Ground cover plants are one of the most versatile greens to include in your garden. They can work wonderfully as lawn replacements, fill in spaces between pathways, and cover gaps in your garden to help conserve water and prevent weeds. What’s not to love!? Using low-growing groundcovers to create a patchwork of colour, texture, and shape in the garden—AKA carpet gardening—is a trend that resonates with me. For years, I have been drawn to planting shorties in the garden. With a small urban garden and a love for groundcovers, it can be a way to decorate a “jewel box garden,” the name my mother fondly called my space packed with dwarf cultivars and decorative showpieces. The carpet is decorative as it fills in the space, but it also allows a few single stunning plants to shine like jewels. I affectionately call it carpet gardening, where you cover all the little nooks and crannies of your garden until you’re left with a carpet of plants. Let me show you some of the best ground cover flowers and perennials to add to your garden, and some inspiration of how you can make your own carpet garden. Low growing ground cover plants can quickly cover gaps in the soil, perfect around pathways. What are Ground Cover Plants? Ground cover plants are low-growing plants meant to cover gaps and large areas of the garden. They help to suppress weeds and conserve moisture, keeping the roots of the taller plants above nice and shady. They can also work as wonderful lawn replacements for those who don’t necessarily need something to tread on. They’re much more low-maintenance, wildlife-friendly, and in my opinion, more beautiful. Depending on what you’re looking for, you can have ground cover plants that are only a couple of inches tall to larger ground covers that can go up to 12 inches tall. Some are perennials, others annuals. Some are evergreen, others deciduous. Some flower, others are admired for their foliage. There’s a little something for everyone! Ground covers can be added to existing gardening beds to help protect the roots of taller plants. Ground Cover Plants for Shade Baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii) Baby tears (Soleirolia soleirolii) Bigroot geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum) Blue star creeper (Laurentia fluviatilis) Brass buttons (Cotula coronopifolia) Buggleweed (Ajuga reptans) Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) Corsican mint (Mentha requienii) Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) Creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera) Crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum) Dwarf mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus) European ginger (Asarum europaeum) Five spot (Nemophila maculata) Japanese spurge (Pachysandra terminalis) Lilyturf (Liriope muscari) Lithodora (Lithodora diffusa) Liverleaf (Anemone americana) Midnight blue lobelia (Lobelia erinus) Rock cress (Arabis caucasica) Rock soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides) Scotch moss (Sagina subulata) Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) Spring cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanianna) Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) Sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) Western blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum) Moss is a great ground cover for wet climates. Ground Cover Plants for Sun Woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) Angelina sedum (Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’) Basket of gold alyssum (Aurinia saxatilis) Bigleaf periwinkle (Vinca major) Bigroot geranium (Geranium macrorrhizum) Blue star creeper (Laurentia fluviatilis) Buggleweed (Ajuga reptans) Candytuft (Iberis umbellate) Corsican mint (Mentha requienii) Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) Creeping juniper (Juniper horizontalis) Creeping mazus (Mazus reptans) Creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera) Creeping raspberry (Rubus calycinoides) Creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum) Crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum) Dwarf mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus) False rock cress (Aubrieta spp.) Hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum spp.) Ice plant (Delosperma cooperi) Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) Lilyturf (Liriope muscari) Lithodora (Lithodora diffusa) Midnight blue lobelia (Lobelia erinus) Mountain Sandwort (Arenaria montana) Portulaca (Portulaca spp,) Rock cress (Arabis caucasica) Rock soapwort (Saponaria ocymoides) Sea thrift (Armeria maritima) Scotch moss (Sagina subulata) Snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum) Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) Spring cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanianna) Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) White Dutch clover (Trifolium repens) Angelina sedum and lithodora Ground Cover Inspiration As you can see, there is a vast array of plants that can be used for ground covers. They can look very different depending on the space and the environment. Here are a few I’ve taken photos of over the years to give you a little bit of inspiration. The Tiny Tetons Years ago, I captured this display garden above at the Northwest Flower and Garden Festival. This striking feature garden, the Tiny Tetons, created by Nature Perfect Landscape and Design, used carpet gardening to create the illusion of the meadow-like setting of Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. Discovering Alaska Many of the display gardens also created a tapestry of plants intermixed with stone to create a lovely, low-growing landscape without the use of lawn. These photos above and below are from Adam Gorski Landscapes show garden, Discovering Alaska. A variety of plant material, some native to Alaska, were used to create a depiction of a lowland meadow. The use of river stones, boulders, and plants creates artistry through structure. Discovering Alaska Designer and Plantswoman Susan Calhoun created A World Away on Na Pali Coast, a tropical paradise that was lush and colourful. I love the mixture of iris and lettuce in this garden! A World Away on Na Pali Coast This succulent and cactus garden shows another version, this time with water-wise landscaping. The garden pictured below, entitled Southwest Serenity, was created by the West Seattle Nursery to showcase warmth and natural beauty in drought-tolerant landscape design. Southwest Serenity The photos below are from a small urban landscape I saw on a garden tour. I was eager to see lawn replacement options like this, that create a beautiful landscape without all of the water-hogging turf grasses that are a concern with pests like the European Chafer Beetle. These designs are more wild and organic than the ideas shown in the show gardens and may appeal to home gardeners looking for a relaxed landscape. Whether you are planting in patterns or creating a looser design, the idea remains the same. Carpet gardening works well on rooftop gardens as well. I spied this ocean view green roof on the East Vancouver Garden Tour a few years ago. A mix of seashells, sedum, and other drought-tolerant ground covers made for a green space that didn’t take away from the industrial ocean views. This next garden is a common sight here in the Pacific Northwest. It utilizes plants that love moisture and moss to fill in the patches between the stone pathways. I’ve always loved how many textures of greens you can find in rainforest settings. At my old house, I designed a backyard play garden with built-in concepts of carpet gardening, including a mix of woolly thyme, tri-colour ajuga and hopscotch stepping stones winding a path through a kid-friendly garden. This space was designed to be a maximum of 18″-24″ in height, but most of the plants were 6″-12″ to appeal to my then-toddler as he cruised through to smell the flowers, pick ground cherries, or touch the bunny tail grasses. This brings me to my current garden. In the front yard, I was looking for a low-maintenance and drought-tolerant solution to replace the failing turf grass left behind by the previous owners. I completely revamped the area, leveling the lawn, adding a dry river, planting a spring bulb lawn, and then adding my wildflower lawn. It quickly became the talk of the neighbourhood, as everyone marvelled at the transformation from what was previously a struggling lawn. The flowers start fairly low, but they do get quite high at their peak before coming back down again in the fall. The sweet alyssum, baby blue eyes, and creeping daisy in my wildflower lawn. The California poppies added height during the peak of summer. I hope you’ve found some inspiration for ground covers in your area! I suggest checking the list of ground cover plants above and seeing if any are native to your area. This will make caring for the plants even easier, as they’ll naturally be more drought tolerant and thrive in your local conditions. More Low-Maintenance Garden Designs A city girl who learned to garden and it changed everything. Author, artist, Master Gardener. Better living through plants. Source link
