12 Best Winter Ground Covers to Keep Your Garden Looking Amazing All Year Round

The secret to a great garden is creating layers. A tall layer of trees and shrubs, followed by taller perennials, then some shorter ones, and then finishing off with ground cover plants.

I love to have something blooming at all times in my garden. By adding more varieties of plant material, you have more opportunities for blossoms. Ground covers often have stunning blooms that will attract a lot of attention (and pollinators, of course).

There are other benefits to adding ground covers to your garden besides their beauty. They act as a natural mulch and retain water, so you don’t have to water the garden so much. They also are a thick mat that keeps weeds down or hides them, so you don’t have to be out weeding your garden as often. Finally, they can help prevent erosion, especially in sloped gardens. The roots help hold the soil in place.

Let’s take a deeper look at some of the hardiest ground covers that you should consider adding to your garden this season!

‘Angelina’ sedum is a succulent ground cover with spires of soft, spiny foliage. When it emerges in the spring, it has bright red and orange tips. It looks like fall in the spring. Then it settles into a bright golden-yellow color in the summer. It blooms stalks of yellow flowers, which are not its main feature (in my opinion), but add interest nonetheless.

‘Angelina’ is perfect for full sun gardens. It forms a thick mat of succulent foliage that keeps weeds down. This sedum bariety also works great on hills and rock gardens. It will pop up from almost any nook and cranny. The shallow roots will help prevent erosion.

‘Angelina’ Sedum also doesn’t require much water and doesn’t care about soil. Rocky sand soil is fine. It won’t tolerate standing water.

Another application for this plant is as a trailer in a container. The bright foliage spills out and looks great. I just dig it out of my garden, place it in a container and then put it back in the garden after the season is over. It doesn’t mind being moved.

Candytuft is a creeping evergreen perennial. It explodes into a carpet of white ball-shaped flowers in the early spring. It prefers part sun-part shade conditions and does not like sitting in water. Plant in loose well-drained soil.

After it blooms in the spring, it looks green and scrubby. It has narrow leaves. You will barely notice it when it’s not blooming. I recommend planting some other flowers near it to take over after it blooms. It’s kind of a scraggly plant, in my opinion. But I do think that the spectacular spring blooms make it worth planting.

Creeping Jenny is my go-to ground cover. It can be a bit aggressive, but it’s low-growing and easy to rip out if it starts swallowing other plants. It will grow in almost any soil and sun conditions making it one versatile little plant.

Creeping Jenny is a green vine-like perennial plant. It has small circular leaves that line the long stems. It creeps and trails through garden beds. There is a green variety that is covered in small yellow flowers in the summer. Or there is a golden variety, which is my favorite, which has bright chartreuse foliage.

I use creeping Jenny in gardens as a natural mulch. It keeps the weeds down, the water in, and the soil in place. I love planting the golden variety ‘Aurea’ underneath a hosta garden. The bright golden color plays off the green and gold accents in hosta foliage.

It also is one of my favorite trailing plants to use in containers. It adds a pop of brightness to a variety of container combinations.

Cheddar pinks are a lovely evergreen perennial ground cover. The foliage is narrow and silvery blue. Then in the summer, when it goes into bloom, it explodes into a carpet of little pink star-shaped flowers. You might recognize these flowers as they are a type of dianthus, which are commonly planted as annuals and perennials.

They like full sun conditions and well-drained soil. They cover the soil in a thick mat, which keeps the weeds down and stays green year-round. I like to plant this in rock gardens or along curbs and sidewalks. They are fairly salt tolerant so they won’t mind being along sidewalks.

Creeping thyme is an easy-growing ground cover plant. A creeping thyme lawn is something that many gardeners strive for. It is actually achievable in lower hardiness zone gardens. It is a low-growing mat of tiny leaves, and then in the spring, the entire carpet of it bursts into purple flowers. As a bonus, it smells great when your walk on it or brush it with your hands.

It likes full sun and sandy soil. It can replace grass or creep through pathways and rock gardens. I will say that if you are using it as a grass replacement, do not use it in high-traffic areas. Use it in boulevards with sidewalks to walk on.

Or place it in between flagstone paths. Also, note that it isn’t always in bloom. It will be purple in the spring but green the rest of the season. I recommend layering it with a few other plants that bloom later. Cheddar Pinks, for instance, bloom later and like the same conditions.

This hardy little ground cover is my go-to plant for tough full-sun areas. Dragon’s Blood Stonecrop needs little water, sandy soil, and lots of sunshine. This succulent plant grows little rosettes of deep maroon clusters with green centers. It forms a thick mat that weeds have trouble growing through. It blooms pink in the late summer.

This is a great plant for rock gardens, along rocky garden paths, or anywhere else that you want to keep the weeds down with minimal effort. It will spill out and creep through any small nook or cranny. The purplish foliage is a great way to add color to your garden as well.

Chequers Spotted Dead Nettle

Checkers Spotted Dead Nettle is a fairly aggressive low-growing plant with green-white foliage and purple flowers.

botanical name Lamium maculatum ‘Chequers’

height 8″

hardiness zones 3-9

Dead nettle is a love or hate plant. It is quite aggressive and can swallow up other plants if you don’t keep it under control. But the green and white foliage with purple flowers of chequers spotted dead nettle are lovely. If you have an area not much will grow, or you’re looking to cover a large area, dead nettle will do the trick.

It can take a variety of sun conditions, however, I think part sun is the sweet spot. It likes well-drained soil. Dead nettle needs water to be established, and then it will grow and spread freely with little extra water.

