Read our guide to Lysimachia nummularia for everything you will ever need to know! Tips for planting & caring for Creeping Jenny.
Looking for a cute plant that will help you obtain a more attractive landscape design? Look no further than Creeping Jenny! Lysimachia nummularia, commonly known as Creeping Jenny or Moneywort, is an evergreen perennial. Gardeners find this plant to be very useful as it can quickly help you hide any areas of your garden that don’t look exactly as you were planning.
Whether pruning other plants in your garden went wrong or there’s a gap in your outdoor space design for any other reason, Creeping Jenny can come to your rescue. This plant will quickly grow into a carpet of low-growing stems covered in pairs of small, cute lime oval leaves.
It is important to mention that Creeping Jenny has a tendency to spread, which is why it is a fantastic plant choice for rock gardens, ground cover, and for covering areas that are hard to grow in the landscape. This plant is also lovely when grown in containers.
Ready to learn more about how to grow and care for Creeping Jenny? Keep reading below!
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Quick Facts
Contents
| Botanical Name | Lysimachia nummularia |
| Common Name | Creeping Jenny, moneywort, herb twopence, twopenny grass |
| Plant Type | Evergreen ground cover |
| Mature Size | 2-4 in. tall, 12-18 in. wide |
| Sun Exposure | Full sun |
| Soil Type | Well-draining sandy, loamy, or clay |
| Soil pH | Acid, alkaline, neutral |
| Bloom Time | Summer |
| Flower Color | Yellow |
| Hardiness Zones | 4-9 (USDA) |
| Native Area | Western Asia, and Europe |
About Creeping Jenny
- Creeping Jenny belongs to the family of Primulaceae, which is the primrose family, and it is native to Europe and Western Asia.
- The botanical name of Creeping Jenny is Lysimachia nummularia. Other common names of this plant include Moneywort, Herb Towpernce, and Towpenny Grass.
- Creeping Jenny is the perfect plant to grow in areas of your garden where something else simply won’t grow. This low-growing “creeper” is also a fantastic ground cover. Plus, you can grow it to cover areas of your outdoor space where pruning other plants went wrong. Creeping Jenny also looks great when grown in containers.
- Creeping Jenny is a sun-loving plant. It thrives in areas where it can get full sun. The more exposure to sunlight the plant gets, the more colourful its foliage will get.
- In terms of soil, Creeping Jenny prefers sandy, loamy, or clay soil. However, pay attention to the soil to allow good drainage to avoid the development of fungal diseases.
- Creeping Jenny prefers warm temperatures, especially since it needs a lot of sunlight to thrive. However, it is somehow cold hardy and can survive cold winters and return in the spring. The lowest temperature it can survive to is -30 °F (-34°C)
- When it comes to watering needs, Creeping Jenny needs moist soil. It’s important never to let the soil dry out completely. However, ensure that the soil is well-draining so that all the excess water can pass through and your plants don’t get waterlogged.
- Creeping Jenny isn’t a poisonous plant. It is a nontoxic plant to dogs, cats, and other animals, and humans. So, the good news is that you can grow it as a ground cover without worrying that your pets will be in danger if they ingest the plant.
- Creeping Jenny is a very resistant plant that doesn’t have a lot of problems with pests or diseases. The only things that may affect your Creeping Jenny plant are fungal diseases such as rust or leaf spots. These problems are more likely to appear if the plant is grown in a rainy or wet environment. To treat fungal diseases in your Creeping Jenny plants, you can use liquid copper fungicides.
Creeping Jenny Features: An Overview
- Creeping Jenny is an evergreen ground cover that can grow up to 2-4 inches (5-10 cm) tall and 12-18 inches (30-45 cm) wide when reaching maturity.
- Lysimachia nummularia features rounded golden leaves that form on a trailing stem.
- In summer, Creeping Jenny produces yellow flowers that have five petals and somehow resemble roses. However, the blooms won’t last long, but they are really pretty to have in your outdoor space, even if it is just for a short period. The flowers produced by Creeping Jenny aren’t fragrant.
- This plant has a fast spread, so we recommend that when planting anything else in your garden the ensure that it is at least 12 to 18 inches apart from Creeping Jenny.
Growing Creeping Jenny
Due to its resilience, Creeping Jenny is really easy to grow in your outdoor space. This plant resists freezing temperatures and isn’t too sensitive to common pests and diseases that bother other garden plants. What’s more, thanks to its rapid spread, Creeping Jenny makes its own way to the best sites of your garden where the growing conditions are ideal.
