Tired of looking at that stubborn patch of bare soil that just won’t seem to stay green? Or maybe you’ve been in a constant battle with weeds, watching them creep back no matter how often you pull them out. What if there was a way to not only cover those problem spots but also add layers of color, texture, and even fragrance to your garden—all without constant upkeep?
That’s the magic of ground cover plants. These are nature’s answer to the garden gaps, the blank spaces under trees, and the slopes that grass just won’t hold. Ground covers thrive where other plants struggle, weaving themselves into lush carpets that bring every inch of your garden to life. Some bloom with tiny, eye-catching flowers, others spread fragrant foliage, and all of them work to keep weeds at bay and soil erosion in check.
Whether you’re looking for sun-loving, drought-resistant options, or shady, moisture-loving varieties, we’ve rounded up 39 of the best ground cover plants that are ready to transform your garden into a vibrant, low-maintenance oasis. Dive in and find the perfect ground covers to make your garden both beautiful and effortless!
1. Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata)
A hardy, low-growing perennial that forms a mat of vibrant blooms in spring, Creeping Phlox is perfect for sunny areas. This plant is also an excellent choice for rock gardens, filling spaces with vivid pink, purple, and white flowers.
- Height: 4-6 inches
- Zone: 3-9
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Dense floral carpet, evergreen foliage
- Maintenance: Easy
2. Ajuga (Ajuga reptans)
Known as Bugleweed, Ajuga has shiny, colorful leaves and produces beautiful blue flower spikes. Its quick-spreading nature makes it ideal for filling shaded areas while effectively suppressing weeds.
- Height: 4-9 inches
- Zone: 4-10
- Requirements: Partial to full shade, moist soil
- Features: Glossy foliage in shades of purple and green, compact
- Maintenance: Easy
3. Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra)
Japanese Forest Grass has flowing, bamboo-like foliage that adds a graceful touch to shaded areas. Its golden hues bring warmth to the garden, making it an excellent border plant.
- Height: 12-18 inches
- Zone: 5-9
- Requirements: Part shade to shade, rich soil
- Features: Cascading golden foliage
- Maintenance: Easy
4. Hens-and-Chicks (Sempervivum tectorum)
This succulent is extremely low-maintenance and perfect for rock gardens. With its rosette shape, Hens-and-Chicks adds both color and texture to dry landscapes.
- Height: 2-4 inches
- Zone: 3-8
- Requirements: Full sun, sandy or rocky soil
- Features: Rosette shape, drought-tolerant
- Maintenance: Easy
5. Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’)
Golden, fast-spreading Creeping Jenny creates a bright carpet in damp areas. It’s perfect for ground cover, but take care as it can be invasive.
- Height: 2-4 inches
- Zone: 3-9
- Requirements: Full sun to part shade, moist soil
- Features: Golden foliage, vigorous growth
- Maintenance: Moderate (can require trimming)
6. Ice Plant (Delosperma cooperi)
A drought-tolerant succulent, the Ice Plant boasts fleshy leaves and bright pink or purple flowers. It’s a great option for hot, dry spots.
- Height: 3-6 inches
- Zone: 5-10
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Water-storing leaves, long-blooming flowers
- Maintenance: Easy
7. Lamb’s Ear (Stachys byzantina)
With soft, silver leaves, Lamb’s Ear adds texture to sunny areas. It’s also pet-friendly, making it great for family gardens.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 4-8
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Soft, silvery foliage
- Maintenance: Easy
8. Thyme (Thymus serpyllum)
This fragrant herb is perfect as a low-growing ground cover that attracts pollinators. Thyme is great for filling small spaces between stepping stones.
- Height: 1-3 inches
- Zone: 4-9
- Requirements: Full sun, sandy or rocky soil
- Features: Fragrant foliage, small purple blooms
- Maintenance: Easy
9. Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum)
Sweet Woodruff brings fragrance and texture to shaded areas, blooming with small white flowers in spring. It’s excellent under trees and for shaded beds.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 4-8
- Requirements: Part to full shade, moist soil
- Features: Sweet scent, dense coverage
- Maintenance: Easy
10. Lilyturf (Liriope muscari)
Lilyturf has grass-like leaves and delicate purple flowers, thriving in partial to full shade. This low-maintenance plant forms thick clusters, suppressing weeds effectively.
- Height: 8-12 inches
- Zone: 5-10
- Requirements: Part to full shade, well-drained soil
- Features: Grass-like foliage, purple flower spikes
- Maintenance: Easy
11. Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis)
This native plant adds beauty to woodland gardens with its white blooms and bright red berries. Bunchberry is ideal for stabilizing soil in shaded areas.
- Height: 3-8 inches
- Zone: 2-7
- Requirements: Full to part shade, moist, acidic soil
- Features: Native, vibrant fall berries
- Maintenance: Easy
12. Wild Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana)
Wild Strawberry grows rapidly, producing edible fruits and delicate white flowers. This hardy native plant is a great choice for wildlife-friendly gardens.
