Sun Or Shade Ground Cover Plants

Plants commonly known as ground covers are used to fill in places where grass doesn't want to grow, to prevent soil erosion on steep banks, in places that are difficult to mow or simply to beautify the landscape. Whatever your reason for choosing ground cover plants I hope you'll find the following information about some of my favorite groundcovers to be helpful in making your selection.

Also known as Palace Purple Coral Bells, this frost hardy perennial is prized for its beautiful bronze and purple foliage more than for the tiny pinkish white bell shaped flowers that bloom in early spring. During periods of very high temperatures the leaves may turn green This is a low growing and spreading plant that is easy to grow in full sun to part shade. This plant is at its very best in moist and well drained soil.

Annual geraniums are very popular but the low spreading perennial geraniums are sometimes overlooked. Plant this drought tolerant geranium in sunny places and this long bloomer will give you pink or purplish flowers all summer long. This variety is also salt resistant and will make a good choice for planting near driveways or walkways.

This perennial is very popular with gardeners because of its shade tolerance and its beautiful and sturdy foliage and that's easy to grow and maintain. It offers spiky flowers in summer. Hosta is easily propagated by diving the root clumps. With so many varieties of colors and sizes of hosta now available, it's very easy to find the ones that will suit your gardening needs.

This is a deer resistant and low fast growing plant. You'll like its lovely silvery white and green leaves and the pink or lavender flowers that bloom in summer. The butterflies like it too. This is a shade resistant plant that will also grow in full sun if you keep it moist. During periods of high heat you'll want to deadhead the blooms and cut it back to keep it appearing neat. This plant can be easily propagated by either cuttings or root division.

Variegated Lilyturf is another low growing and shade tolerant perennial that will also do well in sun. Its green leaves with creamy white stripes have a grass like appearance. From mid summer to fall it will produce spiky lavender and white bell shaped flowers. At the end of the season if it begins to look a little chewed or straggly simply cut it back.

Don't confuse this Allegheny pachysandra with the Japanese pachysandra that has a reputation for being invasive. This plant is slower growing and isn't anxious to take over your landscape. It is both drought tolerant and shade tolerant and will also grown in sun. Enjoy its pretty green leaves with silver accents and in spring it will offer little spiky white flowers that have a nice fragrance.

I love this perennial dianthus and so do the butterflies. These deer and drought resistant plants are very easy to grow, even in poor soil. Plant them where they'll get plenty of sunshine and they'll grow in low spreading mounds to about a half a foot tall and give you dark pink or red flowers that bloom in spring and on and off all through the summer. You can grow these from seed or propagate by root division. It's hard to go wrong with these. I also like to use them in containers.

This oddly nicknamed sedum spurium is a low growing evergreen ground cover that likes full sun. Its red flowers appear in midsummer and its leaves turn red in late season.

Yellow archangel (lamium) is a fast growing, deer resistant perennial that will thrive in any kind of soil, light or moisture conditions. Sounds great, right? Not always. In some places its invasive behavior has earned it the title of noxious weed. Instead of variegated yellow archanged, choose a less invasive cultivar like Hermann's Pride (false lamium) which grows in clumps rather than spreading and will do a good job of staying put. Hermann's Pride is a shade loving and drought tolerant plant that will grow to about a foot tall and offer striking foliage and bright yellow flowers that bloom in spring. It also makes a very attractive container plant.