Best Groundcover And Low-Growing Flowering Plants

Low growers, living mulch, ground cover plants, and low-growing perennials are the finishing touches for your garden. They fill bare spots, act like living mulch, and are landscaping must-haves for weed control, erosion control, and drought-tolerant beauty in full sun and shade.

Generally staying under 2 feet tall and growing far wider, ground cover plants and low-growing perennials ramble and spread as they grow. They embody many of the perks and benefits that arborist mulch provides for your garden soil, protecting larger plants’ root systems, cooling the soil, and adding serious style to that boring, plain area between or around your other plants.

Landscaping Uses

Types of groundcover

From the smallest and shortest growing varieties like the popular Vinca (Periwinkle) and a wide variety of creeping Sedum, to the taller varieties that are not just great groundcover, groundcover comes in a wide range of colors, shapes, and sizes.

There are extremely cold-hardy species like Dianthus (Garden Pinks) and extremely heat-tolerant Drift Groundcover Roses that seem not to stop blooming all growing season. Also fantastic facer plants like the long-blooming Hardy Geraniums and colorful Ajuga.

Unusual groundcovers can include Barrenworts for the shade and Hens-n-Chicks for dry sunny areas. Lilyturf is great for moist locations, or a Rush grass too. While not always the lowest growing, Ferns are always a lush option for shade and moist areas. Ivy is a great groundcover as well, but you’ll miss out on flowers. Creeping Thyme is a great carpeting herb that looks wonderful, blooms, and has highly aromatic foliage, too.

Weed blockers

Densely growing groundcovers naturally hold back weeds and prevent them from even growing by blocking the sun and preventing seeds from germinating, outcompeting weeds, and taking the nutrients and moisture from them. This stunts or outgrows weeds like the seedlings from trees, other types of lawn weeds, and weed grasses that need the sun and moisture to thrive.

• Sedum like Sunsparkler or Angelina
• Euonymus like Moonshadow, Emerald Gaiety or Emerald N Gold
• Pachysandra (Japanese Spurge)
• Mints
• Periwinkle

Facer plants

Facer plants are smaller, low-growing shrubs or perennials that hide bare leggy stems of larger shrubs or add a fringe of color and leafy barrier around the trunks of trees. These buffers help not only hide those bare stems, but extend the flower display and add a layer of protection over the ground and around the trunks and stems so that mowers and weed-whackers do not nick and scratch the bark.

• Coral Bells
• Cranesbill
• Catmint
• Drift Groundcover Roses
• Liriope Spicata

Living mulch

Acting like Arborist bark chips to reduce evaporation, break up compacted ground with their roots, stop erosion, and add a polished, professional touch to garden beds and around trees or shrubs, living mulch plants do a lot of behind-the-scenes work. Choose plants with fine-textured foliage that naturally spread and cover large areas without interfering with the root systems and growth of larger perennials and bushes as living mulch. Also known as a cover crop in the vegetable garden or in agriculture, some varieties add nitrogen and nutrients back into the soil.

• Basket of Gold - evergreen with yellow blossoms
• Golden Creeping Jenny
• Carpet Phlox
• Woolly Thyme
• Creeping Red Carpet Sedum

Extended color and flowers

Long-lasting blooms add three seasons of color as well as all the benefits of a ground cover. Use around larger perennials or shrubs and extend your season of color while covering bare ground with these self-sustaining and easy-care plants.

• Drift Roses
• Blue Plumbago Plant
• Vinca Major
• Moonbeam Coreopsis
• Wood Betony ‘Hummelo’

Slopes and hard to mow hillsides

Slopes and hills are difficult and even downright dangerous to mow and maintain. You also have to compete with erosion and water flowing down the hillside after a downpour. Groundcovers with spreading roots and trailing stems help lock soil in place while softening the look of steep grades.

• Crispleaf Stephanandra Lace Shrub
• Wintercreeper/Euonymus
• Autumn Amber Sumac
• Ground Hog Aronia
• Silver Carpet Lambs Ear

Cold-hardy living insulation

Thriving in very cold winters and returning every year, these plants cover the ground throughout the growing season, and their fallen leaves blanket the ground all winter and provide a layer of insulation. Think of them as a cozy quilt for your soil when the temperatures drop.

• Basket of Gold
• Lambs Ears
• Creeping Thyme
• Dianthus
• Dixie Chip Ajuga

Heat-tolerant moisture evaporation prevention

Bare ground can lead to moisture evaporation and allows the soil to heat up, leading to hot roots that can cause plants in warm climates to go into dormancy in the heat. This also leads to heat stress and even death for young plants. Spreading, sun-loving groundcovers help shade the soil surface and keep roots cooler.

