The best part about gardening is watching our favorite perennials and bountiful annuals reach for the sun, trail over the sides of containers and window boxes, or maybe even climb a trellis for a romantic show. However, while these long-reaching beauties often take our eyes skywards, it's also important to put a bit of pizzazz into the often forgotten parts of our gardens: the ground! Not only does groundcover look gorgeous and delicate, but it also does some pretty amazing things for your garden. Read on for the inside scoop on groundcover plants and their benefits.
What is a Groundcover Plant and Why Should I Plant Them in Salt Lake City?
Groundcover plants are low-lying plants with a spreading or creeping growth habit. Many gardeners find these groundcovers helpful in many areas of the garden for their ability to prevent soil erosion, stop weeds from popping up, and cover up patches of exposed dirt between other plants. Groundcovers can also be used instead of grass in your lawn, creating a low-maintenance alternative with less watering and feeding requirements. Places that are hard to mow, like slopes, are great places to plant perennial groundcovers like Blue Rug Juniper, creeping phlox, and stonecrop. Daylilies are also a favorite for this application.
The Best Perennial Groundcover Plants
If you've got some unsightly bald spots in your Salt Lake City garden, try some of these perennial favorites to add beauty and visual interest to an otherwise empty space:
- Creeping thyme: Creeping thyme is a great lawn alternative, though its small purple flowers and edible sprigs also make it a fantastic addition to rockeries.
- Creeping jenny: This vigorous fast-grower has round light green leaves and blooms with stunning yellow flowers in the summer.
- Creeping phlox: Creeping phlox is available in varying shades of white, pink, and purple and is tolerant of both hot, dry conditions and extreme cold, making it an excellent evergreen for groundcover and rock gardens.
- Lamb's ear: The gorgeous and aptly-named lamb's ear is known for its velvety, silver leaves that bloom tiny purple flowers in the spring.
- Blue star creeper: The blue star creeper is an incredibly easy-to-grow garden groundcover with gorgeous pale blue flowers. It grows best in filtered light but will take full sun, too.
- Honeysuckle vine: The honeysuckle vine blooms white, yellow, or red flowers. It prefers full sun and is heat-resistant, making it perfect for our Salt Lake City backyards!
Let these beauties add dimension and charm to your garden, whether with an abundance of flowers peeking out from a perennial border, as a unique gap filler in your rockery, or while lining the edge of a stone pathway. Many of these groundcover options are also cold-tolerant and will stay green year-round, meaning you get to enjoy their subtle beauty day after day!
Winter Interest Groundcovers
Groundcover plants look amazing during the spring and summer months, though some of them shine brighter during the fall and winter months by adding visual interest when all other flowers and plants have gone dormant. They also provide shelter and cover for hibernating insects and other critters, making them valuable additions to your Salt Lake City garden. Here are some of our top groundcover plant picks that are perfect for the colder months:
- Hens and chicks are a perfect addition to any Utah garden. This succulent is available in a range of colors, from greens to reds to purples, and is prized for both its heat and cold tolerance.
- Bugleweed/Ajuga comes in burgundy, green, and bronze varieties and can survive harsh cold winters, making it an excellent creeping groundcover for year-round interest.
- Creeping juniper is incredibly well-suited for Utah gardens. This fast-growing evergreen dwarf shrub retains its beautiful silver-green foliage during the fall and winter months.
- Angelina stonecrop sedum is a beautiful mat-forming perennial that is perfect for a fall and winter garden. The leaves turn bronze in cold weather, which contrasts quite strikingly with any surrounding evergreens.
Adding groundcover plants to your garden is one of the best ways to fill space, keep your soil healthy throughout the year, and give overwintering critters a place to sleep until spring. It's also a great way to keep your Salt Lake City neighborhood looking amazing and adds rich diversity to the local Utah landscape. Whatever your groundcover needs for a gorgeous garden, Millcreek Gardens is here to help!