Whether you are an experienced or a novice gardener, caring for Creeping Jenny won’t give you a hard time. First of all, to have a thriving Creeping Jenny in your garden, you need to choose a sunny spot to place the plant.
Whether you plant it in the ground or containers, look for areas where the plant will receive full sun. This resilient plant can also adapt to partial shade. However, if you want your Creeping Jenny’s foliage to have a golden yellow colour, ensure good sun exposure.
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Another thing to do to help your Creeping Jenny grow healthy and happy is to provide it with some feeding. We recommend using a 10-10-10 solution to fertilize your Creeping Jenny lightly in early spring.
Creeping Jenny is considered somewhat intrusive because it can quickly grow and spread to areas of your garden where you don’t want it to be. If allowed to spread in an uncontrolled manner, Creeping Jenny may suffocate your other garden plants.
So, some pruning is also necessary to keep the plant under control. To get rid of overcrowding Creeping Jenny, simply pull up individual plants by their roots.
Planting Creeping Jenny
Planting Creeping Jenny in your garden or containers is just as easy as caring for this plant. Since it is a very resistant plant, it can quickly adapt to new environments. The only thing you must do is to remember that providing it with the ideal growing conditions is key to a successful planting.
More precisely, make sure that you plant your Creeping Jenny in a spot where it gets full sun for at least a few hours a day. If you live in an area with a very hot climate, we recommend choosing a spot where the plant gets partial shade in the afternoon to protect the leaves from sunburn.
If you plant your Creeping Jenny in containers, you can move the containers to a place with more shade in the afternoon, but it might be a bit of an effort. So it’s best to choose a good spot for your plants from the get-go.
Another thing to remember when planting Creeping Jenny in the ground is to plant it 12 to 18 inches apart from your other plants. This low-growing creeper has a rapid spread and might end up becoming a threat to your other plants by suffocating them.
Watering Creeping Jenny
Overwatering your Creeping Jenny and ignoring its need for well-draining soil are pretty much the only ways to kill your plant. This low-growing creeper is resistant to a lot of things that other garden plants are susceptible to. However, it doesn’t do well when grown in soggy soil as it may develop fungal diseases which, if not treated promptly, may cause the death of the plant.
Keep in mind that Creeping Jenny thrives in moist soil. The watering schedule for your Creeping Jenny plants might have to be more frequent than it is with most of your other plants. You’ll probably have to water the plant every few days during the hot season to ensure that its soil remains moist. Keep in mind never to allow the soil to dry out completely.
The best way to avoid overwatering your Creeping Jenny is to use well-draining soil, no matter if you grow it outdoors or in a container. Mix the soil used for planting with coarse sand or crusher fines to obtain soil that allows excess water to pass through it.
Propagating Creeping Jenny
Propagation is really easy with Creeping Jenny plants. The plant naturally spreads by both seeds and rhizomes. If you want to propagate this ground cover, you can use the seeds or rhizomes that you can root in water.
Another way to propagate your Creeping Jenny is to simply dig up a portion of an established patch, separate the plants and move them in new soil. From there, the plant will spread on its own.
Stem cuttings can also be used for propagating Creeping Jenny. Use a sharp, clean knife to cut 2 to 3 inches stem tips from an actively growing plant. Next, remove the leaves from the lower part of the stem and place them in a celled planting tray filled with a lightweight, well-draining potting mixture.
You can use perlite or peat and coarse sand to ensure good drainage. Keep the mix moist. Make sure to dip the cutting in powdered or liquid rooting hormone to stimulate it to develop its root system.
In Conclusion
Creeping Jenny is an amazing plant to have in your outdoor space. It is effortless to care for, thanks to being very resistant to most common threats. This plant will spread as much as you allow it to, covering areas of your garden that you’re not satisfied with.
Creeping Jenny has very attractive foliage that can bring a beautiful golden yellow colour to your garden. In summer, this plant also repays your good care with lovely yellow flowers that are a joy to see.
Are you growing Creeping Jenny in your garden? Share your experience in the comments below!
Article Sources
- https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=t120
- https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/golden-creeping-jenny-lysimachia-nummularia-aurea/
- https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lysimachia-nummularia/
1 Comment
does the creeping jenny go dormant during winter? Does it keep its right color in the winter in zone 7. What care should it received as we look into fall and winter?