Plant Ground Covers for Low Maintenance Rewards
Cover Ground with Perennial Drought Resistant Grass Substitutes
Nov 2, 2009
Smooth, rich green lawns are perfect for creating a landscape that looks neat, unified, and well designed. Instead of spending your time slaving over your grass, though, you can produce the same effect with plants that don’t need mowing or trimming. Reducing the size of your lawn by adding some beds of ground-hugging perennials and shrubs allows you to cut down on overall garden maintenance and still have a handsome landscape.
Consider some of the tough perennials and ground hugging shrubs listed here to create low maintenance plantings. All thrive in full sun to light shade and average to rich well-drained soil. For more on plant hardiness, see the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) hardiness zone map.
Low-growing Perennials
Liriope or lilyturf (Liriope spp.) features grassy leaves and spikes of purple-blue flowers in late summer to fall. L. muscari, hardy in Zones 6 to 9 has evergreen leaves and is 12 inches tall. ‘Majestic’ bears showy flowers and leaves that are narrower than the species. Also look for ‘Silver Dragon’ or ‘Variegata’ for green-and-white striped leaves. L. spicata bears thinner, 10 inch tall leaves and is hardy in Zones 4 or 5 to 10.
Mondo grass (Ophiopogon spp.) also have grassy leaves. O. japonicus is 8 to 12 inches tall and hardy in Zones 7 to 10. For a really short grasslike selection, look for 2-inch-tall ‘Compactus’ or 3- to 6-inch-tall ‘Nanus’. O. planiscapus reaches 8 inches and is hardy in Zones 6 to 10. Look for ‘Nigrescens’, which is grown for its maroon-black leaves.
Sedums (Sedum spp.) come in many sizes and shapes, but ground hugging species make spectacular drought tolerant ground covers. Look for evergreen two-row sedum (S. spurium), which is 2 to 6 inches tall, bears pink or white flowers in summer, and is hardy in Zones 4 to 9. ‘Tricolor’ features leaves marked with green, pink, and white. ‘Dragon’s Blood’, or ‘Schorbuser Blut’ has purple-tinted green leaves. Goldmoss stonecrop (S. acre) is a vigorous spreader forming a tight, 1- to-2-inch mat of evergreen leaves topped by yellow flowers in summer. Hardy in Zones 3 to 8, they tolerate some foot traffic. S. rupestre ‘Angelina’ is a fast-spreading, 4-inch tall selection with yellow-green leaves that turn pumpkin orange in fall. Flowers are yellow and plants are hardy in Zones 6 to 9.
Thymes (Thymus spp.) are prized for their aromatic leaves and clusters of tiny flowers borne in summer. Creeping thyme (T. serpyllum) is the most popular of the ground-covering sorts. It forms a 1 to 4-inch mat of twiggy branches and is hardy in Zones 4 to 9. ‘Pink Chintz’ bears gray-green leaves and pink flowers. ‘Snowdrift’ has white flowers. ‘Elfin’ and ‘Minimus’ are only 4 to 6 inches tall. Woolly thyme (T. pseudolanuginosus) bears hairy gray-green leaves and produces ground-hugging mats that are 1 to 2 inches tall. It is hardy in Zones 5 to 8.
Ground Hugging Shrubs
Reading labels and selecting carefully is the secret to selecting shrubs that will hug the ground and make great ground covers. Creeping juniper is one of the best choices for ground cover use. See Landscaping Slopes in Full Sun for suggestions. Here are two other shrubs to consider:
Cotoneasters (Cotoneaster spp.) can be full-size shrubs, but there are some excellent ground covers in the bunch. Bearberry cotoneaster (C. dammeri) is evergreen and bears white flowers in early summer that are followed by red berries. ‘Mooncreeper’ is 2 inches tall. Plants are hardy in Zones 6 to 9. Willow-leaved cotoneaster (C. salicifolius) reaches 15 feet, but look for low-growing selections like 2-foot ‘Repens’, 1- to 2-foot ‘Herbstfeuer’ (‘Autumn Fire’), or 8- to 12-inch ‘Gnom’. All are hardy in Zones 6 to 7.
Hollies (Ilex spp.), too, come in all sizes. For covering ground, cultivars of Japanese holly (I. crenata) are good choices. Hardy from Zones 5 or 6 to 8, they are evergreen and bear tiny black berries. The species reaches 10 feet, but ‘Elfin’ is only 1 foot tall. ‘Green Island’ is 3 feet tall (spreading to 6 feet), while ‘Kingsville Green Cushion’ is 8 inches tall (spreading to 2½ feet). All Japanese hollies tolerate hard shearing to keep them compact.
Growing Ground-hugging Ground Covers
You’ll find that there are any number of ways you can use ground covers to help reduce landscape maintenance. (For ideas on how different sites and bed shapes can help, click here). By using ground covers to create large drifts of a single color and texture, you can also create a landscape that features a unified, restful look.
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