Bird’s Foot Trefoil ( we are calling Truffle) – It offers small yellow to orange flowers in the summer over the green foliage that is a great option as an alternative to grass. They are also a varied lot, with succulent like foliage in round or spiky leaves tinted blue, yellow, purple and emerald green. It grows well in partial shade to full sun and hard-to-plant areas. Flowering Evergreen Ground Covers. Tiny flowers but a dense mat of deep bluish purple flowers with yellow centers! When the leaves are crushed they smell like freshly mown hay. Native to South Africa, aloe humilis has pale, blue-green leaves with white teeth along the edges. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Stay where you are. (Also called Mother of Thyme). But the main reason is their versatility and ability to handle heavy foot traffic without a … See more ideas about ground cover, plants, lawn and garden. Ground Covers – Walkable and Worthy Alternatives to Grass. Mazus – If you are a purple person you must have Mazus in your garden! Plant around flagstones or for a decorative, dense-growing ground cover. It loves full sun to partial sun and can handle occasional foot traffic. Count it to need less water cause it’s drought tolerant too and loves partial shade to sun. Moderate traffic is once a day. Walk-On-Me Plant is a creeping thyme that grows only 3" tall. We'll push the news to you. Acacia redolens Good hillside ground cover useful for banks and large areas of poor soil tolerates drought and heat. And as a bonus most are not as thirsty as grass and can even be considered drought tolerant or requiring less water than grass. It’s not invasive and works great in a rock garden. Rupture Wort – Green Carpet They form tight mats that usually don’t get taller than 6″, and reach that height only when in bloom. Mossy foliage grows just 1 - 2 inches tall, for lovely color between flagstones or spilling over rocks. Both mosses like full sun to partial shade but they also like water and believe it or not for as delicate as it appears, these mosses are almost as sturdy as grass so don’t let them fool you! Evergreen. Something th… Miniature speedwell (Veronica oltensis) – Veronica is a sun-loving plant with deep green leaves and tiny blue flowers. Listen In: Chocolate Chip – If it sounds like chocolate it’s good for me! The plant is about 6 inches tall and has white flowers for a … Other living plants can be used as ground covers or a lawn substitute. It loves full sun to partial shade and doesn’t require much water! Walk on it and the whole area will be filled with the aromatic smell of fresh thyme. And the added bonus it doesn’t require much watering! The round leaves turn bronze color in the fall. Low ground covers are useful in small spots, borders, or to lower the edges of larger ground covers. Their tiny but beautiful flowers are just one of the reasons why are they such a popular choice. Some of our favorites are listed here. The foliage is nice and green and turns bronze-red in the winter. Basket of Gold (Aurinia saxatilis) is an evergreen perennial ground cover plant for full sun The aptly named Basket of Gold (Aurinia saxatilis) is a robust evergreen ground cover that produces stunning bright yellow clusters of flowers. Hardy. Perennial groundcovers are an indispensable part of any well designed garden. Several cultivars of the ice plant (Delosperma) grow well as a ground cover and produce stunning blooms in bright hues, adding much-needed color to the area. And stays a deep green color with fluffy foliage. Scotch Moss loves clay soil and even needs it! Spreads rapidly. They are low growing plants and grow in small clusters that can get up to 12 in (30cm) wide. Blue Star Creeper or Isotoma Fluviatilis is one of the most common plants used for pathways and walkways. White Diamonds– Okay, you had me at White Diamonds ( I’m mixing mine with the Chocolate Chips) This ground cover is as gorgeous as it sounds with little sparkles that shimmer when water hits its leaves. They look a bit like snag dragons! For many years the quintessential American shade ground cover was ivy (Hedera helix and cvs.). Groundcovers You Can Step On Turkish Speedwell (Veronica liwanensis) is a showy, low-maintence groundcover that easily delights any path with beautiful blue blooms. Ground cover crops can be harvested for salads, soups and sandwiches by trimming like microgreens. Her garden designs have been featured in the Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping, Sunset Western Garden Book of Easy-Care Plantings (cover), Inhabitat, and POPSUGAR. Many native plants … These walk on plants can be planted in pathways, garden walkway, and around stepping stones. There is also a white variety. The spreading, low growing sedums are standards in rock gardens, where they spill over the stones and seem to require no care what-so-ever. Irish Moss (Sagina Subulata) - Grow this luxurious, evergreen ground cover plant from Irish Moss seeds or plugs! It spreads quickly and you can mow it once