Ground Covers or Living Mulches

Ground covers are both practical and beautiful in the landscape.  Ground cover plants will fill in to form a dense planting, a living carpet.  This is not only aesthetically pleasing but it serves many purposes.  Living mulches discourage weeds, hold in moisture, prevent erosion and are easy to care for.  Ground covers are perennials and spread easily on their own.  

There are ground covers to fill every need from shade, part shade, to hot spots in the garden.  While this is by no means a complete list, here are some of my favorites.

Wooly Thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus)

Wooly thyme is one of those gotta touch plants.  It creates a carpet of silver gray, fuzzy softness that when trod on emits that wonderful thyme scent.  This perennial has medicinal, culinary, and landscape benefits.  It tolerates sunny, dry locations, and can be used between pavers, rocks, and stones. It grows well in containers cascading over the side.  It is also a good living mulch in the herb garden growing between taller herbs. It is a slower spreader but worth it.

Care is minimal once established.  You can trim back edges to encourage it to grow thicker.  The clippings can be used in cooking, potpourris, or in the bath. 

Wooly thyme is a favorite of pollinators.  Bees will love this addition to the landscape.  Hardy herbs like thyme and creeping thyme are a wonderful option for the beginning gardener.  

Stonecrop, Sedum

Creeping sedums are a large group of plant with long narrow stems that grow along the ground and form mats of colorful succulent foliage.  Sedums are wonderful fillers softening the edges of containers and rock gardens and walls.  They are not specifically grown for flowers they do produce short sprays of flowers.

Most sedums are fairly drought tolerant when established and can be grown in full sun to part shade.  There is a wide variety of leaf color, variegated leaves, and shapes.

These are easy to propagate.  Pull up some of the stems and lay or shallowly cover them in a gritty potting mix.

Bishop's Weed or Goutweed Aegopodioum Podgraria

This ground cover comes with a warning it spreads through the rootstocks and can get out of control if not managed.  I love this ground cover with its variegated white and green leaves and lacy white flowers.  Bishop's weed grows about a foot tall and the small flower stalks can grow up to 20 inches.  It looks great in a shaded rock garden or among taller perennials such as foxglove or delphinium.  If Bishop's weed is planted in full sun, the leaf edges may burn.  To prevent leaf scorch and encourage it to spread rapidly plant in rich moist soil.

Bishop's Weed

This is a variegated cultivar you can see bulbs mixed in.

Bugleweed Ajuga Reptans

This ground cover has it all beautiful textured foliage and spikes of lavender flowers.  It hugs the ground and spreads rapidly.

The flowers bloom late spring and are 4 -8 inches tall.  There are many varieties of bugleweed.  My favorites are those with variegated leaves and  burgundy leaves.  

Bugleweed likes partial light to full shade.  It needs fertile and even moisture.  

Sweet Woodruff

Sweet Woodruff Gallium Oboratum

Bright green foliage and white starlike flowers make this ground cover a perfect combination with spring bulbs.  The leaf pattern is what I like about sweet woodruff.   It has narrow leaves that whorl around the stem and petite white flowers.   It grows 6-8 inches.  It spreads by underground runners.  

This is a good choice for shade gardens with a woodland feel. Sweet woodruff is beautiful with hostas, ferns, and astilbes.  In warm climates, it may even hang onto its leaves through the winter.  Once again choose a site with light to dense shade and keep the soil moist.

Fragaria "Lipstick" Ornamental Strawberry

This little charmer produces lipstick pink flowers in spring and fall.  It will produce some berries but it is best to remove the berries to encourage flowering.  Like strawberries it can be divided and has runners.  It is a cross between a garden strawberry and marsh cinquefoil.  It grows well in containers, hanging baskets, or as a ground cover.