Ground Cover Flowers

Gardening doesn’t have to be hard. If you want to add color to your yard with minimal effort, plant ground cover flowers. They will hide the bare patches where the grass won’t thrive.

They’ll give you an excuse to stop mowing that hillside that’s such a pain. When you select ground cover flowering plants, there are three points to consider. The first is whether you’re planting in a sunny spot or the shade. Next, is the area well-watered or somewhat dry? And finally, are you interested in benefits like choking out weeds?

Ground cover flowers add interest to borders and can fill in the spaces in brick or paved walkways for a natural and eye-appealing accent. The flowers are typically tiny and you can find varieties that have a pleasant smell to further enhance the scenery.

Here are some ground cover plants that will add cheer and beautiful green foliage around your home. Perennials are popular because you don’t have to spend money year after year to buy new plants. Your perennial ground cover plants will pop up every year to add color and interest to your garden beds.

Flowers as Ground Cover that are Easy to Care for

There are several advantages to growing ground cover plants. Fast growing ground cover plants fill in bare spaces that might otherwise take a long time to fill. They add color and texture quickly so that you don’t have to look at bare spots between your other plants.

For ground cover that doesn’t mind a bit of shade, you can grow these small plants beneath low growing shrubs for front of house or in a special section of the yard. They would look lovely beneath the front windows or for accenting the area around the front porch.

Wild Violet – Viola sororia- Amazing Ground Cover Flower

Violets come in many colors and are a beautiful addition to your yard. In addition, if you’re struggling with deer nibbling on your vegetable garden, try planting violets around it, as the deer don’t like the taste.

These small flowering shrubs‘ natural habitat ranges across North America from Quebec down to Florida and west to Texas. As long as they have enough moisture, they can handle sun or shade, making them one of the easiest plants to grow in almost any area of the country.

Violets do well in rock gardens, in containers, or as borders around other plants. Since their flowers and green leaves are small, mass them close together to create an eye-catching effect and plant some contrasting color plants with them for a really striking display.

Be aware that the violets grow so fast some gardeners consider them a weed. But their purple blooms are so enchanting in the springtime that several states name the violet as their state flower.

Dragon’s Blood – Stonecrop – Sedum

Sedum comprises around 400 species that grow in almost any climate around the world. These herbaceous perennials are easy to grow flowers that thrive in well-drained soil and are full sun plants.

Sedum flowers are excellent ground cover plants for dry areas as they are quite tolerant of drought and nutrient-poor ground. They don’t mind being neglected, making them a top choice for rock gardens. Dragon’s Blood Sedum, or Stonecrop, flowers in the late summer with attractive but tiny blooms.

Although it grows into a dense carpet, these perennial groundcovers won’t spread uncontrolled. And if you wish to remove it, it has short roots that are easy to pull.

Appleblossom Geranium – Pelargonium Zonale – The Flower that Covers Ground Fast

Geraniums are a favorite choice of gardeners who prefer low-maintenance plants. The Appleblossom variety has grapefruit-size pink flower heads when it begins to bloom in early summer. And it keeps blossoming until the frost comes.

To keep your geraniums the envy of the neighborhood, you only need to water them when the soil is dry, pinch off wilting flowers, and sprinkle fertilizer on them once a month.

Sweet Woodruff – Galium odoratum

The white flowers of Sweet Woodruff will grace your yard once they bloom in the middle of the spring. But the green foliage adds a gentle fragrance if you crush them.

This spreading plant thrives in well-drained ground, in partial or full shade, and it grows up to ten inches tall. Unfortunately, once winter strikes, Sweet Woodruff dies back. But its roots should survive to bring you more delight when the weather warms again.

Creeping Thyme -Thymus Serpyllum

Creeping thyme is delightful for many reasons. For one, when it flowers, you’ll enjoy tiny pink blossoms that last for months. Those little lemon-scented blooms attract butterflies and are great flowers for a bee garden, too.

Meanwhile, the hardy green foliage doesn’t mind if you step on it or trim it back, as it pops right back up. And, neither deer nor rabbits will eat it, making it ideal if you have these types of hungry pests.

Finally, creeping thyme drops seeds to self-sow a new crop. In all these ways, it’s the perfect ground cover plant for lazy gardeners who want maximum magic with minimum work.

Creeping Phlox – One of the Most Fragile Ground Cover Flowers

Phlox has purple, white, red, and yellow flowers when it blooms from the early summer into the early fall. It appreciates well-drained soil in bright sunlight. And since it is an annual plant, it will drop seeds to continue growing after winter passes.

