Gardening in hot regions includes a whole set of challenges: warm summers, dry shade, heavy rains, droughts and soils ranging from pure sand to impenetrable clay and soggy muck. But believe it or not, there’s certain to be a appropriate ground cover to your garden, no matter how warm, dry, shady or soggy it may be. These ground covers will give your garden a place where the eye may rest, and will give you a little more rest too, thanks to their undemanding nature.
A number of the crops listed here are also grown as shrubs or specimen plants, but they are too helpful to ignore as ground covers. Firecracker plant is often considered a shrub, but its delicate arching stems cover a whole lot of ground without obstructing the view. Cinnamon ginger is a bit on the taller side if you permit it to grow unchecked, but even then it creates a weed-suppressing tall ground cover that seems excellent paired with shorter ground covers like lilyturf.
Speckled Cast Iron Plant
(Aspidistra sichuanensis ‘Ginga’, syn. ‘Milky Way’)
This is a little and speckled relative of cast iron plant (Aspidistra elatior, USDA zones 7b into 11), which is generally grown as a houseplant, but expect to see it branded as Aspidistra ‘Milky Way’ in nurseries. To be entirely honest, any Aspidistra plant will probably do the job very well as a ground cover in the landscape, irrespective of its title. This one just happens to be short enough to be utilized as a lawn substitute, superbly seen and readily available at local nurseries.
The only maintenance you will want to do for cast iron crops is that the occasional removal of dead leaves as they appear and division every couple of years. Not that you really should dig and replant them; they are so amazing and helpful that you’ll look forward to spreading them across the landscape.
Where it will grow: Evergreen in zones 7b into 11; find your zone
Water requirement: Reduced to ordinary; well-drained soil
moderate requirement: Full shade to partial sun
Mature size: 1 foot tall and two feet wide
Seasonal interest: Inconspicuous flowers; evergreen foliage year-round
When to plant: Spring to autumn
Dig Your Garden Landscape Design
Bulbine
(Bulbine frutescens ‘Hallmark’)
It has the drought tolerance of a succulent, the low and mountainous feel of a turfgrass, and spikes of the bright orange flowers of a, well, bulbine. Plant this South African indigenous as a foil for coarser plants, in the edge of flower beds or along paths, where the waving stalks of crimson blooms will bring in honeybees and butterflies. While any bulbine will work wonders for an outside area, the ‘Hallmark’ variety reseeds significantly less and is much easier to find in your nursery.
Bulbine Is drought tolerant and largely maintenance free, however it can benefit from mulching, deadheading and division in spring or autumn. In extremely hot, bright or dry situations, it may need extra irrigation or shade in summer to keep it moving until a rebloom in fall.
Where it will grow: Hardy to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (zones 9 to 11) however resprouts in zone 8
Water requirement: Low; well-drained soil
moderate requirement: Partial to full sunlight
Mature size: 1 foot to two feet tall, eventually forming a two- to 3-foot clump
Seasonal interest: Orange flowers spring and autumn, sometimes in winter and summer
When to plant: Spring to fall
Cinnamon Ginger
(Alpinia nutans)
If your garden is too soggy or too shady for other ground covers, then you will love this plant. Also known as untrue cardamom ginger, cinnamon ginger appears like a dwarf version of the more widely increased shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet, zones 9 to 11) in each respect. Another noteworthy difference, however, is that the incredible scent of cinnamon you are able to smell upon crushing the leaves or cleaning up from the plant. Use cinnamon ginger for a ground cover or a accent in shade gardens or where you desire a lush and tropical look, no matter how small the space.
Its slow expansion allows you to trim the taller stems back every few years to keep it short, or you may allow it to grow up to 4 feet tall as a tall ground cover, so you will have a chance to witness its rare porcelain flowers.
Where it will grow: Remains evergreen to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (zones 9b into 11) however resprouts in zone 7b into 11
Water requirement: Typical; tolerates standing water and drought once established
moderate requirement: Full shade to partial sun
Mature size: 3 to 4 ft tall and 4 to 5 ft wide
Seasonal interest: White and orange shell-shaped flowers are rare; develop it to the lush foliage.
When to plant: Spring to fall
Carolyn Chadwick
Society Garlic
(Tuhlbaghia violacea)
Edible garlic-flavored purple flowers on a drought-tolerant and grassy ground cover — what other reasons do you want to replace your yard with society garlic? Suffering colonies of this plant are seen in parking medians and hell strips where it’s hardy, but it responds well to routine watering and a occasional increase of fertilizer, and it may fill into form a weed-suppressing ground cover in just a few years.
The big blue and white flowers looming overhead in the photo below will be those of the oft-planted lily of the Nile (Agapanthus africanus, zones 7 to 11). It makes a great companion for society garlic, because both plants bloom at the same time, are from South Africa and thrive in more or less the very same problems. Insert a yellowish bulbine (Bulbine frutescens, zones 9 to 11) into the mix for a much more impressive display.
Where it will grow: Hardy to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (zones 9 to 11) however resprouts in zone 7
Water requirement: Low; well-drained soil
moderate requirement: Partial to full sunlight
Mature size: 1 foot to two feet tall and wide
Seasonal interest: Purple flowers in summer and spring, occasionally in autumn and winter
When to plant: Spring to fall
Lilyturf
(Liriope ‘Evergreen Giant’)
Lilyturf is common in households throughout the world because it gives the eye a place to rest on — much like turf grasses — but without the maintenance. It needs to be trimmed just twice a year, once in summer months before the first flush of new growth, and in autumn to eliminate the stalks of spent purple blooms and ripening berries. It’s not the end of the world if you fail to prune it all, however, and it will continue to form a much sexier deep green mass with each passing year.
Clumping lilyturfs like this one are not considered invasive. While I have not had any difficulties with Liriope spicata, a creeping relative of ‘Evergreen Giant’, it can spread rapidly via runners and is considered invasive by a few. But then again, are turfgrasses like St. Augustine. It should also be mentioned that Liriope is often confused with mondo grass(Ophiopogon, zones 5 to 11), and is an actual grass.
Secret Gardens
Where it will grow: Hardy to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (zones 9 to 11) however resprouts in zone 7
Water requirement: Low
moderate requirement: Partial to full sunlight
Mature size: 1 foot to two feet tall and wide
Seasonal interest: Purple flowers in summer and spring, occasionally in autumn and winter
When to plant: Spring to fall
Noelle Johnson Landscape Consulting
Firecracker Plant
(Russelia equisetiformis)
Firecracker plant is a bit more unkempt than the other ground covers recorded here, but its airy and translucent demeanor keeps it from becoming overly visually obtrusive. It’s excellent for slopes or retaining walls, where its billowing and fragile stems can arch downward into a waterfall of tubular red flowers that hummingbirds can not resist.
It’s drought tolerant enough to be generally planted in the warmer regions of the American Southwest, also besides pruning errant stems, there’s minimal maintenance to worry about, particularly in the event that you plant it a few feet away from paths. The long and wispy stems seem fantastic when planted amongst architectural plants like agave and crinum, and firecracker plant can even be trained from walls and trellises in small spaces.
Where it will grow: Hardy to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (zones 9 to 11), however resprouts in zone 8b
Water requirement: Reduced
moderate requirement: Partial to full sunlight
Mature size: Feathery stems form a mass around 3 ft tall.
Seasonal curiosity: Red tubular flowers spring through autumn, sometimes in winter
When to plant: Spring to fall