It comes up and blooms in the spring and adds greenery throughout the season. It also spills and looks great in containers. Since you’ll have so much of it, just dig it up from your garden and put it in your pots.

This plant blooms in spring with small pink, purple and blue bell-shaped flowers.

botanical name Pulmonaria officinalis

height 12″

hardiness zones 3-9

Lungwort is a great ground cover for tough-to-grow areas. It can grow in dry and shady conditions. For anyone struggling with growing under large evergreens, lungwort will grow here, as this perennial is shade-friendly.

It blooms little bell-shaped pink and purple flowers in the very early spring. This is why I really like this one. When my garden is a brown sleeping mess, the lungwort comes out and reminds me it’s spring. Then it grows large pointed leaves with irregular frosted spots on it. The leaves are fuzzy and irritating so make sure you use gloves while handling it.

I find in late summer, lungwort will often get powdery mildew. I will take clippers and trim off all the leaves, and a small flush of new leaves will appear.

Creeping Phlox is a perennial plant that produces bright star-shaped flowers in pink, lavender, and white.

botanical name Iberis sempervirens

height 6″

hardiness zones 3-9

Moss Phlox is a great evergreen perennial ground cover. It has spiky green foliage and creeps low along the ground. It doesn’t look like much most of the time, but in the spring, the whole thing becomes a mat of star-shaped flowers. There are many varieties of colors, including, white, pink, and lavender. There are also multi-colored and candy-striped varieties.

Moss phlox likes part sun-part shade conditions. It forms a thick mat that weeds can’t grow through. It stays green year-round. Any brown bits can be trimmed out.

This plant looks best when creeping through rocks, pathways, or garden borders. I like to plant it as a river flowing through a bed. This quick-growing ground cover is perfect for sloping areas of your yard or garden.

Variegated Bishop’s Goutweed forms a large lush mound of variegated foliage and buds of delicate white flowers.

botanical name Aegopodium podagraria

height 24″

hardiness zones 3-9

This one might be controversial. It is extremely aggressive and hard to get rid of once it is planted. Some gardeners even consider it a weed. So put a lot of thought into this one before planting it. It will swallow up other plants and even start creeping into your lawn. The roots are tough and hard to remove. It will keep coming back no matter how hard you try to remove it.

Ok, after that glowing review, you may wonder why anyone would even plant this. But there are instances where this might be the ground cover for you, especially if you have areas that are impossible to grow anything.

These might be areas near the foundation of your house, under tree wells, or on narrow strips of garden that are always bare. Goutweed will cover these areas. They will form a big puffy mound of variegated foliage with spikes of white flowers.

Goutweed can handle shade-sun conditions and doesn’t care about soil. They only need water to establish then they will grow rapidly without much extra (except during very dry periods).

I use this sparingly in gardens and make sure it’s not near anything that it can grow into, such as lawn or other perennials. You probably don’t need to purchase this one. You can likely find a neighbor with it and ask to dig some up.

This variety of stonecrop has beautiful blue-gray succulent foliage.

botanical name Sedum reflexum ‘Blue Spruce’

height 8″

hardiness zones 3-9

Blue spruce stonecrop has succulent foliage that resembles a blue spruce (obviously). This full-sun creeper grows great in the nooks and crannies of rock gardens. It will pop out of the tiniest crack and add a punch of color and texture.

Another option is to use it as an alternative lawn. While it won’t take much actual foot traffic, it is low-growing and green. And as a bonus, it doesn’t need much water, and it doesn’t need mowing.

In the summer, it will shoot up spires of bright yellow flowers, which look great against the blue-gray foliage. This plant looks best when spilling out of containers, as well as creeping along the ground. Or topple over or use a broken terracotta pot and have it spilling out and onto the ground.

This is a low-growing perennial plant with delicate white flowers and silvery foliage.

botanical name Cerastium tomentosum

height 8″

hardiness zones 3-7

Snow-in-summer is a herbaceous perennial ground cover. It has narrow silvery foliage. It lies flat in the ground and forms a thick mat that keeps the weeds down. This perennial likes sandy soil and full sun. It looks great spilling over ledges and as edging in a perennial bed.

The spectacular show comes in summer when the whole thing is covered in dainty white five-petaled flowers. It looks like a carpet of snow. The silvery foliage looks great when paired with deep purple foliage, like a blackjack sedum.

This plant prefers partial sun and moist, rich, well-drained soil.

botanical name Galium odorata

height 12″

hardiness zones 3-8

Sweet woodruff is an easy little woodland ground cover. It prefers partially shaded areas of the garden. It also prefers moist, rich, free-draining soil. The little leaves are shiny green and deeply lobed. In the late spring, it explodes into tiny white flowers.

I like planting this Sweet woodruff under other perennials, like hostas, rhubarb, and astilbe. It keeps the weeds down, keeps the moisture in, and looks really lush.

It is so easy to transplant in the garden. Simply dig it up and plant it in a new space. It doesn’t even go limp, but rather happily grows in its new location.

Plant this instead of pulling weeds

FAQ

What ground cover stays through winter?

Juniper ‘Nana’

Deer resistant and shade tolerant, this ground-hugging evergreen boasts an easy growing personality that holds its color all winter long.

What to cover a garden with in winter?

What is the best cover crop for a garden in winter?

The workhorses of winter cover crops for gardens are cereal rye and annual ryegrass. Oats can also be a good choice in areas with cold autumns and wet soil — they’re one of my favorites for my area.