Nature does fast-growing ground cover plants very well. Look at any large area of woodland, rainforest, open country or dry terrain and you will see colonies of plants at your feet. They often form large spreading groups and look amazing growing en masse, greening up the bare soil.
In the home garden, using ground cover plants is often seen as a practical solution for managing weeds and preventing soil erosion in larger areas. But it’s also an essential design tool that will lend your garden a soft, natural beauty.
By using low, fast-growing plants, you can create a visual thread in your planting with layers of color and texture at different heights. Use plants for color contrast or a single color theme. You might try white flowering, silver-leaved lamium beneath a magnolia, amelanchier or a Cornus kousa for a cool, elegant combination.
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Many fast-growing ground cover plants are quite tough, vigorous growers that don’t need much maintenance. You might only have to cut them back, split and divide them if they get too dense or find their way into unwanted areas.
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There are many benefits of ground cover plants, but the holy grail is evergreen foliage for year-round effect, but make room for some of the ground-hugging seasonal treasures and you will have color and interest in every season.
1. Erigeron Karvinskianus (Mexican Daisy)
Mexican fleabane is suited to wilder, more natural planting schemes
(Image credit: John Richmond/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Rocky, dry areas
- Height: 2ft
- Spread: 5ft
- Hardiness: USDA 6-9
The Mexican fleabane spreads in frothy, mounded hummocks and will happily find its way into crevices in rocks, walls, steps and garden paths. It’s real boon for the summer garden, withstanding dry conditions and producing a seemingly never-ending supply of tiny daisy flowers from early summer into late fall.
It’s great for filling gaps and softening hard backyard landscaping features, but it spreads easily and can be a bit of an invasive plant. It lends itself to a slightly rewilded look so is not a good choice for formal gardens. Foliage will die back in harsher winter conditions, but it is a pretty sturdy plant and always returns.
2. Lamium Maculatum
(Image credit: John Richmond/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Dry, shady corners, underplanting shrubs and trees
- Height: 12in
- Spread: 12in
- Hardiness: USDA 3-8
This is a form of variegated dead nettle that makes a great, decorative, spreading foliage plant, with small white or purple summer flowers. It spreads quickly via root runners, so it’s good where you have a larger area that needs coverage. Do be aware that it might become invasive in small backyards.
Plant among other shade-loving plants such as ferns and grasses for contrast. It’s a very low-maintenance plant, and good for drought-tolerant planting too. You can encourage a second flush of flowers by cutting back, and in milder areas plants will hold onto the foliage through the winter.
Shop Lamium maculatum plants in a range of colors at Nature Hills(opens in new tab).
3. Phlox Subulata (Creeping Phlox)
Creeping phlox will quickly spread to create a carpet of pretty flowers
(Image credit: A LaRue/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Slopes and rock gardens
- Height: 4in
- Spread: 16in
- Hardiness: USDA 3-9
A native north American perennial, Phlox subulata is also known as moss phlox or creeping phlox and brings a carpet of spring flowers to sunny areas.
Spectacular planted en masse, it’s a fast-growing, mat-forming evergreen that’s tough as well as beautiful. It’s notable for its drought tolerance, deer resistance and its capacity to colonise larger areas, thereby preventing soil erosion.
There are many cultivars to choose from white through purple and magenta. The vibrant pink flowers of Phlox subulata ‘McDaniels Cushion’ have won an RHS Award of Garden Merit, while the ‘Emerald Blue’ variety from Fast Growing Trees(opens in new tab) features pretty purple flowers.
4. Bugleweed (Ajuga Reptans)
Ajuga reptans ‘Catlin’s Giant’
(Image credit: C J Wheeler/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Light shade
- Height: 6in
- Spread: 18in
- Hardiness: USDA 4-10
A fantastic choice for shadier areas at the front of borders, this evergreen creeping perennial with dark, aubergine colored, textured foliage makes a great mat-forming ground cover.
Punctuated with upright bright purple blue flowers in late spring and early summer, it’s reliable, hardy and fast growing. It will spread to combine well with brighter, shade-tolerant plants for contrast such as Carex elata ‘Aurea’.
Variations include larger leaved types such as ‘Black Scallop’ (available at Nature Hills)(opens in new tab) and ‘Catlin’s Giant’ (also from Nature Hills)(opens in new tab) or variegated ‘Burgundy Glow’.
5. Geraniums
Geranium sanguineum is a hardy, low maintenance choice for ground cover
(Image credit: Steffen Hauser/botanikfoto/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Front of sunny borders
- Height: 18in
- Spread: 24in
- Hardiness: USDA 4-8
There are many great hardy geraniums to choose from that will add color and texture to your yard. The smaller leaved G. sanguineum is a great choice for areas at the front of borders. The leaves are deeply cut leaves and topped by small flowers, in early summer. Variations are from pale pink to white. Cutting back will prompt a second bloom later on.
