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Announcing Our New Guide to Ground Covers

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Announcing Our New Guide to Ground Covers

January 31, 2018

Our family of Garden Design 101 guides is welcoming a new addition this week. Our Ground Covers 101 guide is a place to start if you’re designing a new garden, rehabbing an existing landscape, or just trying to identify a creeping plant you inherited when you bought the place.

One-stop research: Our Ground Covers 101 guide pulls together all our field guides on plants suitable to use as a carpet. You’ll also find our most popular posts about ground covers, including 5 Favorite Lawn Substitutes,  The Best Ground Covers to Plant Between Pavers, and Landscape on a Budget: 10 Ideas for Mown Grass Paths.

Where do you stand on the great debate of Artificial Grass: Pros and Cons? See 7 Gardens with Artificial Grass and weigh in.

Here’s a a glimpse of what you’ll find in our Ground Covers 101 guide:

Bugleweed

Heuchera americana &#8\2\16;Dale&#8\2\17;s Strain&#8\2\17; mingles with ajuga and fragaria by Cultivar 4\13 via Flickr.
Above: Heuchera americana ‘Dale’s Strain’ mingles with ajuga and fragaria by Cultivar 413 via Flickr.

Attractive year round (check). Smothers weeds (check). Handles both sun and shade (check). See more reasons we love to use ajuga as a ground cover in Bugleweed 101: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

Moss Checkerboards

Japanese designer Mirei Shigemori was the bad boy of Zen gardens in \1939, borrowing from western landscape traditions to create a moss checkerboard for Kyoto’s Tofuku-ji temple. Today&#8\2\17;s it&#8\2\17;s one of the most famous gardens in the world. Photograph by Kim Unertl via Flickr.
Above: Japanese designer Mirei Shigemori was the bad boy of Zen gardens in 1939, borrowing from western landscape traditions to create a moss checkerboard for Kyoto’s Tofuku-ji temple. Today’s it’s one of the most famous gardens in the world. Photograph by Kim Unertl via Flickr.

See more ideas in Ask the Expert: 7 Tips for Making a Moss Checkerboard.

Lilyturf

A tough plant for city streets, Lysimachia nummularia &#8\2\16;Aurea&#8\2\17; (foreground) mingles with hostas and lilyturf in Abingdon Square in Manhattan&#8\2\17;s West Village. Photograph by Cultivar4\13 via Flickr.
Above: A tough plant for city streets, Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’ (foreground) mingles with hostas and lilyturf in Abingdon Square in Manhattan’s West Village. Photograph by Cultivar413 via Flickr.

You can mix and match compatible ground covers to create a patterned quilt to cover your ground. See more ideas at Lilyturf 101: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

Artificial Grass as Ground Cover

Brooklyn-based garden designer Julie Farris wanted a roof garden that could play a big role in her family’s life. She chose artificial turf because it doesn’t require watering or mowing, and heat and sun can&#8\2\17;t hurt it. Photograph by Sophia Moreno-Bunge for Gardenista. See more in Garden Designer Visit: A Rooftop Meadow Garden in Brooklyn.
Above: Brooklyn-based garden designer Julie Farris wanted a roof garden that could play a big role in her family’s life. She chose artificial turf because it doesn’t require watering or mowing, and heat and sun can’t hurt it. Photograph by Sophia Moreno-Bunge for Gardenista. See more in Garden Designer Visit: A Rooftop Meadow Garden in Brooklyn.

Artificial grass incites strong emotions. Either you love it (for looking good, lasting 20 years, and never needing water) or you hate it (for being an unnatural  petroleum-based product). We’ve rounded up 7 Gardens with Artificial Grass.

Coral Bells

Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista.
Above: Photograph by Matthew Williams for Gardenista.

“Ever wonder how to add serious interest to the mostly shady parts of a garden? Heuchera, with luminously colored leaves that catch the light, is the evergreen perennial that works hard, and works wonders for any garden,” writes our contributor Kier Holmes. See more in Coral Bells 101: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

Pathway Lighting

Heucheras catch the light in a shady garden. Photograph by Matthew WIlliams for Gardenista.
Above: Heucheras catch the light in a shady garden. Photograph by Matthew WIlliams for Gardenista.

What style outdoor lighting will work best with your ground cover? See tips and inspiration in Outdoor Lighting 101: A Design Guide, including Pathway Lighting 101 and Uplighting 101.

Our curated Ground Covers 101 guide also covers Ivy, Thyme, Bacopa, Lungwort, and more. We’ll be adding new perennials every week. If there’s a perennials you’d particularly like us to add to our guides, please let us know in the comments section.

Finally, get more ideas on how to plant, grow, and care for various ground cover plants with our Ground Covers: A Field Guide.

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