10 Fantastic Ground Cover Plants For Your Garden

If you’re tired of starring at the bare ground in your garden area and need to find some ground cover plants or a throw rug, opt for the ground cover plants with these great choices. You’ll add instant depth and interest to your garden.

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Hens And Chicks

These succulents will add instant intrigue to your garden space. When left to take over an area these can grow as large as your dinner plate or even a serving platter. You’ll appreciate how quickly they multiply and divide and create even more plants to fill in the blank area.

Hens and chicks are so easy to grow and they fill in very quickly. Excellent for rocky areas and thanks to their low maintenance requirements, they are ideal for someone who wants to simply plant a few plants and forget about them.

Thyme

Thyme is one of the easiest plants to grow and it comes in a variety of choices. From elfin thyme to lemon thyme you’re sure to appreciate how easy it is to maintain. Thyme is ideal for spaces between stepping stones and rockeries.

Your garden will smell wonderful if you intersperse some varieties of thyme into your garden area. Thyme will fill in quickly and lend a wonderful green to your garden. If you choose the scented varieties you’ll also appreciate the lovely scent that wafts through your garden as the breeze carries it to your nose.

Lamium

Lamium offers up beautiful silver marked foliage and is ideal for any shady corner or area in your garden. It can reach six to eight inches tall and will spread to be twice as wide as it is tall. The foliage is light in colour and will make a beautiful contrast to the darker plants in your yard such as conifers, cedar and boxwood.

It’s not a good idea to walk on the lamium as it will smash it down so avoid placing it in a walkway, path or an area where it will be easily trampled on. There are several varieties to choose from however, you’ll want to keep in mind it doesn’t do well with a lot of foot traffic. Flowers will vary from lavender, pink, or blue.

Kidney Weed

This lovely evergreen is a beautiful spreading perennial with shiny heart shaped green leaves. It offers up inconspicuous green flowers and many use it as a substitute for a lawn area where there is low traffic.

Kidney weed loves full sun to partial shade and it requires plenty of moisture to keep it looking its best. It grows rapidly and will quickly take over an area if it’s not kept in check.

Spanish Shawl

Spanish shawl is famous for its hot pink flowers that make it a very popular ground cover. Spanish shawl offers a low carpet that is very dense. It will spread like fire and often overtakes a garden if its not kept in check.

Ideal conditions are well-drained soil and it thrives in both full sun to partial shade. It is a frequent plant used in rockeries and hanging baskets. It looks very pretty draped through rock gardens and in baskets in and about the garden.

Lamb’s Ear

Lamb’s ear is a quaint fuzzy plant with silver foliage. It’s used frequently in cottage style gardens and often called a “silver carpet”. It has no flowers just pretty fuzzy leaves. It does well in poor soil providing the soil is well drained.

Lamb’s ear is easy to propagate and you can separate it every few years and dived the plants up and replant them in and around the garden area. Be sure to water the plant without watering the fuzzy leaves in order to help preserve the beauty of the plant.

Liriope Muscari

Liriope also goes by the name of Lily turf. It offers a nice dense grassy clump of plant that has purplish blue spiky flowers in both summer and fall. It’s easy to tend to and very frost hardy. You’ll have to keep an eye out for slugs and snails as they find this plant delectable.

Ideal for shady areas, edgings and other areas that need to be delineated. It works well to set other areas apart or as a border plant. Ideal in any shady area including underneath of trees and shrubs. It also does well in full sun. You can easily divide this plant in the fall and you’ll love the purple and blue flowers.

Sweet Woodruff

If you’re seeking the ideal shade plant, you may find that sweet woodruff is the ideal choice. It looks lovely beneath trees and shrubs and the tiny white flowers bloom in the spring alongside the crab apple’s. It grows from six to twelve inches tall and is very aggressive in growth.

Keep in mind that this plant will quickly take over any area and works just as well in containers as well as a ground cover. You’re sure to love the unique look it lends to sidewalk cracks, brick work, rock gardens and other areas that need some ground cover to add some color.

Mondo Grass

While not a true grass, it certainly appears to be so. With slender often variegated leaves it comes in a deep green to nearly black color. Mondo grass can grow from 3 inches tall to 24 inches dependent upon the specific variety of plant. Ideal for partial sun areas.

This plant loves moisture so keep the soil moist and use it as an edging or border or alongside a driveway or even a sidewalk, It’s really easy to care for and you’ll appreciate how quickly it spreads.

When it comes to ground cover plants, all of these are ideal options for your garden. You’re sure to find a few on this list to your liking. All of these are easy to maintain and ideal for the gardener who wants some lower maintenance plants.