All About Planting Low-Maintenance Ground Covers (2024 Guide)

Ground cover plants offer a creative and practical alternative to traditional landscaping materials such as rocks and mulch. These versatile plants also provide numerous benefits, including erosion control, weed suppression, and reduced maintenance needs. In this article, we’ll discuss planting low-maintenance ground covers suitable for different growing conditions and landscaping needs. This Old House landscaping expert Jenn Nawada also shares some of her favorite varieties.

Benefits of Ground Cover Plants

Ground cover plants offer several advantages over traditional landscaping materials, including:

• Erosion control on slopes and hard-to-mow areas
• Weed suppression
• Reduced maintenance requirements
• Visual appeal and texture in the landscape
• Improved soil health and moisture retention

Pro Tip: As This Old House Magazine explains, compared with a lawn, groundcovers require no mowing, little weeding, and minimal, if any, watering or fertilizing once the plants are established. And unlike with many fussier plants, there’s little need for deadheading, cutting back spent growth, dividing, or replanting. When planted in large swaths, groundcovers can give you the openness of a grassy lawn but with more texture, and small drifts of three or more plant types can deliver the layered look of flower beds without the boom-and-bust cycles of annuals and perennials.

Types of Ground Cover Plants

The type of ground cover plants you choose also depends on your yard’s sunlight conditions, soil type and moisture levels, climate zone, desired height and spread, and foot traffic. Some are better suited for dry, shady areas, whereas others can withstand high-traffic areas more than others. Below, we’ll list a few great options for different conditions, and share the ideal U.S. Plant Hardiness Zones for each.

Pro Tip: When selecting ground covers, consider whether you want year-round coverage or seasonal interest. According to This Old House Magazine, evergreen ground covers look good all year but often lack showy flowers—they’re best for shading out weed seeds and hiding debris, especially useful where ground covers edge a walkway or driveway. Deciduous ground covers die back or turn brown when temperatures drop below freezing, but for the majority of the year they offer color and texture, including spring flowers, summer berries, or bright fall foliage.

Dry Shade Ground Covers

Several ground covers thrive in dry, shady conditions. Here are some of the most common:

• Bishop’s hat (shown): Heart-shaped leaves form dense mounds 6 to 9 inches high, with delicate sprays of small flowers in spring.
  • Zones 4–8

• Lily turf: Grass-like foliage 8 to 18 inches high sports spikes of purple flowers in late summer.
  • Zones 4–10

• Sweet woodruff: Whorled foliage grows 8 to 12 inches tall with fragrant white flowers in spring.
  • Zones 4–8

• Pachysandra: Extremely low maintenance and spreads rapidly, this thrives in shady areas and is impartial to soil types. It has small white flowers in spring.
  • Zones 3–9

Full-Sun Ground Covers

For areas that receive ample sunlight, consider these ground cover options:

• Cranesbill (shown): Bushy foliage grows up to 12 inches tall. Pink blooms in late spring attract butterflies.
  • Zones 4–8

• Brazilian dwarf morning glory ‘Blue Daze:’ Mounding foliage 9 to 18 inches high produces purple blooms all summer long.
  • Zones 8–11

• Bearberry: Shiny evergreen leaves. Birds love its red berries.
  • Zones 2–6

• Juniper Procumbens: An extremely durable evergreen that prefers full sun. It can grow over walls and rocks and will grow together as a large, dense mat, and it is deer- and drought-tolerant.
  • Zones 4–9

Shady Hillside Ground Covers

For sloped areas with limited sunlight, try these ground cover options:

• Pennsylvania sedge (shown): Wavy mounds of long, grass-like leaves grow 6 to 12 inches high.
  • Zones 4–8

• Alpine geranium: Dense foliage, 3 to 6 inches high, displays pink blooms from April to October. Needs rocky, well-drained soil.
  • Zones 7–10

• Dwarf mondo grass: Tight, 4- to 6-inch-high evergreen clumps grow up to 12 inches across.
  • Zones 6–10

