Green Carpet

'Green Carpet' is the low, spreading natal plum that South Africa's own botanical authority, SANBI, names as the popular horticultural selection of the species in its native range, and it is equally entrenched in California and Southwest landscaping. Where the wild shrub climbs to 12 ft or more, 'Green Carpet' seldom exceeds knee height and instead runs outward, forming a dense weed-suppressing mat several feet across. It keeps the species' forked spines, so it doubles as a low deterrent barrier along property lines and beneath windows. Nursery growers rate it for erosion control on slopes and for coastal exposure, and it is one of the few Carissa clones with a documented pathogen resistance, being listed as resistant to Verticillium wilt. It still flowers and sets small edible red berries, making it a rare thing in landscaping: a groundcover you can eat off.