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Perennial Ground Covers



Perennial ground covers are plants that

1) are reliably perennial – they live from year to year and

2) grow quite quickly to cover the ground.


Ground Covers Come With Warnings


The advantages of ground covers are that they cover bare ground and often grow where no other plant will survive.

This often makes them candidates for garden thug status. If a plant will grow and cover the ground, it seldom makes a distinction between the area you want covered and the area it wants to cover.

It is up to you to enforce the limits with edging material or sharp shovels. In my opinion, plants that are primarily used for ground covers should never be allowed into good perennial gardens.

Aegopodium or goutweed/bishop’sweed is a perfect example. This is a rampant spreader that will “eat” many nearby plants as it spreads by underground rhizome. It makes an excellent ground cover for wasteland areas but if put into a good garden, it will simply smother shorter plants and invade the root areas of taller ones.

Here are the Myths of Ground Covers where I describe some of the common questions and advertising myths of this class of plants.

Not for the marketing people in the nursery trade!



Plant Lists



Here’s a list of plants that make decent ground covers. Most of them come with a warning about their ability to spread and the simple growing instruction of put in ground, water, stand back!

A list of ground covers for shade.  Print it out and take it to the garden center with you.


Aegopodium or Growing Goutweed is a no-brainer but this plant comes with a fast-growing potential thug warning.

Q&A: Do I really have to weed out goutweed?


Ajuga or Bugleweed is a good flowering plant with a wide range of varieties for many uses.


Asarum or Wild Ginger is a lovely evergreen ground cover that isn't invasive.


Campanula or bellflowers make delightful and long-blooming ground cover plants for sun or medium shade.

Cerastium
Chrysogonum
Cornus canadensis
Delospermum


Epimediums are one of those tough plants for shade - if you can't grow this plant, you had better consider mulch or silk flowers.

Fragaria
Galium
Gaultheria
Geranium

Hedera helix or English Ivy is one of the classic perennial ground covers  although it can escape and become a problem plant in warmer climates.


Lamium or Dead Nettle is a wonderful ground cover - not invasive and flowering.

Lamiastrum  (don't confuse with above plant)
Lysimachia
Mazus
Mentha
Pachysandra
Paxistima
Potentilla
Pratia
Sagina
Sedum
Stachys
Thymus
Veronica
Vinca
Viola
Waldsteinia

Questions and Answers


Folks, I hope you'll understand when I tell you I get hundreds of questions every week across my gardening sites so I simply can't answer them all.  I do my very best but there are some time of the year that it gets impossible to do this.  If you're one of those who's question doesn't get answered right away, I'm really sorry and I hope you'll understand.


Ask a Perennial Ground Cover Gardening Question

If you have a question about shade perennials, then feel free to ask it using this form.

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What Other Visitors Have Asked about Ground Cover Perennials

Click below to see questions from other visitors to this page...

ground covers that are "dog friendly"  What are good perennial ground covers that aren't poisonous for dogs & would be hardy enough for dogs to walk/run on?if any exist)-area is mostly shady ...

best ground cover for sandy soil  I have an area above a retaining wall that leads into woods. It has sandy soil and I am wondering if creeping phlox would be the best grown cover or if ...

Ground cover for a rocky, clay slope with some erosion.  Doug,
I hope you can help me find a fast growing ground cover for my very infrequently traversed backyard. I live in Missouri(zone 5 I believe)on a second ...







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goutweed
Goutweed