• Microbiota: Soft, feathery evergreen foliage that’s rugged and drought-tolerant. Does well in sun, partial shade, and shade and only grows about a foot tall.
  • Zones 3–7

Moist Shade Ground Covers

For areas with consistent moisture and limited sunlight, consider these options:

• Bunchberry (shown): Lush, whorled foliage 6 to 12 inches tall. White blooms attract butterflies, and you’ll find red berries in the fall.
  • Zones 2–7

• Foam flower: Glossy, lobed foliage grows 9 to 12 inches high, it has sprays of white flowers in May.
  • Zones 3–8

• American barrenwort: The heart-shaped leaves grow 9 to 18 inches high.
  • Zones 5–9

• Liriope Spicata: Soft ground cover that has runners that travel and create a soft, dense mat. Comes in variegated varieties for extra pops of color, and it’s good for naturalized settings.
  • Zones 4–10

Pro Tip: This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook notes that “it’s not difficult to find interesting plants for shade. You just have to do your homework and find ones that are suited to your particular low-light conditions.” That means quantifying how much sun your site actually gets—full shade areas that see sun for two hours or less per day benefit from vigorous perennials that like moisture-retentive soil.

High-Heat and Drought-Tolerant Ground Covers

For areas that experience extreme heat and drought conditions, these ground covers are suitable choices:

• ‘Dragon’s Blood’ stonecrop (shown): This deer-resistant sedum grows 4 to 6 inches tall. It has deep-red, star-shaped flowers that appear in midsummer.
  • Zones 3–9

• Lamb’s ear: Thick, velvety leaves grow 12 to 18 inches tall.
  • Zones 4–7

• ‘Angelina’ stonecrop: Spiky, gray-green foliage about 4 inches tall has yellow blooms.
  • Zones 5–8

• Sedum John Creech: Grows 1 to 2 inches high and creates a thick mat of succulent foliage. It has small pink flowers in the middle of summer and is ideal for stone walls and walkways, as it can take the heat of the stone.
  • Zones 3–9

Steppable Ground Covers

For areas with foot traffic, these ground covers can withstand some stepping:

• Blue star creeper (shown): Forms a dense 2- to 4-inch-high mat with light-blue spring flowers.
  • Zones 5–9

• Hairy rupturewort: Overlapping stems with tiny leaves reach about 2 inches high.
  • Zones 2–9

• Creeping thyme: Stems bearing tiny, aromatic leaves reach 2 to 6 inches high, with purple flowers from May to September.
  • Zones 4–9

Pro Tip: When a steep slope in her Maine backyard made mowing impractical, homeowner Barbara Feller-Roth devised a dramatic solution—wide granite steps planted with woolly and creeping thymes. “I didn’t want to have to mow uphill,” she says. The result is a lush, fragrant pathway that requires virtually no maintenance compared to a traditional lawn.

Planting and Maintaining Ground Covers

When planting low-maintenance ground cover plants, follow these tips:

• Prepare the soil by removing weeds and adding organic matter if needed.
• Space plants according to their mature spread to achieve desired coverage.
• Water regularly until plants are established, then reduce watering as needed.
• Apply a layer of mulch to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
• Prune or trim as necessary to maintain the desired shape and prevent overgrowth.

Pro Tip: This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook stresses the importance of staying on top of weeds early on: “I’d rather weed more often so that they don’t get big or set seeds. I weed by hand so I can pull out the roots. Otherwise they grow right back.” Along with regular weeding, Roger recommends fertilizing plants annually, in spring, to keep them looking their best.

Our Conclusion

Low-maintenance ground covers offer a versatile and attractive alternative to traditional landscaping materials. When planning your low-maintenance landscape, consider the condition of your yard, such as sun and shade levels, soil type, foot traffic, moisture levels, and climate zone. We recommend researching your USDA Hardiness Zone to determine which plants to choose for your landscape with little to no maintenance.

Expert assistance with the video segment was provided by Stonegate Gardens.

Thanks to: Missouri Botanical Garden