Ground cover showdown

This cute little half-moon of a garden space is currently the site of a ground cover showdown. Up front are two different varieties of lamium, who are definitely winning. Anyone who says it loves the shade has never planted it in full sun.

Edging in from both sides is a very low juniper that harbours tons of weeds, grass, mosquitoes, and ant hills. I hate the stuff, but it looks alright in this application, and can easily be kept under control.

Behind the left-hand solar light is a mound of possibly bellflowers. It's barely spread at all since being transplanted last year.

Behind the bellflowers is a veronica (Darwin's blue) that has spread some, but still not nearly as quickly as the lamium.

Other contenders in this garden will definitely lose out: the light leaves to the left of the fairy belong to a small type of bush that is usually a more normal green colour, but this one was first ripped out of another garden that needed re-grading, and then treated with round-up the next year. Should it thrive in the coming years, it will hold its own at about 1/2 metre tall from what I've seen of them elsewhere. To the right of the fairy is a patch of tiger lilies that are definitely tall and established enough to withstand a bit of crowding.

The item I have much sympathy for is the miniature rose to the right of the lamium; I'm so proud that it survived the winter, and will be crushed if I have to move it elsewhere; there is no other spot quite so perfect for it.

This season the question will be: who will win? Who will lose? Who can be transplanted succesfully, and where will they go? Stay tuned to find out!