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Groundcover plants

Low plants that spread to cover the soil, for under shrubs, along the front and anywhere weeds would grow.

Bare soil is an invitation to weeds. A groundcover is a low plant that spreads into a carpet and keeps it covered: under shrubs, between perennials and along the front of a bed. The planner uses them in threes and fives, along the front and just behind it.

The best groundcovers spread steadily but stop where they are told to. Some on this list spread fast, and their entries say so: they are for covering ground quickly, not for a bed of small treasures.

171 plants: 122 perennials, 11 ferns, 9 grasses and 29 shrubs.

The dozen to start with

  • Lily of the valley

    Lily of the valley

    8 in · early May to late May · spreads fast

    Arching sprays of small, white, intensely scented bells in May, between pairs of broad green leaves.

  • Japanese pachysandra

    Japanese pachysandra

    8 in · grown for its leaves · evergreen

    Whorls of glossy, toothed, evergreen leaves form a uniform carpet under trees.

  • Bugleweed

    Bugleweed

    6 in · early May to late May · spreads fast

    Glossy, dark rosettes knit into a dense carpet that smothers weeds in shade.

  • Hens and chicks

    Hens and chicks

    4 in · grown for its leaves · evergreen

    Tight, fleshy rosettes, green or flushed with burgundy, surrounded by a crowd of smaller offsets.

  • Creeping juniper 'Blue Rug'

    Creeping juniper 'Blue Rug'

    6 in · grown for its leaves · evergreen

    The flattest juniper: a silver-blue carpet only a hand high that spreads two metres wide and turns plum-purple in winter.

  • Marsh fern

    Marsh fern

    24 in · grown for its leaves · spreads fast · host plant

    Delicate, pale green, upright fronds rise singly from creeping rhizomes in wet meadows and marshes, in sun or shade.

  • Siberian cypress

    Siberian cypress

    12 in · grown for its leaves · evergreen

    A low, wide-spreading conifer with soft, feathery, bright green sprays that turn bronze-purple in winter.

  • Aaron's beard

    Aaron's beard

    14 in · late June to late August · spreads fast

    A low, spreading groundcover with very large, golden flowers filled with a brush of long stamens.

  • Coralberry

    Coralberry

    4 ft · mid July to early August · spreads fast

    Arching stems lined in autumn and winter with tight clusters of small, coral-purple berries.

  • Rock polypody

    Rock polypody

    8 in · grown for its leaves · evergreen

    A small, leathery, evergreen fern that creeps over shaded boulders, ledges and mossy logs in a thin layer of leaf mould.

  • Sensitive fern

    Sensitive fern

    24 in · grown for its leaves · spreads fast

    Broad, light green fronds with wavy-edged lobes, more like a leaf than a fern.

  • Hay-scented fern

    Hay-scented fern

    24 in · grown for its leaves · spreads fast

    Soft, lacy, yellow-green fronds that smell of new-mown hay when brushed, and turn gold in autumn.

All 171 plants

Show all 171, by where they go in a bed

Front of a bed 157

Middle of a bed 11

Back of a bed 3

  • Coralberry 4 ft · mid July to early August · spreads fast
  • Salal 4 ft · late May to late June · evergreen · host plant
  • Winter jasmine 4 ft · early January to late March

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