10 Most Resilient Ground Covers For Your Garden
10 Most Resilient Ground Covers For Your Garden
Ground covers are perfect if you want a cheap, colorful beautiful garden.
Ground covers are actually overlooked by most people because they have a bad reputation for spreading like wildfire and taking over other parts of gardens!
This just isn’t true. In fact, this is a good thing because once established you can propagate and remove sections of a particular ground cover plant and place it somewhere else in your garden.
This eliminates the need to buy more flowers which would add more expense to your garden budget.
Ground covers actually help your garden out more than just looking pretty. They help protect the soil and slow down erosion, the color and scent they give is just an added bonus in my book 🙂
Have the garden you have always dreamed of…
Blue Star Creeper
Isotoma Fluviatilis
Isotoma Fluviatilis. Blue Star Creeper, is a mat forming ground cover with abundant blue flowers that persist through a long season of spring and summer.
Its star-like blooms look dainty, but this is a tough little plant. Highly versatile it can be grown in full or part shade.
It’s an ideal groundcover for small spaces, rock gardens and containers. Blue Star Creeper can even be planted between stepping stones and will bounce back from foot traffic.
Make sure it gets enough water to get established and it will need little extra care thereafter. Hardy in zones 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9
Creeping Thyme
Creeping Thyme
Thymus serpyllum. One of the most popular ground covers, is a perennial creeping thyme that is perfect for edging the border!
Mother of Thyme is an ideal choice for growing between walkway stones or bricks or used as a general ground cover.
Like other thymes, the leaves are highly fragrant; and it’s wonderful to breathe in the fresh scent as you walk along a garden path!
This low-growing, mat-forming perennial with slim stems is lined with tiny, oval, hairy leaves which tend to be dark green.
Clusters of pale lavender flowers appear in summer on plants that reach 2 – 4 inches tall and spread to 24 inches wide.
Mother of Thyme prefers well-drained soil in full sun. For best coverage as a groundcover, avoid planting in very cold or wet areas.
It’s an evergreen so it looks nice even during the cold months.
Country Park
Pratia Pedunculata
Pratia Pedunculata. Vibrant, starry blue flowers cover a dark green, spreading mat of foliage. Leaves are practically stemless, allowing the blooms to float atop the foliage.
An excellent groundcover for moist, boggy sites or alpine gardens. Tolerates heavy foot traffic. Herbaceous perennial.
Irish Moss
Sagina Subulata
Sagina Subulata. Irish Moss – Emerald-green foliage that forms a compact 1 – 2 inch tall carpet. Irish moss ground cover is excellent for planting between flagstones.
Grown as a lawn substitute, it creates the effect of a moss-covered meadow. Irish Moss is very soft to walk on barefoot, and it has a slightly spongy feel to it.
Sow Irish Moss seeds in starter flats, press the tiny seeds into soil but do not cover. Kept at 64 – 72F, germination is in 14 – 21 days.
Transplant into the garden 6 – 9 inches apart. Irish Moss seeds can be direct sown into the garden or in-between stones.
The ground cover seed must be kept moist continuously. It will be adaptable to mostly sunny locations in cooler climates or partial shade in warmer climates.
Irish Moss ground cover needs moisture retentive, gritty, well-drained soil. The plants are hardy above -30F degrees.
Brass Buttons
Leptinella
Leptinella is a creeping perennial groundcover that spreads quickly by rhizomatous runners just under the soil surface.
Leaves are feathery or fern-like with colors ranging from grayish-green to bright green with gray, purple and black tints.
Flowers are tiny button-like heads without the petal-like ray florets usually associated with daisies.
Colors of flowers range from white to yellow or even black.
Creeping Jenny
Creeping Jenny
Goldilocks Moneywort, Lysimachia nummularia, also known as Creeping Jenny, displays trailing discs of greenish gold that turn-bright yellow in sun.
An attention-getting groundcover that’s also a superb addition to patio pots and hanging baskets.
Also makes a great house plant in a window with bright, indirect light. This Moneywort is versatile, tough, and extra cold-resistant.
This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds. Hardy in zones 3-10.
