Ground cover perennials are the number 1 plants for the garden with excellent decorative properties, in addition, they prevent the soil from drying out and the growth of weeds. These plants are unpretentious, do not need special care, grow well in the shade and in the sun, and the root system of ground cover grows with roots not deep into the soil, but in width, as a result, they form a beautiful natural carpet. Their leaves and shoots are good on their own, and during the flowering period, these plants look completely luxurious.
Ground cover plants for the garden are presented in different types – these are perennials, and vines, and ornamental grass, and bulbous and undersized shrubs.
The composition of the varieties was rejuvenated in a flowerpot – the plants do not bloom, but they look very impressive due to the amazing shape of the leaves and their different colors
Due to their high decorativeness, ground covers are widely used by modern summer residents – with their help, you can beautifully arrange miniature compositions – use them as a background to create an alpine slide, plant between stones in rockeries, they look beautiful both along the paths and on flower beds in combination with other flowers.
For a large open space, large plants of this type, for example, Rogers, are more suitable. In small areas, carnations, sedum varieties, lilies of the valley and other miniature ground covers look great.
Here are some tips on how to beautifully plant ground covers in your garden:
- plant ground cover perennial flowers of different types in groups so that the colors of the leaves, their inflorescences, height and shape contrast with each other;
- plants of the same species look picturesque, planted in large groups or as a framing of a flower bed;
- when planting, keep in mind that the groups will quickly grow in width, connecting with each other and forming a real living carpet;
- it is important to control the population and the area occupied by the group, if you do not plan that it will soon occupy the territory allotted for other flowers.
As mentioned above, caring for a ground cover is very simple. Plants need to be mulched and weeded every spring. At the end of the season, shoots and leaves that have lost their beauty are removed. Plants are unpretentious, therefore, whether to feed them and in what quantity, each gardener decides according to the situation.
Option # 1 – sedum (sedum)
It is a drought tolerant perennial groundcover flowering plant. There are types of sedum that can be successfully combined when planting in the garden. The plant is perfect for creating an alpine slide, both in terms of decorative properties and in terms of conditions – it grows well in dry soil.
The material on drought-resistant plants for the garden will also be useful:
Sedum blooms so profusely that not even the leaves are visible. But the leaves of this plant, any of its varieties, are highly decorative, the plant is unpretentious and widely used, popularly called “carpet”
The semi-shrub sedum with pink or crimson flowers is very beautiful. It can be used for group planting in a flower bed, lawn, to create mixborders, in soil vases, rockeries and rabatkas.
Semi-shrub sedum – a luxurious bush will decorate the garden, it looks exotic and very attractive. Looks good in combination with greenery or in single plantings on gravel, along paths
Option # 2 – young (sempervivum)
This is a plant of the genus Tolstyanka with a beautiful rosette of dense leaves, shaped like a rose. It is also called a stone rose.
Rejuvenated – a beautiful stone rose. Even with a single plant, you can create a catchy, attractive composition.
There are many varieties of rejuvenated – with different shapes and colors of leaves. The flowering time of the plant is June-August. Its flowers are not inferior in beauty to the leaves – these are beautiful inflorescences with purple or pink flowers.
The flowers are rejuvenated as good as the leaves. And during the flowering period, and when it ends, the young looks original, and this unpretentious plant can grow in any part of the garden. It looks especially good in flowerpots if you plant several varieties in one container.
Option # 3 – saxifrage
The saxifrage is capable of creating picturesque mossy bumps or areas with beautiful small flowers in the garden. Like most groundcover, there are many species of this plant. The saxifrage seems to have been created in order to decorate with its appearance, to revive groups of stones.
The most common types of saxifrage are young saxifrage, colearis, cotyledon (thick-leaved), soddy saxifrage, lush saxifrage.
The material on the use of stones in garden design will also be useful:
A mossy hummock among the stones, formed by a saxifrage, looks original and attracts attention. Use it to create compositions using stones.
