Thyme
If it's dry, it's time for thyme. This aromatic groundcover excels in beds, borders, and containers. It features tiny, fragrant leaves and flowers that can be used fresh or dried. Creeping thyme varieties can handle moderate foot traffic. Try tucking these plants between the stepping-stones of a garden path, where they will discourage weeds from taking over.
Growing Conditions: Full sun in well-drained soil
Size: Up to 12 inches tall
Zones: 5-9
Buy It: Red Creeping Thyme ($15, Breck's)
Sedum
You may already grow tall sedums. But did you know many wonderful creeping types form thick mats only 3 inches tall? With succulent leaves and stems, these sedums can thrive in low-water situations, and they bloom in shades of white, pink, red, purple, yellow, or orange, depending on the variety. Sedums are prized for use in green roofs and living walls because they're so adaptable.
Growing Conditions: Full sun or part shade in well-drained soil
Size: Up to 12 inches tall, depending on variety
Zones: 3-10
Hens-and-Chicks
Another tough succulent that makes a terrific groundcover in tight spaces, hens-and-chicks is a small but mighty option for planting between paving stones or in a trough garden. It thrives in hot, sunny, dry spots and needs almost no maintenance.
Growing Conditions: Full sun in well-drained soil
Size: Up to 6 inches tall
Zones: 3-8
Buy It: Hen and Chicks Collection ($18, Walmart)
Groundcovers for Shade
Shady areas are often too dim for many plants to do well. These groundcovers for shade will thrive in the normally-tricky areas of the garden.
Sweet Woodruff
Flourishing even in deep shade, sweet woodruff works well under trees and shrubs where its tiny white spring flowers will bloom about the same time as crabapples. Sweet woodruff usually forms well-behaved clumps of deciduous green foliage on upright stems, though it can spread aggressively in ideal conditions.
Growing Conditions: Full to part shade in moist, well-drained soil
Size: Up to 12 inches tall
Zones: 4-8
Ajuga
Able to withstand some foot traffic, ajuga makes a versatile groundcover for shade wherever grass won't grow. Flower spikes in blue, pink, lavender, or white adorn the rosettes formed from scallop-shaped leaves in spring. However, this perennial groundcover plant is mainly grown for its pretty leaves, which come in shades of green, maroon, bronze, purple, pink, or white. It can become weedy in ideal conditions, so check to make sure it's not a problem in your area before you plant it.
Growing Conditions: Full shade to full sun in moist, well-drained soil
Size: Up to 9 inches tall
Zones: 3-9
Buy It: 'Fancy Finch' Ajuga ($18, Walmart)
Lamium
Brighten up a shady corner with the silvery or sometimes golden foliage of lamium. It also produces small clusters of purple flowers in spring. This groundcover for shade stays under a foot tall but slowly spreads outward. Use it to highlight other plants with darker foliage, such as boxwoods and conifers. Place lamium where you won't be smashing it underfoot, though, because its stems are somewhat fragile.
Growing Conditions: Full to part shade in moist, well-drained soil
Size: Up to 8 inches tall
Zones: 3-8
Evergreen Groundcover Plants
Besides staying green throughout the hot summer months, these groundcovers will add winter interest to the garden as well!
Brass Buttons
BHG / EVGENIYA VLASOVA
Brass buttons (Leptinella squalida 'Platt's Black') forms dense mats of finely textured, feathery foliage in shades of bronze-black to purple-gray. In Hardiness Zones 9-10, the leaves are evergreen, remaining through the winter. This plant will die back to the roots in colder regions and appear again in spring. Its name alludes to its small, buttonlike yellow-green blooms in summer.
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in moist, well-drained, acidic soil
Size: Up to 3 inches tall
Zones: 4-10
Buy It: 'Platt's Black' Brass Buttons ($14, Walmart)
Mondo Grass
Though it isn't actually a grass, Mondo grass certainly looks like one. Its slender, strappy, sometimes variegated leaves in shades of green to almost black grow 3-24 inches tall, depending on the variety. It works well as an edging for borders, sidewalks, or driveways and is a traditional groundcover in Japanese-style gardens.
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in moist, well-drained soil
Size: Up to 2 feet tall
Zones: 6-10
Buy It: Black Mondo Grass ($31, The Home Depot)
Lamb's Ear
Their fuzzy, touchable leaves give lamb's ear their common name. Flower stalks with tiny white, pink, purple, violet, or red blooms are produced in summer, but feel free to cut them off so the silvery-green leaves continue to be the stars of the show. In hot climates, the leaves may appear to melt away during the summer, but they'll revive with cooler weather. In regions with very cold winters, this plant may not be evergreen but will regrow from the roots in spring.
Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade in well-drained soil
Size: Up to 36 inches tall, depending on variety
Zones: 4-9
Pachysandra
Also called Japanese spurge, pachysandra thrives in full shade and reliably stays evergreen through freezing winters. It forms tidy mats of green leaves that will spread to fill a large area like a slope over time. If this perennial groundcover starts wandering too far, it's easy to keep it in bounds by digging it up. Pachysandra blooms in spring but the small white flowers are not very showy.
Growing Conditions: Full to part shade in well-drained soil
Size: 12 inches tall
Zones: 5-9