Any plant that carpets the ground with foliage, stays under 12 inches (30.5 cm) in height and grows so thickly that it naturally chokes out weeds, qualifies as a groundcover. If you think of lawn grass as only one type of groundcover, it becomes easier to imagine using other plants to replace patches of turf in parts of your landscape.
Dozens of plants, including shrubs, ornamental grasses, perennials and herbs, make hard-working groundcovers when planted in a site that allows them to spread into broad mats of foliage. They require less water and care than lawn grass, making them excellent choices for arid regions and gardeners who want low-maintenance landscapes. A few shrubs commonly used as groundcovers, including Cotoneaster, also produce berries, and a number of spreading perennials, such as creeping buttercups (Ranunculus repens), bugleweed (Lycopus) and lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina), add flowers to the show.
There are basically two types of groundcovers: deciduous, which loses its foliage in winter, and evergreen, which retains its foliage year-round. Deciduous groundcovers, when planted in broad bands or drifts, are a great way to fill small nooks that are difficult to mow. You can use them to cover difficult slopes, bring lively color to shade or put them to work as a visual transition between lawn and paved areas. Deciduous groundcovers require a little more attention, because they cannot shade out weeds year-round the way evergreens do, but they still demand less upkeep than a grass lawn.
Groundcovers that are evergreen or semi-evergreen, meaning that they retain their foliage except in the coldest winters, work all year in partnership with your lawn or in place of it. Where winters are very cold, your choices may be limited to spreading juniper (Juniperus) or English ivy (Hedera helix), but gardeners in mild-winter climates have many more choices.
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Groundcovers, such as creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens), are a low-maintenance alternative to grass lawns.