The saxifrage got such a name for a reason – it seems that flowers break stones, sprouting between the cracks, talking about the eternal mystery of life
Option # 4 – carnation
Carnation is a semi-shrub ground cover with delicate delicate flowers. Flowers reach three centimeters in diameter, are semi-double and double, pink, white and red.
There are many varieties of carnations, but feathery is one of the most interesting. Fancy petals intertwine, forming a thin cobweb
Luxurious terry carnation is good in single plantings, looks very beautiful in a gravel garden, among pebbles and rubble, on decorative sand embankments
The plant loves moist soil and good lighting. Gardeners often grow it in rock gardens.
Option # 5 – spicy and aromatic herbs
This includes lemon balm, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage. Aromatic medicinal herbs will not only decorate your garden, but also allow you to prepare delicious healthy tea. All of them bloom beautifully in June-July, have decorative leaves that look beautiful both in the flower bed and along the path. Sage is especially good, its bright blue and purple tall arrows will decorate a bright corner in the garden.
You can learn more about how to create a garden of aromas on the site from the material:
Sage has excellent decorative properties. It blooms for a long time, decorating meadows and glades in nature. In a sunny area, this plant will decorate your garden too.
Option # 6 – small periwinkle (vinca) and large
This unpretentious plant, capable of growing in one place for up to six years, forms a carpet of pale blue flowers and graceful (sometimes with white edging) leaves on the ground. Recently, periwinkle varieties with pink, crimson and red flowers have been used to decorate flower beds. Periwinkle is remarkable in that it grows very quickly, displacing even weeds. Grows well in the shade, on rocky soil. Using periwinkle, you can create beautiful flower beds, plant it to create a carpet under the trees, along the paths near the curbs.
The classic periwinkle is blue, but today crimson, white and red flowers are increasingly used in garden decor, on flower beds, allowing you to create beautiful compositions from one periwinkle
Large periwinkle is a semi-shrub, it is less common in gardens, its flowers are larger, reaching five centimeters in diameter.
a variety of periwinkle large with decorative leaves. Looks good in single plantings near the fence, along the paths
Option # 7 – loosestrife
Meadow tea or coin loosestrife can be used both as an ampelous and as a ground cover plant.
A beautiful composition with an ampel loosestrife in a flowerpot will decorate any place in the garden – both an open space and a secluded corner
Spotted loosestrife bushes form beautiful compositions in the garden.
The dotted loosestrife bushes perfectly decorate the path, placing the necessary accents. It can be used both on a flower bed and on an alpine slide.
Option # 8 – subulate phlox
This is one of the most beautiful ground cover. In the Japanese park Hitsuzhiyama, one of the main attractions is the fields of blooming styloid phlox, striking in their beauty.
Luxurious meadows of blooming styloid phlox in Hitsuzhiyama Park temporarily make you forget about reality. Create a glade of these wonderful flowers in your garden – this will be the most beautiful place in the garden in May
Crimson, blue and white alternate and look incredible against the blue sky. Of course, you will not create such beauty on your site because of its small area, but a small meadow, flower bed, planting subulate phlox of one or more flowers at the border will fill the garden with harmony and bright colors. Phlox blooms for about a month, flowering begins in the second half of May.
Creeping and undersized varieties of this coniferous plant are grown by gardeners as ground cover. Juniper bushes, planted in the corners or in the center of the flower bed, framed by flowers, give the flower bed an exotic touch, its evergreen branches refresh the landscape. The recumbent juniper looks good both planted alone on the lawn, and in the company of thujas and other conifers.
A recumbent juniper in a gravel garden looks very good too. Over time, a young plant will create a luxurious green carpet, beautifully shading gray stones.
We have considered the most common and unpretentious ground covers for the garden. Even such a small list of perennial groundcover flowering plants will create beautiful corners in the garden. Each owner has his own preferences, his own understanding of the surrounding beauty of nature, and today there is every opportunity to make your garden unique, inimitable, using flowering and non-flowering ground cover perennials, conifers, ampelous, annual flowers and other crops – all this is in sale in a wide price range.