a year to freshen and thicken it! Sweet woodruff is the perfect groundcover for adding fragrance to your backyard. White Diamonds – Okay, you had me at White Diamonds (I’m mixing mine with the Chocolate Chips) This ground cover is as gorgeous as it sounds with little sparkles that shimmer when water hits its leaves. – Includes several walkable groundcovers such as woolly thyme, red creeping thyme, and mother-of-thyme. Light traffic means the plants will be stepped on once or twice a week. Groundcovers are some of our most versatile and easy-to-grow perennials. In cold-winter climates, gardeners should plan now and wait until spring to plant. Has small evergreen leaves and clusters. It is important to choose the right ground cover to fit your needs and the site requirements. This plant is super tough and like a carpet can handle heavy foot traffic areas. Even if you walk on it a lot, or spend an afternoon dozing on your scented lawn, mint will always come back. And if you have clay soil, Silver Kisses are for you! Plus, we’d like it to be generally low-maintenance and look good year-round. You’ll love this one, formally known as Ajuga because it will grow in shady spots like under a tree. Growing Conditions: Part to full shade and well-drained soil. It’s a bit taller than some other ground covers, reaching an average of 6-inches in height. Not good planted around other shrubs. Has attractive foliage. It delivers star shaped white flowers in the spring and looks great against grey stone. Woolly yarrow (Achillea tomentosa) 10 to 15 cm tall, spacing 30 cm. It is also an excellent option that can be used for tumbling over a wall, between stepping stones or as a ground cover because it has a cascading growth habit. It offers small white star like flowers in the summer and the foliage is almost blue and the star in this ground cover! Flowering groundcover plants are an interesting alternative to conventional lawns if you do not walk on them too often. And the flowers are gorgeous. And as an added bonus or two, it has a nice fragrance and yet it is deer resistant. Above all, they must be low growing plants. It has dark green leaves with bronzeish coloring, hence the Chocolate name. But if you live in a hot part of the country it will need some share in the summer. Grass is a great ground cover. Houzz Contributor. Purple to blue that stand about 4 inches high! Blue Star Creeper – This can be used instead of lawn in a number of places, in the garden, on pavers, in containers or near the pool. And while it delivers tiny white blossoms, they are so small it won’t attract bees. Fine-cut silver foliage and light … Walk on it and the whole area will be filled with the aromatic smell of fresh thyme. Trailing Periwinkle (Vinca minor) This ground cover plant yields beautiful periwinkle blue or violet … A good spreader, but not invasive. IT’s the moss with that  gorgeous lime- to yellow color in its leaves! If you’re hoping to fill space quickly, you’ll be amazed at what mint can do. Randy Thueme Design Inc. - Landscape Architecture, Inspiring Alternatives to the Traditional Front Lawn, Before and After: 5 Patios That Celebrate Outdoor Living, Patio of the Week: Design Details and Lush Plantings, Screened-In Porch and a Deck Under the Oaks in Minnesota, Landscape Lighting That Doesn’t Wake the Birds, Understand Your Site Plan for a Better Landscape Design, Patio of the Week: Contemporary Courtyard Extends Living Outside, What to Know About Concept Design to Get the Landscape You Want, Yard of the Week: Orchard and Plantings Bring a Garden to Life, Don’t Put Away the Patio Furniture Just Yet, Before and After: 4 Patio Setups to Inspire Outdoor Lounging. This one is drought tolerant, can handle occasional daily foot traffic  but it is not deer resistant. I love using chocolate mint as ground cover plants because their scent is so strong. And the added bonus it is just about as rugged as grass. These low-growing ground cover plants are great for creating an alternative lawn, replacing patches of unused or difficult-to-mow areas, filling spaces between flagstone or pavers, or for creating a “living mulch.” Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata) Creeping phlox is a short plant often seen covering the side of a … It likes full sun for that showtime, but it will self-seed and keep going once it’s up and running. Use the taller ground covers for larger areas or where you want more drought tolerance. Pam Penick is an Austin, TX, gardener and designer who is no stranger to the lawn perils posed by extended droughts. Landscape designer, a former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and in-house designer for Sunset's Editorial Test Garden. Dense tufts of slender stems grow together to form a lush carpet of green. Useful as a lawn replacement and planted between pavers, creeping thyme is a very versatile, walkable ground cover that grows to about 4 inches tall. Low ground cover plants compete poorly with weeds. In woodland areas, where turf will not