Groundcover plants are becoming increasingly popular because they offer a simple, low-maintenance way to make your garden look fuller and healthier. These plants grow close to the ground, quickly covering bare soil to help stop weeds, retain moisture, and prevent erosion. Whether you have a sunny slope or a shady corner, groundcovers are perfect for filling tricky spots where other plants might struggle. British Garden Centres has put together their top groundcover plants that will thrive in your garden.
Cranesbill geraniums:Renowned for their resilience and attractive foliage, these geraniums are hardy and create dense mounds of intricately veined leaves and purple or white flowers in late spring. They thrive at the front of sunny borders and tolerate poor, dry soils, making them a favourite for low-maintenance gardeners who want ground cover in their gardens.
Erigeron: Commonly known as Mexican fleabane, this perennial has dainty white and pink daisy like flowers blooming from May to November. Erigeron is a low maintenance ground cover option for sunny spots, rockeries, and wall crevices. Its spreading habit ensures continuous colour and attracts pollinators throughout the summer, making your garden abuzz with beneficial insects.
Campanula: These bellflowers offer cascades of blue or purple blooms from June to September. Their trailing habit makes them ideal for walls, containers, and shady corners, providing a profusion of flowers and softening hard edges. Look for Campanula portenschlagiana and Campanula carpatica for groundcover.
Lily of the Valley: A classic choice for shady borders and woodland gardens, lily of the valley spreads quickly and produces fragrant, bell-shaped white flowers in late spring. It thrives in moist soil and is perfect for underplanting and groundcover, particularly in darker nooks of your garden.
Periwinkle: This evergreen groundcover is prized for its rapid growth and ability to thrive in dry shade. With pretty blue or purple flowers in spring and summer, periwinkle is ideal for challenging sites where other plants struggle .
Heuchera: Heucheras are grown for their colourful, evergreen foliage, ranging from green to deep purple. They form attractive clumps and make excellent groundcover in shady areas or the front of borders, with spikes of tiny summer flowers that attract pollinators like bees and butterflies.
Bergenia: Fondly known as Elephant’s Ears, Bergenia’s large, shiny leaves and pink or purple spring flowers make it a fantastic choice for dense groundcover. It tolerates both shade and drought, providing year round interest with its evergreen foliage when other plants have faded.
Heather: Heathers are evergreen, low-growing shrubs that flourish in acidic soils and sunny locations. With flowers ranging from white to deep red, calluna heathers provide colour from late summer through winter and are beloved by pollinators, who will feast on this popular ground cover plant. Plant with other heathers, such as erica and daboecia, to have flowers and cover all year round.
Lavender: Lavender is a great ground cover plant because it spreads out to form a low, fragrant mat of purple flowers that brighten up garden beds and borders. It thrives in sunny, well drained soil and is drought tolerant once established, making it easy to care for. Lavender also naturally repels pests like aphids, so it helps protect nearby plants while keeping weeds down. Known for its calming scent, its flowers attract bees and butterflies, supporting pollinators in your garden.
Aubrieta: Aubrieta is a great groundcover for beginners because it’s easy to grow and spreads quickly, creating a lovely carpet of purple and blue flowers in spring. It likes sunny spots and well-drained soil, and once it’s settled, it doesn’t need much care. A massive plus is that it helps keep weeds down and adds a splash of colour to gardens, rockeries, or walls without much fuss.
Julian Palphramand, Head of Plants at British Garden Centres, added: “We’re seeing more and more gardeners turn to groundcover plants because they do the hard work for you. Whether you’ve got a tricky patch under a tree, a sunny border, or just want to cut down on weeding, there’s a groundcover plant to suit.”
British Garden Centres (BGC) is the UK’s largest family-owned garden centre group with 73 centres around the country. The group is owned and led by the Stubbs family, who also own and operate Woodthorpe Leisure Park in Lincolnshire. BGC was launched in 1990 with the opening of Woodthorpe Garden Centre by brothers Charles and Robert Stubbs. Since 2018, it has expanded rapidly with the acquisition of 50 garden centres, allowing it to grow from its heartland to the business it is now, with 73 garden centres spread from Carmarthen to Ramsgate, Wimborne to East Durham. The group has a team of 3000 colleagues working across the garden centres, restaurants, growing nurseries, distribution centres, Woodthorpe Leisure Park, and Woody’s Restaurant & Bar.
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