• Drift Groundcover Roses
• Sedum Rubrotinctum
• Big Blue Liriope (Lilyturf)
• Rozanne Geranium
• Bowles Periwinkle

Vines as groundcover

What climbs can also be groundcover, too. Just do not give vines something to climb on, and you will have a rambling, cascading cover over bare ground and slopes in a hurry. This is perfect for large areas where other plants are not growing and in areas where other plants cannot grow, such as under trees that cast dense shade. They are also perfect to let sprawl over swaths of land you are not ready to landscape yet. Just do not give them something to climb on, or they will do that instead.

• Honeysuckle Vines
• Climbing Hydrangea
• Clematis - like Sweet Autumn Clematis
• Variegated Vinca
• Trumpet Creeper

Edging plants

Easing the transition between lawn and garden, edging and border plants are wonderful finishing touches that add something special to your landscape. Providing clean lines, color, and texture along the front edges of your garden beds, these mounding, clumping, and spreading low-growers provide that extra bit of oomph.

• Mondo Grass
• Creeping Thyme
• Hosta
• Daylilies
• Dianthus (Garden Pinks)

Care & Maintenance

No one likes a bald or bare patch, and in drought-prone or hot sunny areas, that exposed soil can be detrimental. Groundcovers protect your soil, but they still need a bit of thoughtful care to establish and thrive for years.

• Prep the soil well
  • Remove existing weeds
  • Loosen compacted soil
  • Add compost so roots can spread easily
  • Use well-drained soil for Sedum, Creeping Thyme, and other drought-tolerant plants
  • Use richer, slightly moist soil for Lilyturf, some Ferns, and moisture-loving groundcovers
• Watering needs
  • Water new groundcovers regularly during the first growing season
  • Reduce watering once roots knit together and plants become more drought-tolerant
  • Mulch lightly the first year to hold moisture and suppress weeds
• Seasonal maintenance
  • Trim or shear plants after flowering to refresh tired foliage
  • Encourage denser growth in Creeping Thyme, Catmint, and many Mints by lightly shaping them
  • Remove weeds that sneak through so groundcovers do not compete for water and nutrients
• Cold-climate care
  • Many groundcovers die back on top but leave roots protected underground
  • Fallen leaves and spent foliage add natural insulation in winter
  • In spring, clear away old growth to make room for fresh foliage and flowers

Nature Hills has an enormous selection of low growers, flowering and evergreen, plus many groundcover shrubs and perennials to choose from. We are here to help you make the most of your landscape.

Groundcover That Has You Covered!

Groundcovers might be low to the ground, but they deliver high-impact results. From weed-blocking Sedum and lush Ferns to Drift Groundcover Roses and aromatic Creeping Thyme, these plants protect your soil, cool plant roots, and bring a steady stream of color and texture to your beds, borders, and slopes.

So cover that bare ground and add a finishing touch to your garden beds with some great, low-maintenance groundcover and low-growing flowering plants. Let these living carpets do the hard work for you and keep your garden looking sharp all season long.

Happy Planting!

Groundcover FAQs

What is the best low-maintenance ground cover?

Low-growing Ornamental grasses and Mondo grasses, Japanese Spurge, Sedum, and Periwinkles (Vinca) are very easy to care for and low-maintenance. Other options are Lady’s Mantle, and many gardeners have incredible luck with Hardy Geranium (Cranesbill) that comes back year after year despite the heat and extreme cold.

What are some deer-resistant groundcovers?

Deer can be a big issue, and planting a buffer between more tasty plants and the deer is sometimes an easy solution. Ajuga, Periwinkle, and the thorny branches of Groundcover Roses are great barriers and less appealing to browsing deer.

What is the fastest-growing ground cover plant?

Honeysuckle Vines and Hardy Geranium are very fast-growing, fast coverage groundcovers, gaining incredible length and spread each year. Periwinkle and Trumpet Vines are incredibly fast growers, too, but sometimes can get into a bit of trouble when not given the attention they need. Nature Hills uses Plant Sentry to ensure products get shipped into areas where they will not become a problem for you or your environment.

How far apart should I plant groundcovers?

Spacing depends on the mature spread of the plant and how quickly you want coverage. Many groundcovers are planted 12 to 18 inches apart. For very small or very spreading plants, you can move closer together for faster coverage or farther apart if you are willing to wait a bit longer.

Can groundcovers replace a lawn?

Some groundcovers can replace a lawn in low-traffic areas, especially drought-tolerant types like some Sedum, Creeping Thyme, and certain Ornamental grasses. They usually need less mowing, less water, and can offer flowers, fragrance, and soft texture, but they are not always ideal for heavy play or pet traffic like a traditional lawn.