Good for drought tolerance once established and an ideal plant for pollinators too. Digging Dog Nursery(opens in new tab) praises hardy geraniums for ‘their ability to create soft mounds and flowing carpets of lush foliage in ordinary garden soil.’
The popular Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is available from Fast Growing Trees(opens in new tab), or opt for the pretty hot pink blooms of Geranium sanguineum ‘Max Frei’ from Nature Hills(opens in new tab).
6. Sweet Woodruff (Gallium Odoratum)
(Image credit: Steve Taylor ARPS/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Shady, woodland style planting
- Height: 12in
- Spread: 12in
- Hardiness: USDA 4-9
This pretty woodland plant will grow quickly in semi-shade, and Gallium odoratum (available from Nature Hills)(opens in new tab) will quickly colonise the right spot, with spreading leafy clumps and white flowers from late spring to early summer.
Combine with other woodland and shade-loving plants to create a naturalistic style planting scheme under and between trees and shrubs, where it has plenty of room to sprawl. It will cope with most soil types apart from excessively dry.
7. Rockcress (Aubretia)
Aubretia will easily spread along the ground and over walls
(Image credit: Michael Russell/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Hot sunny, rocky areas
- Height: 6in
- Spread: 12in
- Hardiness: USDA 6-8
Great for hot, sunny locations, rockcress will happily spread and sprawl, with soft foliage topped with bright flowers to provide a bright carpet of color in tones of purple to reddish pink in early summer.
It will quickly cascade over garden walls and is great for edging sunny borders and paths and needs very little attention as long as the soil is dry and it gets full sun. Watch out in spring for hungry snails and slugs that enjoy the new growth.
8. Herbaceous Clematis
Clematis tubulosa ‘Cassandra’
(Image credit: John Richmond/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Mixed flower borders
- Height: 30in
- Spread: 20in
We usually think of clematis as climbing plants, but the herbaceous types are not climbers, so much as floppy-stemmed scramblers that will spread through other planting. They are not mat-forming, but they work well in mixed borders as a slightly taller, informal cover plant under shrubs and perennials or at the front of borders.
Try the more compact Clematis heracleifolia, with small blue flowers in partnership with taller salvias such as S. ‘Amistad,’ or the scented C.tubulosa ‘Cassandra’.
9. Sedum
Sedum plants are ideal for creating a living roof
(Image credit: Simon Turner/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Dry areas, rooftops
- Height: 6-8in
- Spread: 12in
- Hardiness: USDA 4-9
Perfect for creating a carpet of foliage for a green roof, dry gravel gardens and walls, a sedum mat will suppress weeds and bring in the wildlife.
The beautiful fleshy tiny leaves are designed to tolerate harsh conditions and are beautiful in their color variations and intricate patterns. The tiny flowers are also great for reeling in the summer pollinators.
There are many different plants that come under the name sedum, from the silvery-blue tones of S. cauticola to golden succulent ‘Rubrotinctum’, some with varying degrees of winter hardiness, so check what works for your US hardiness zone.
Shop a wide range of sedum plants at Nature Hills(opens in new tab).
10. Thymus Serpyllum (Creeping Thyme)
Soften harder landscaping materials with pretty creeping thyme
(Image credit: CHROMORANGE/Martina Raedlein/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Patios, paving, rockeries and walls
- Height: 2in
- Spread: 12in
- Hardiness: USDA 4-9
Creeping thyme is a pretty ground-hugger, good for planting around paths and patio flooring and filling crevices. And when you step on creeping thyme it releases a wonderful fragrance. A good drought-tolerant choice, thyme spreads fast and will bring in the bees and pollinators with a froth of nectar-rich summer flowers.
Choose from variegated, golden matt and glossy-leaved varieties, with lemon or orange scent. They look great planted as a mixed chequerboard. Select Seeds(opens in new tab) recommends ‘Magic Carpet’, ‘a resilient choice for well-drained paths, rock gardens, and more.’
11. Ceratostigma (Blue Plumbago)
Blue plumbago is a good choice for color in late summer and fall
(Image credit: Chris Bosworth/Alamy Stock Photo)
- Best for: Late summer/fall flowers
- Height: 10in
- Spread: 24in
- Hardiness: USDA 5-9
This could be the perfect seasonal transition plant, with blue flowers arriving at the end of the summer heat as the season changes, followed by fiery-colored foliage into fall. A creeping, fast spreading shrubby plant that’s perfect for planting in dry, sunny areas, at the front of borders, where it will spill over the edges for a soft and informal look.
A wonderful plant for attracting butterflies, you’ll be able to admire them flocking to the nectar-rich blooms. It does cope with part shade, so could also be used at the edges of tree and shrub canopies
