Ground cover plants, no more mowing!

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Leaves no bigger than duckweed, foliage mottled purple or silver, flowers in white and violet: ground cover plants close over the soil where a lawn would only mean more mowing. They ask no more than minimal care, and matched to the right soil and light, the faster kinds carpet a plot within two years.

They’re just as beautiful as grass and only require minimal care, much less than other types of lawn grass.

Read also: alternatives to lawn grass

After a little planting guidance, we’ll introduce just six from the hundreds that can be purchased in horticulture stores.

Planting ground cover plants right

Ground cover plants rarely are started from seed; instead, clumps are used and divided.

It helps to mark out edges with some kind of edging material. This makes maintenance easier, especially for patterns. However, it isn’t at all mandatory.

• Shown above/right in the planting pattern are clumps of blooming Delosperma cooperi (Cooper’s ice plant), Helxine (see below), kikuyu, Sagina subulata and Sempervivum

Spacing and mounds

Generally, space your clumps by about a foot. It’s all a question of how fast you want the plot covered; this also depends on the type of plant you use.

• For example, Sempervivum houseleek are very slow growers, they’ll need around 4-5 years to spread an extra foot/30 cm in every direction.
• Slow spreaders also include Delosperma, Helxine, and Sagina subulata (heath pearlwort).
• For these, divide the distance by half: 6 inches or 15 cm between clumps.

Faster spreaders include heuchera, Houttuynia, ground ivy, violet and periwinkle. They will cover a surface within 2 years if planted a foot / 30 cm apart.

Six ground cover plants compared

The six plants presented below differ mainly in height, in the light and soil they need, and in how quickly they close over bare ground. Match those three points to your plot and the choice makes itself.

Slow spreaders cost more plants at the outset, but they stay where you put them.

Heuchera

A perennial plant that spontaneously grows in mountain rocky ground, heuchera bears green, violet-pink, purple, yellow or silver mottled leafage.

More or less 12 inches (30 cm) tall, it appreciates well drained and humus-rich soil, full sun or part sun exposure.

If a plant wilts for no reason and lifts from the soil with almost no resistance, suspect vine weevil grubs eating the roots.

Helxine

This short ground-covering plant – usually below 5 cm tall – has tiny round leaves less than 1/5 inch (5 mm) across that look like duckweed. In summer, tiny pink flowers appear.

Helxine loves sandy, well drained soil in shade or part sun. It can’t withstand drought. Even though it can cope with temperatures as low as 5°F (-15°C), better mulch it before harsher winters.

Houttuynia

This 20 inch (50 cm) perennial plant with deciduous green, yellow and red mottled leaves flowers discretely in summer with tiny white, fragrant blooms. It prefers moist and rich soil, shade, and is vulnerable to summer dry spells. Add compost in spring; in case of harsh winters, keep the dead dry leaves that will keep the roots from from freezing.

Tip: burn its dried leaves that smell like oranges to keep mosquitoes away.

• Houttuynia spreads by underground rhizomes and rarely stops where you planted it.
• Marginal aquatic plants such as marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) and yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus) cope with waterlogged ground and will grow happily along a pond margin in shallow standing water.

Ivy

Now don’t get common ivy (Hedera helix) confused with ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), which belongs to the same family as mint.

With evergreen green leafage that may present white, silver or gold designs, ivy thrives in part sun, in cool, chalky and well drained soil. Prune when its starts growing too large.

• Ground ivy’s creeping stems root readily at many nodes that contact moist soil, and this frequent rooting lets the plant spread quickly across lawns and shaded ground.
• Glechoma hederacea is classed as an invasive weed across much of North America, so check what is permitted locally before planting it.

Periwinkle

Known for its white or violet flowers, periwinkle is a also a perennial ground cover plant with green leaves that can also bear traces of white or gold.

It grows on humus-rich, well drained soil, eventually chalky, both in shade or in part sun.

• Choose Vinca minor for a tight low carpet and Vinca major where you want taller, faster cover, since the larger species can smother smaller neighbours.
• Periwinkle holds its leaves through winter and copes with dry shade under trees, where grass fails.

Violets

This semi-evergreen perennial, never any taller than 8 inches (20 cm), is covered in spring with very fragrant spring flowers, white or purple.

It loves light and rich soil, even if chalky, provided exposure is full sun or part shade. Apart from having to hunt a few slugs away, violets don’t need any follow-up and their flowers can be used in cooking!

Pierrick Le Jardinier

Sweet violet spreads by above-ground runners that root wherever they touch bare soil, so lift the rooted plantlets and replant them to fill any gaps.