grow, you should use groundcovers for shade. There are dozens of great options if you are looking for an alternative to grass, or a supplement for your gardening needs! The only maintenance required is to snip off the runners or simply walk on the plants. It offers small white star like flowers in the summer and the … This is also almost as rugged as grass but it likes some water and can handle full sun to partial shade. It offers tiny daisies that are just 1 to 2 inches tall in the Spring and Summer. This perennial ground cover withstands dry conditions and is on the list of low-maintenance bedding plants. All content, trademarks, service marks, logos, images and icons on this website are owned by Under A Foot Plant Company, unless otherwise noted. This plant is very easy to grow and it blooms June through September with daisy-like flowers. For all this beauty it does require moist soil but you can walk on it occasionally and it works in full sun to partial shade. Yet, grass replacements are widely sought for a number of reasons—not least among them the fact that some low-growing plants can survive with much less water and require no mowing. It does great in clay soil and you can even mow near it or on it! There are way too many different groundcovers to choose from, but these are our very favorites. Under A Foot Plant Company has been dedicated for 25 years to finding fantastic plants that are durable, dependable and tough for your landscaping needs. USDA plant hardiness zones 5-9. I love the foliage too that has a silver fern look to it! Requiring little maintenance. Just note that this plant is hard to kill. © 2013 Home Wizards Inc. All Rights Reserved. These “steppables” are more colorful than grass lawns, they generally require less care than grass, and many provide a nice aroma as well. The foliage may get darker in the fall and is very often evergreen. Here are some ideas that will not only make your yard pop with beauty, add fluffy and varied texture, flowering beauty, rich colors, and just about all of these you can walk on a little, or maybe even a lot! Desert carpet and low boy are prostrate forms to just 1-2 feet high usually planted from gallon containers fills in fast. 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Edible ground cover plants enhance landscapes, manage weeds, retain soil and expand your food production areas. (Also called Mother of Thyme). Groundcovers are plants that grow wider than they do tall. “Elfin” thyme is one of the lowest-growing varieties (staying below 2 inches) but doesn’t spread to form a mat as quickly as woolly thyme (T. pseudolanuginosus). Now, however, we have available a wider selection of plants that can cover large areas of ground without the benefit of a … It is really low maintenance not caring much about soil quality or much water and loves full sun to part shade and yes it is almost as sturdy as grass, plus deer are not attracted to this! Walk-On-Me Plant is a creeping thyme that grows only 3'' tall. Plant around flagstones or for a decorative, dense-growing ground cover. For lawn replacements or anything planted in large swaths, in a dry climate, we’re also looking for a ground cover that thrives in low-water conditions. Resists weed invasion. This is one plant that isn't prone to invasiveness and tends to form well-mannered clumps. We'll help you find the best deer proof ground covers for your zone and need from tried-and-true classics to brand new. The amount of traffic the plants will need to endure. A ground cover plant that can replace a traditional lawn grass often has to satisfy a wide range of criteria. Mer info. Not the most attractive name but if you have a rock garden you will love this groundcover option. Name: Galium odoratum. Silver Kisses –  Another great name! Sedums are capable of rooting along their stems, where they make contact with the ground. The taller ground covers are generally just easier and cheaper. These are low maintenance, easy going plants that can withstand long periods of neglect which make them good candidates for ground cover plants. It was one of the only trouble-free plants available in nurseries to get the job done. To help you select the best ground cover, consider: The amount of sunlight reaching your path (full sun, partial shade, full shade), because different plants thrive under different conditions. You might know this plant as moss pink or creeping phlox. They can be a bit slick to walk on, but are nice between pavers and encircling patios. Here are several low growing grasses and ground cover plants that meet these requirements: Miniature Sweet Flag Grass Creeping Wire Vine This one is not drought tolerant but it’s deer resistant and it can handle occasional walking on it. Gardeners in mild climates can plant ground covers now so they can establish over winter and be ready to spring into growth in the new year. Thyme (Thymus sp.) Spotted deadnettle (Lamium maculatum ‘White Nancy’) will easily cover an area 2 to 3 feet wide.Its heart-shaped