- Height: 4-8 inches
- Zone: 3-8
- Requirements: Full sun to part shade, well-drained soil
- Features: Edible berries, hardy
- Maintenance: Easy
13. Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)
This native shade lover produces maple-shaped leaves and delicate white blooms. It’s an excellent choice for erosion control on slopes.
- Height: 8-12 inches
- Zone: 4-9
- Requirements: Part to full shade, moist soil
- Features: White blooms, ideal for shaded slopes
- Maintenance: Easy
14. Sedum (Sedum spurium ‘Dragon’s Blood’)
This drought-resistant ground cover changes color with the seasons, adding visual interest year-round. Ideal for sunny, dry gardens.
- Height: 3-6 inches
- Zone: 3-9
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Seasonal color change, drought-tolerant
- Maintenance: Easy
15. Blue Fescue (Festuca glauca)
Blue Fescue adds a soft blue hue and fine texture, perfect for sunny rock gardens. This ornamental grass is also drought-resistant.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 4-8
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Blue-green foliage, drought-tolerant
- Maintenance: Easy
16. Creeping Juniper (Juniperus horizontalis)
This evergreen ground cover has silver-blue foliage, ideal for covering large areas with minimal maintenance. It thrives in dry, sandy soils.
- Height: 4-12 inches
- Zone: 3-9
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Dense cover, evergreen needles
- Maintenance: Easy
17. Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)
A low-growing evergreen that provides red berries in winter, Wintergreen is a hardy choice for colder climates and provides attractive ground cover.
- Height: 3-6 inches
- Zone: 3-8
- Requirements: Part shade, acidic soil
- Features: Red berries, winter interest
- Maintenance: Moderate
18. Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)
Bearberry is a native evergreen that thrives on sandy, well-drained soil. Its small red berries add color, making it perfect for rock gardens.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 2-6
- Requirements: Full sun, sandy soil
- Features: Evergreen, red berries
- Maintenance: Easy
19. Partridgeberry (Mitchella repens)
This evergreen ground cover thrives in shaded woodland settings, offering small white flowers and bright red berries. Its trailing vines make it a lovely filler for shady areas.
- Height: 2-4 inches
- Zone: 4-8
- Requirements: Full to part shade, acidic soil
- Features: Evergreen foliage, red berries, compact size
- Maintenance: Easy
20. Brass Buttons (Leptinella squalida)
With its fern-like, dark foliage and tiny, button-shaped flowers, Brass Buttons is a unique ground cover for walkways or as a turf alternative.
- Height: 1-2 inches
- Zone: 4-8
- Requirements: Full to part sun, moist, well-drained soil
- Features: Low-growing, unique dark foliage, foot traffic tolerant
- Maintenance: Easy
21. Creeping Raspberry (Rubus calycinoides)
A tough, pest-resistant ground cover, Creeping Raspberry offers a dense mat of leaves with textured, crinkled foliage that turns a lovely shade in the fall.
- Height: 6-9 inches
- Zone: 6-9
- Requirements: Part sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Deer-resistant, ground-hugging, fall color
- Maintenance: Moderate
22. Common Periwinkle (Vinca minor)
This fast-spreading ground cover produces glossy green leaves and purple-blue flowers, making it a popular choice for covering large shaded areas.
- Height: 4-6 inches
- Zone: 4-9
- Requirements: Full shade to part sun, moist soil
- Features: Evergreen, purple blooms, quick spreader
- Maintenance: Easy
23. Golden Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Goldilocks’)
A vibrant cultivar, Golden Creeping Jenny has bright golden leaves that add color to gardens even in shaded areas, though it needs careful containment.
- Height: 2-4 inches
- Zone: 3-9
- Requirements: Full sun to part shade, moist soil
- Features: Golden foliage, vigorous spreader
- Maintenance: Moderate
24. Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
Known for its fragrance and tiny white or purple flowers, Sweet Alyssum forms a soft carpet of blooms, especially in cooler weather, ideal for rock gardens or borders.
- Height: 2-4 inches
- Zone: 5-9
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Fragrant blooms, attracts pollinators
- Maintenance: Easy
25. Pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis)
This shade-loving evergreen ground cover has glossy leaves and small white flowers, perfect for areas under trees or in shaded beds.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 4-9
- Requirements: Full shade to part sun, moist, rich soil
- Features: Evergreen, dense cover, deer-resistant
- Maintenance: Easy
26. Bearberry Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster dammeri)
With its small white flowers, red berries, and dense, low-spreading habit, Bearberry Cotoneaster is ideal for slopes and erosion control in sunny areas.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 5-7
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Red berries, glossy foliage, erosion control
- Maintenance: Easy
27. Irish Moss (Sagina subulata)
Irish Moss forms a soft, dense mat of green foliage that looks lovely between pavers or as a low-maintenance lawn substitute.
