7 Best Ground Cover Plants for Hard to Grow Areas
The right ground cover plants can play two important roles in your yard. First, they will protect the soil underneath from the torments of weather, and secondly, these plants will add a lush and beautiful new look to your landscape.
However, the most important thing is to choose the plants carefully. As a golden rule, you need ground cover plants that are relatively easy to plant and remain green all year round.
Here are some suggestions to consider:
Thyme
Thyme is preferred by most people because of its ability to persevere in dry conditions.
The plant can be grown in containers too and in addition to its lush green foliage, thyme also produces a fresh and pleasant aroma that you are going to enjoy.
This plant is also very resilient and can handle moderate traffic without running dry.
Hens-and-Chicks
This plant is perfect to grow in tight spaces. It’s a succulent perennial that produces nice green foliage all year round.
A lot of people grow the plant in between paving stones but you can also grow it in the yard or in a trough planter. Hens-and-Chicks grows well in areas with dry conditions and requires very little water.
Sedum
Sedum is a perennial plant that many people use for fencing. This is because the tallest sedum plants can reach up to 3ft high.
In addition to that, there is another creeping variety that forms very thick foliage on the ground. This would be the best choice for above-ground planting. The great thing about sedum is that it requires very little water to thrive.
The plant also blooms into beautiful flowers of different colors including red, purple, pink, orange, and white.
Sweet Woodruff
Sweet woodruff is often grown under shade. So, if you have trees or big shrubs in your yard, this would be the best way to provide ground foliage.
The plant spreads quite aggressively without too much input and it produces nice clumps of deciduous foliage with strong upright stems. For instance, this ground cover is good for Landscaping Around a Tree with Exposed Roots.
Brass Buttons
In case you are looking for dense mats of finely textured foliage for your yard, then brass buttons are ideal.
The plant produces evergreen leaves too and blooms into yellow and green flowers in the summer. It can grow in any climate as well.
Ajuga
Ajuga is also a resilient ground cover plant that will easily withstand mild foot traffic.
It is a very beautiful plant with colorful flowers of blue, pink, and lavender. The only downside with Ajuga is the fact that it can become quite weedy at times.
Lamium
Lamium typically produces nice silvery or golden foliage that should brighten up your yard. This opulent look is matched up by nice purple flowers for outstanding visual appeal.
The plant can grow up to a foot tall so it should be able to offer enough ground coverage of any space.
Conclusion
If you’re trying to spruce up an area of your yard where grass just won’t grow, any of the abovementioned plants will work wonderfully.
These plants tend to produce dense green foliage that acts as a natural green carpet. But getting there requires a lot of work including lots of water, quality seeds, and some elbow grease due to weeding and mulching.
Check out our Lawn Care Service page to learn more about how we can help make your lawn beautiful.