PlantFiles: Woolly Speedwell
Veronica pectinata

This is the most durable Veronica for this area. It handles freezing, hot, dry. That and it looks good. I have a nice purple/blue carpet out in my yard right now.

A highly attractive drought-tolerant groundcover, forming a dense pillow (suppressing weeds) of furry foliage that makes Wolly tyme look banal.

Not a slow grower, doing 4-14 inches per year with regular water and full sun, but controllable by less water or simple pruning. (Growth is longer but lanky and thin in the shade, with minimized blooming) The plant is not spreading by underground structures, but by rootlets where it touches the ground. Very old plants may mat in the middle and will benefit from either a hard trimming or being replaced by a cutting of itself, like many groundcovers.

Blooms are more purple blue in the spring and summer, but become an attractive torquise-cobalt when it blooms in the fall and early winter. The greatest blooming is in late spring, when the plant becomes conspiciously dappled with its rounded flowers. The blooming stems are long, and give a long flower duration. Deadheading these short, diagonal spikes encourages more flowers.

Absolutely excellent spilling over a wall or in a graded border. Highly underused in the hot, xeric garden.

Low growing with serrated leaves and small blue saucer flowers in late spring. Slow grower. Can withstand light traffic.