Creeping Sedum
Creeping Sedum
Sedum. This perennial ground cover, Sedum Acre, is a perfect choice for a fast-growing carpet that only reaches 2 – 3 inches in height.
Some common names for Sedum Acre are: Goldmoss Stonecrop, Goldmoss Sedum, Biting Stonecrop or Wallpepper.
It is fairly drought tolerant, and it loves a position in full sun to partial shade. In the late spring, golden yellow blooms are held above the succulent foliage.
Sedum Acre will spread but it is not considered to be aggressive. It has fairly shallow roots, so if it grows in an unwanted area, it is easy to pull out and manage.
Use Sedum Acre in containers or hanging baskets for a trailing accent, edge the border of the garden with it, place it in a rock garden, or grow it as a general ground cover.
It grows well in poor soils. Sedum Acre can be started either indoors or directly outside.
If starting inside, start the seed 6 – 8 weeks before the end of frost season. If starting outdoors, wait until frost danger has passed and soil temperatures have warmed to 70F.
The Sedum Acre seed is exceptionally small. Press the seed into the soil but do not cover it.
Keep the seed consistently moist until germination occurs which is usually within 28 days. Space the plants about 12 inches apart.
Plumbago
Ceratostigma Plumbaginoides
Ceratostigma Plumbaginoides. Pretty indigo-purple flower clusters bloom from mid-summer to fall, creating a lavender speckled, lush green groundcover.
Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, commonly called Dwarf Plumbago, is a winter dormant , woody-based perennial that offers semi-evergreen foliage (1 1/2 inches long, 3/4 inches wide) that emerges burgundy in spring and later turns emerald green.
In autumn, the foliage gets red-tinged once again offering a final spray of late season color.
Delightful as a filler for planter boxes and amidst rocky gardens, the sweet perennial is also ideal in mixed groupings.
Known for its moderate to fast growth rate and wide range of soil tolerance (with the exception of wet, poorly-drained soils), given spread monitoring it may be used in rock gardens or border fronts.
Dwarf Plumbago resists deer , controls erosion , and has a weed-suppressive rating that ranges from good to excellent, making it as durable and long-lived as the big three ( English Ivy , Pachysandra , Vinca ).
In fact, Ceratostigma is often considered superior except for being less evergreen.
Dwarf Plumbago offers a small, bristly capsule fruit containing a single seed.
Ranging from purpley-red to lilac to pink, the flowers and shifting shaded foliage drift in and out of the landscape creating a carpet of constant color unrivaled by any groundcover.
Interesting Facts Ceratostigma is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family Plumbaginaceae.
It is native to the warm, temperate, and tropical regions of Africa and Asia. Gardener Tips In the spring, plants can be lifted, divided, and replanted just before new shoots appear.
Their cream-colored roots have tell-tale rings around them, making them easy to spot.
Cuttings may be taken in the summer, but the plants resist being moved from mid-summer on.
We love planting Dwarf Plumbago under bulbs such as tulips and daffodils because of its late Spacing 8 – 12 inches. Mature height 6 – 10 inches. Full sun, Part sun. Zones: 5-9.
Alpine Lady’s Mantle
Alpine Lady’s Mantle
Alchemilla Alpina. Smaller and more refined than the usual form of Lady’s Mantle, this species is best suited to the rock garden or for edging.
Plants form a low mound of hairy, divided leaves with a distinctive silvery margin.
Short sprays of chartreuse-yellow flowers appear in early summer. Also attractive in tubs or mixed containers.
An easy and reliable plant that requires little attention.
Baby’s Tears
Soleirolia Soleirolii
Soleirolia Soleirolii. Its delicate charm conceals a surprisingly rugged plant. Baby’s tears grow very quickly, can overcome some frost, and they’re even able to tolerate some foot traffic.
Use this plant in areas where the look of moss is desired but conditions aren’t suited for the woodland type of moss.
Thanks for reading and be sure to share this info with your friends using the social share buttons below. Talking about social stuff, consider liking our Facebook page to keep up to date with our articles. Check out our other articles for more mental scoops!
No Responses