- Height: 1-2 inches
- Zone: 4-8
- Requirements: Part to full shade, moist, well-drained soil
- Features: Moss-like texture, bright green foliage
- Maintenance: Easy
28. Woolly Thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus)
This low-growing thyme variety has fuzzy, grayish leaves and forms a tight mat. It’s ideal for areas with light foot traffic and grows well between stepping stones.
- Height: 1-2 inches
- Zone: 5-8
- Requirements: Full sun, sandy soil
- Features: Soft, woolly texture, foot-traffic tolerant
- Maintenance: Easy
29. Red Creeping Thyme (Thymus praecox)
With red-purple flowers and fragrant foliage, Red Creeping Thyme is both visually striking and functional. It’s perfect for filling small spaces in rock gardens.
- Height: 2-4 inches
- Zone: 4-9
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Red blooms, fragrant, attracts pollinators
- Maintenance: Easy
30. Bishop’s Weed (Aegopodium podagraria ‘Variegatum’)
This fast-spreading ground cover with green and white variegated leaves is excellent for shaded spots but should be contained due to its vigorous nature.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 3-8
- Requirements: Part to full shade, moist soil
- Features: Variegated foliage, fast spreader
- Maintenance: Moderate
31. Japanese Spurge (Pachysandra terminalis ‘Green Sheen’)
A glossy-leaved ground cover, Japanese Spurge is a low-maintenance choice for shaded areas, forming a dense mat that chokes out weeds.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 4-9
- Requirements: Full to part shade, moist soil
- Features: Glossy foliage, weed suppressant
- Maintenance: Easy
32. Bishop’s Hat (Epimedium grandiflorum)
This flowering ground cover adds color with its unique heart-shaped leaves and delicate spring blooms. Ideal for shaded, woodland gardens.
- Height: 8-12 inches
- Zone: 4-8
- Requirements: Part to full shade, moist soil
- Features: Heart-shaped leaves, spring blooms
- Maintenance: Easy
33. Silver Carpet (Dymondia margaretae)
Silver Carpet’s blue-gray leaves and yellow daisy-like flowers create a beautiful low-maintenance cover for hot, dry spots in the garden.
- Height: 1-3 inches
- Zone: 9-11
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Silvery foliage, drought-tolerant
- Maintenance: Easy
34. Dead Nettle (Lamium maculatum)
With colorful variegated leaves and small pink or purple flowers, Dead Nettle is a shade-loving ground cover that brightens up dark areas.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 3-8
- Requirements: Full shade, well-drained soil
- Features: Variegated foliage, low light tolerant
- Maintenance: Easy
35. Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)
Wild Ginger’s heart-shaped leaves and unique hidden flowers add a woodland touch to shaded areas, especially beneath trees.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 3-8
- Requirements: Part to full shade, moist soil
- Features: Heart-shaped leaves, deep shade tolerant
- Maintenance: Moderate
36. Rock Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster horizontalis)
Rock Cotoneaster’s spreading branches make it ideal for rock gardens and erosion control, with bright red berries adding color.
- Height: 12-24 inches
- Zone: 5-7
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Red berries, dense spreading habit
- Maintenance: Easy
37. Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens)
This evergreen ground cover produces a stunning display of white flowers in spring, making it a great choice for edging or rock gardens.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 3-9
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: White blooms, evergreen foliage
- Maintenance: Easy
38. Beach Strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis)
Beach Strawberry is a hardy ground cover that tolerates coastal conditions well. It has lush green foliage, white flowers, and edible red berries.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 5-9
- Requirements: Full sun to part shade, well-drained soil
- Features: Edible berries, salt-tolerant
- Maintenance: Easy
39. Armeria (Armeria maritima)
Known as Sea Thrift, this resilient ground cover features tufted green foliage and clusters of pink blooms, ideal for rocky areas and edges.
- Height: 6-12 inches
- Zone: 4-9
- Requirements: Full sun, well-drained soil
- Features: Pink blooms, salt-tolerant, pollinator-friendly
- Maintenance: Easy
Each of these 39 ground cover plants offers unique characteristics to enhance your garden, from vibrant colors and erosion control to pollinator-friendly blooms. Select based on your climate, soil type, and garden needs for a lush, low-maintenance landscape!
Whether you’re aiming to bring texture to a rocky slope, create a weed-suppressing blanket under trees, or add seasonal color across your garden, these ground cover plants offer the perfect low-maintenance solutions. With options ranging from drought-resistant varieties like Sedum Atlantis to shade-loving gems like Sweet Woodruff, ground covers can transform any bare patch of soil into a lush and vibrant landscape. They’re not only practical but also add visual interest, attract pollinators, and conserve soil moisture.
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