Goldilocks simply has to be the perfect plant for creating the spiller effect in mixed containers.
The recipe for designer mixed containers is thriller, filler and spiller.
The thriller plants are the tall centre plant that draws your eye. The spiller plants create a vertical, down-ward element, while the filler plant occupies the spaces or pockets in between.
Goldilocks is so beautiful, with chartreuse foliage cascading over the rims of a container, it can usually rival any thriller plant.
Goldilocks is known botanically as Lysimachia nummularia, which also has the common names of Creeping Jenny and Moneywort. This Lysimachia is native to Europe and is perennial from zones 3 through 11. It's a pretty tough plant that can survive those extremes in temperatures. It also means that almost every-one south of the Arctic Cir-cle can grow them. It is a multi-award winner and a top seller, though it has started to creep up on some weed lists.
Lime green, or chartreuse, has been among the hottest colours for more than a decade. The disc-like leaves of Goldilocks have a lime green colour that will turn an iridescent yellow given more sun.
At the Columbus Botanical Garden, two large urns welcome visitors to the 1890s farm house that serves as the garden head-quarters. In the urns, yews serve as the thriller plant with goldilocks as the spiller and pansies for cool-season pockets of blooming colour.
Goldilocks works equally well in the land-scape, so do a little bed preparation before you plant. Amend tight, heavy soil with eight or 10 centimetres of organic matter and work it shovel deep, 15 to 20 cm. I am a proponent of incorporating a little pre-plant, slow-release fertilizer such as a 12-6-6 blended with micronutrients.
Plant your Goldilocks where the top of the root-ball is even with the surface of the soil. The Goldilocks, like other varieties of Creeping Jenny, will spread, so space them 30 to 45 cm apart. This spread also makes it very easy to divide into more plants for the garden or containers.
Water plants to get them established, but then water sparingly. A light application of a slow-release, balanced fertilizer a month after transplanting should be sufficient for vigorous growth. Don't be afraid to pinch or prune as needed to keep them within their con-fines. In containers let them spill over for a foot or more. If you can just let them grow until your com-fort zone gets stretched. When they grow this far you'll probably have your neighbours over shooting photos.
The lime green-golden colour makes a most striking companion with blue. In our containers, the blue comes from large-flowered pansies in cool weather, and during the summer the blue comes from scaevola. Other great choices would be the new Surprise Marine petunia or, my all-time favourite, the Sanguna Midnight Blue petunia.