You might see Phlox growing wild anywhere from mountains to plains. It reaches up to ten inches in height. And it’s a favorite in cottage gardens and containers too, not just around flower beds as an attractive border.

Hosta Ventricosa – Plantain Lily

If you have shady spots where grass doesn’t grow well, try planting Hosta ventricosa. It prefers partial to full shade and damp ground and is an excellent evergreen ground cover.

It’s often called the Plantain Lily because of the shape of its leaves, but it’s not a lily at all. Throughout the summer you’ll enjoy purple blooms on these beautiful flowering shrubs.

Even better, plant Hosta if you want to attract hummingbirds. The birds love the nectar in the tiny flowers. For more showy purple flowers, plant a lilac. This purple flowering tree also draws beneficial pollinators.

Hosta plants can become massive, so they are some of the best shrubs for the front of the house if you have shady spots. You can divide them in spring and share with neighbors or add some to another area of the yard.

Periwinkle – Vinca Rosea Dwarf – Covering Grounds Rapidly

Periwinkles are very common in the hot, dry Southwest because it’s the perfect ground cover plant for desert climates. They produce colorful flowers all summer long until the first frost comes.

Gardeners adore the richly colored blooms with the different center eye. And the neat little green leaves of Vinca Rosea Dwarf provide thick foliage that splashes green across rock walls and along driveways.

Ice Plant – Delosperma Floribunda Stardust

The Ice Plant, ironically, grows best in hot, dry climates. It prefers well-drained soil and bright sunshine. And it generates colorful purple flowers that last from springtime through the fall. The Stardust variety has two-inch blooms that attract butterflies.

You can also plant other kinds of Ice Plant that blossom orange, yellow, and red, too. Check your garden center for a mix like the Dorotheanthus Bellidiformis if you can’t decide between these colorful daisies.

Candytuft – Iberis umbellata

Candytuft is an annual wildflower that quickly grows from seeds. They are straightforward to plant and maintain. Scatter the seeds over the soil and rake it.

Keep the ground moist to see growth within a month. Finally, when the foliage blooms in the summer, you’ll have striking white, pink, and purple flowers. Grow Candytuft in front of low growing shrubs with bright green leaves for a nice contrast and to make a statement with the vivid flower and leaf colors.

There is another variety of Candytuft that is a perennial plant with white flowers. It prefers lots of sunlight and well-drained soil.

Vervain Flower – Verbena Hastata and Verbena Stricta

Vervain is a perennial that you might see blooming in meadows and along rivers in the United States. It blooms in the summertime and handles dry conditions well. Both Hoary Vervain and Blue Vervain have bluish-purple flowers that attract bumblebees and butterflies.

Hoary Vervain grows up to three feet tall, so it’s not the best choice for the front of a garden bed. It has long white hairs on its foliage which often keep deer from eating plants. Its attractive cut flowers last a long time when placed in water, both indoors and out.

Meanwhile, Blue Vervain is best to sow in the late fall because cold weather wakes up its seeds. When its flower spikes begin to open in the summer, the blooms appear first at the bottom.

Blue Carpet Flowers – Lobelia Erinus – Fast Spreading Ground Cover Plants

Lobelia seeds are very tiny, but they sprout into rich, thick foliage that blooms all summer long.

All you need to do for growing flowers like Lobelia is to press the seeds into raked soil, then keep the ground moist for a couple of weeks. They will grow anywhere from full sunlight to partial shade and brighten any area where they grow.

Once Lobelia, or Blue Carpet, is thriving, keep it well-watered. It’s a brilliant addition to your landscape whether you plant it along the fence line, in hanging baskets, or a flower bed.

If you have a problem with the neighborhood cats roaming your yard and making an unwelcome mess, planting Lobelia is a natural cat deterrent. The flowers and foliage are poisonous to cats so they will likely stay away from areas where they are planted. It is one of the best plants for keeping cats out.

Growing Lobelia is not recommended, however, if your own cats have free reign in your yard. You don’t want to harm them, after all.

Many enchanting ground cover plants are easy to grow in your yard. You can find ground cover flowers that flourish in sun or shade, in dry or moist soil. Forplants that have a little more height, you can plant red evergreen shrubs, as well.

The ground cover plants in this article are only a small selection of beautiful and hardy perennials and annuals for your garden.

If you liked the flowers we picked, please share this post about easy to care for ground cover flowers with others on Facebook and Pinterest. Happy gardening!