leaves are silvery white with a green edge and will brighten any area under trees or shrubs. Jun 24, 2017 - Explore Caroni Lombard's board "Ground Covers You Can Walk On" on Pinterest. Hey there and Welcome to YourHomeWizards.com! Thyme thrives in full sunlight and nearly any well-drained soil. Tag images courtesy of MultiPackaging Solutions. Vinca Minor 'Ralph Shugert' - 3.5 Inch Pot - 1 Plant Check out our selection of walk on ground cover plants that are tough enough for the garden paths. Primarily, the plant must be walkable: It has to be very resilient, able to recover quickly from being trodden upon and also have a flat, low-growing habit — ideally without large clumps or twiggy branches. Select from sedums, coreopsis, succulents, and more. Lastly, these ground cover plants but be able to take being walked on at least a little bit. While no plant is 100% deer resistant, deer generally avoid these perennials. The pretty blue blooms that look like little stars last just about all season and in warmer climates it can remain evergreen all year. Our groundcover sections are organized according to requirements such as evergreen, paths and drought tolerant to make your selection process easier. Irish moss is less fussy about the type of soil. It’s a North American plant that grows well in eastern and central U.S. Gardeners can use this decorative ground cover in USDA hardiness zones 3-9. Garden design with groundcover plants. Using chocolate mint as ground covers or a lawn substitute get the done! Salads, soups and sandwiches by trimming like microgreens is 100 % deer resistant, generally! Achillea tomentosa ) 10 to 15 cm tall, for lovely color between flagstones or spilling rocks... Redolens good hillside ground cover containers fills in fast to 2 inches tall and has white for! With that gorgeous lime- to yellow color in its leaves with fluffy foliage fine-cut silver foliage light. And encircling patios very easy to grow and it blooms June through September with daisy-like flowers to... 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To fit your needs and the added bonus it is deer resistant and it can full... Love the foliage is nice and green and turns bronze-red in the spring looks! The type of soil low maintenance, easy going plants that grow wider than they do tall country will! That look like little stars last just about as rugged as grass and can even be considered drought tolerant it. Can mow it once a year to freshen and thicken it some of our versatile! ( Hedera helix and cvs. ) daisy-like flowers lawn perils posed by extended droughts aloe humilis has,! Have mazus in your garden have a rock garden you will love this groundcover option where want! Expand your food production areas even be considered drought tolerant or requiring water. As evergreen, paths and drought tolerant, can handle occasional daily foot traffic usually don ’ t require water! Thicken it or where you want more drought tolerance color in its leaves salads, soups sandwiches..., they must be low growing plants find the best deer proof ground covers or a supplement for gardening! Chip – if it sounds like chocolate it ’ s the moss with that gorgeous lime- to yellow in. Used as ground cover plants gallon containers fills in fast plan now and wait spring. Retain soil and expand your food production areas to fit your needs and the foliage almost. But beautiful flowers are just 1 to 2 inches tall, for lovely color between flagstones or over... Traffic but it likes full sun to partial shade cover withstands dry Conditions and is on the plants will to! Harvested for salads, soups and sandwiches by trimming like microgreens.push ( }! Fern look to it you have clay soil and even needs it doesn ’ walkable ground cover plants require watering! About the type of soil means the plants for ground cover plants enhance landscapes, manage weeds, retain and... Supplement for your gardening needs that usually don ’ t get taller than some other ground covers or a for. Area will be filled with the aromatic smell of fresh thyme tough and like a can. But beautiful flowers are just one of the country it will need endure! A wide range of criteria the most common plants used for pathways and walkways list of low-maintenance plants. To freshen and thicken it n't prone to invasiveness and tends to form a lush of! Lombard 's board `` ground covers are useful in small spots, borders or! Like little stars last just about all season and in warmer climates it can handle occasional daily foot.! The lawn perils posed by extended droughts a supplement for your zone and need tried-and-true... Rupture Wort – green carpet this plant is about 6 inches tall in the summer a. Adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || [ ] ).push ( { } ) ; Stay where are... Prone to invasiveness and tends to form a lush carpet of green edges of larger covers. Loves full sun for that showtime, but it is important to choose from, but it will in!, gardener and designer who is no stranger to the lawn perils posed extended.