Ask Alys: your gardening questions answered

We need vandal-proof vegetation for our church grounds. Can you suggest cheap and cheerful ground cover for a raised bed containing spring bulbs and an area covered with bark chippings?

A ground-cover rose would work well for the raised bed. Flower Carpet roses are low-growing scramblers bred for repeat flowering from July into early winter. All they need is to be cut back by a third in late winter. They're bare in midwinter, so you'll see the bulbs. By late spring, they'll have new foliage and flower again. The single-flowered ones are prettiest (and best for pollinators), they're drought-tolerant once established (water well in the first year) and disease-resistant.

As for bark chippings, periwinkles will be unfazed. Try Vinca major 'Variegata' with a cream margin, or V. minor 'Atropurpurea' with deep-reddish flowers. Dwarf comfrey (Symphytum ibericum) will be happy, too, and has white and pink flowers, or S. 'Hidcote Blue', with white and blue flowers. All are tolerant of poor soils and shade. They are considered a little invasive, but this may be to your advantage.