba Buena Nursery. I >water once or twice a week in summer. Are there drought tolerant >plants that can do well (in SF Bay south peninsula area) to cover >over the bare ground while the summer bulbs are dormant besides >vinca or ice plant? I'd not recommend Achillea, because it forms a dense, semi-woody crown through which smaller bulbs couldn't emerge. The same would be true of the South African composites often used as ground covers in your area. The low-growing manzanitas (Arctostaphylos spp.) are good companions for winter-growing bulbs, but in the summer you will have to water your cannas, bletillas, and other summer-growers, and this may kill the manzanitas (root rot). Hebes would be a better choice for a summer-irrigated area. and there are dozens of kinds available in your garden centers, including very low-growing ones. If you have room, I'd set aside one part of the garden for the big bulbs you mention and another for the manzanitas, prostrate ceanothus, prostrate dwarf pines, and winter-growing bulbs, including Pacific Coast natives. If you use evergreen shrubs judiciously, you can make appropriate habitat areas even in a small garden. For instance, I have one small bed largely planted to the summer-growing, moisture-requiring bulb genus Eucomis, preceded in spring by trilliums and primulas and eventually to be "carpeted" with small Epimedium varieties, punctuated with some Heuchera varieties; and another area on top of a dry bank that is a "chaparral" with Arctostaphylos, Cistus, Ceanothus, small species bearded irises, and larger bulbs such as Brodiaea californica, just mulched with grit. Thymes are good drought-resistant ground covers for small bulbs, but they couldn't coexist with the large subtropical subjects you mention. If you want something flowering in winter in between your cannas and crinums, there are also winter-growing annuals (e.g., the annual lupines native to your area), many of them native to the Pacific Coast, that can just be pulled out after they flower in spring. Check out the website of the Theodore Payne Foundation for seeds. Vinca and "ice plant" (a vigorous succulent, not sure what it's called now but it used to be Mesembryanthemum) should not be planted because they are listed noxious weeds. Jane McGary Portland, Oregon -- but originally from San Francisco