Are you looking for tough plants that can handle hot, sunny spots in your garden? Ground covers are a great option. These low-growing plants spread across the soil, creating a carpet of greenery that can thrive in places where other plants might struggle. They’re perfect for those spots in your yard that get baked by the sun all day long.
Ground covers do more than just fill space – they help keep weeds down, reduce erosion, and can cut back on your lawn maintenance time. Plus, they add interest to your landscape without requiring much care once established.
If you’ve got slopes, bare patches, or areas where grass just won’t grow because of the heat, the right ground cover can turn that problem area into a nice part of your garden. Let’s look at ten ground covers that can handle full sun and heat like champions.
Benefits of Ground Cover Plants
Soil erosion prevention
Ground cover plants play a crucial role in preventing soil erosion by holding the soil in place with their root systems. Their dense foliage also helps to reduce the impact of rain and wind on the soil surface, further protecting against erosion.
Weed suppression
By covering bare soil, ground cover plants effectively crowd out and prevent the growth of unwanted weeds. This natural weed control method reduces the need for herbicides and manual weeding, saving time and effort in garden maintenance.
Temperature regulation
Ground cover plants help regulate soil temperature by providing shade and insulation. This temperature moderation can protect plant roots from extreme heat or cold, creating a more stable environment for all plants in the area.
Aesthetic appeal
Ground cover plants add visual interest and texture to landscapes, creating a lush, cohesive look in gardens and outdoor spaces. They can soften hard edges, fill in bare spots, and provide year-round color and greenery, enhancing the overall beauty of your landscape design.
Ice Plant
Ice plants are hardy perennials that form thick carpets of fleshy, succulent leaves in shades of gray-green. This drought-tolerant ground cover puts on quite a show from late spring through summer, when it covers itself with daisy-like flowers in pink, purple, yellow or white.
Perfect for rock gardens and hot, sunny spots in zones 5-9. The plants thrive in poor soil and can handle coastal conditions, making them excellent choices for seaside gardens.
Popular varieties include Delosperma cooperi with bright purple blooms, Delosperma nubigenum featuring yellow flowers, and Delosperma ‘Red Mountain’ with rich magenta petals. While these plants love heat and sun, they need good drainage to prevent root rot.
Blue Star Creeper
This ground-hugging perennial forms a dense mat of tiny round leaves that reach just 2-3 inches tall. The foliage stays green through mild winters, while late spring and summer bring clusters of star-shaped blue-violet flowers.
Perfect for filling gaps between stepping stones or softening path edges. Prefers part shade but handles full sun in cool climates. Needs regular water at first but becomes drought-tolerant once established.
Hardy in zones 5-9. Common varieties include ‘Heavenly Blue’ with larger flowers, ‘Minima’ with extra-small leaves, and ‘Alba’ featuring white blooms. Resists deer and most pests.
Roman Chamomile
Roman chamomile brings comfort to any garden with its apple-scented leaves and simple white daisy-like flowers. This low-growing perennial forms a dense mat of finely divided foliage that reaches just 6 inches tall.
The flowers appear from early to late summer, standing slightly above the foliage. While it prefers full sun and well-drained soil, it can handle some shade and drought once established. Hardy in zones 4-9, it grows best in cooler regions.
Common varieties include ‘Treneague,’ which forms a non-flowering lawn substitute, and ‘Flore Pleno’ with double white blooms. Resistant to deer and most pests, it makes a perfect ground cover or pathway plant.
Lamb’s Ear
With its fuzzy, silvery-green leaves, Lamb’s Ear feels as soft as its namesake. This easy-care perennial forms dense mats of foliage that stay at 6-8 inches high, making it perfect for borders and ground cover.
Small purple flower spikes appear in summer, though many gardeners remove them to focus on the leaves. Lamb’s Ear handles drought well but struggles in humidity and wet conditions. It thrives in full sun to part shade and needs good drainage.
Hardy in zones 4-8. Look for: ‘Big Ears’ with extra-large leaves, ‘Silver Carpet’ which rarely flowers, and ‘Helene von Stein’ known for its robust growth.
Trailing Lantana
This fast-growing perennial (grown as an annual in colder regions) adapts well to hot climates and blooms from late spring until frost. The trailing stems carry small clusters of flowers in yellow, purple, white, or pink, depending on the variety.
Lantana can handle tough conditions like drought and poor soil, making it a reliable choice for hanging baskets and ground cover.
Best performers include ‘New Gold’ with bright yellow blooms, ‘Lavender Swirl’ showing purple and white bi-color flowers, and ‘Trailing Light Pink’ with soft pink clusters. Plant in full sun and well-draining soil. Disease resistant and deer proof. Hardy in zones 9-11.
Creeping Thyme
A low-growing perennial herb that forms dense mats of fragrant foliage, creeping thyme spreads steadily to create excellent ground cover. Hardy in zones 4-9, it produces masses of pink, purple, or white flowers from early to mid-summer that attract pollinators.
The tiny evergreen leaves come in shades of green, silver-green, or gold, depending on variety. Popular varieties include ‘Pink Chintz’ with salmon-pink blooms, ‘Coccineus’ with magenta flowers, and ‘Aureus’ featuring golden foliage.
Thrives in full sun and well-draining soil, tolerating drought once established. Very resistant to foot traffic and stays attractive through hot summers, though it prefers moderate climates.
Creeping Juniper
Low-growing and hardy, creeping juniper spreads outward to form dense mats of evergreen foliage. Most varieties stay under 18 inches tall while reaching 6-8 feet wide. This perennial groundcover thrives in zones 3-9 and handles poor soil conditions like a champ.
The foliage ranges from blue-green to silvery-green depending on the variety, with some cultivars showing hints of yellow or bronze in winter. While it prefers full sun, creeping juniper tolerates partial shade and drought once established.
It resists deer browsing and holds up well in hot climates. Popular varieties include ‘Blue Rug’ with silvery-blue needles, ‘Wiltonii’ with bright green foliage, and ‘Green Carpet’ featuring emerald spreads.
Sedum
Sedum is a tough-as-nails perennial that thrives in zones 3-9 and handles hot, dry spots with ease. The fleshy leaves come in shades of blue-green, burgundy and gray-green, forming neat mounds or spreading groundcovers.
Most varieties bloom from late summer into fall, producing clusters of tiny pink, red or gold flowers that pollinators love. Popular varieties include ‘Autumn Joy’ with rosy pink blooms, low-growing ‘Dragon’s Blood’ with deep red flowers, and ‘Blue Spruce’ with silvery-blue foliage.
These drought-tolerant plants prefer full sun and well-draining soil, but can handle some shade. Disease resistant and deer rarely bother them.
Snow-in-Summer
Looking like drifts of snow across your garden, Snow-in-Summer forms dense carpets of silvery-gray leaves topped with pure white blooms in late spring to early summer. This hardy perennial grows in zones 3-7 and handles poor soil with ease.
Perfect for rock gardens or spilling over walls, it stays low to the ground at just 6 inches tall. Most gardeners grow the common Cerastium tomentosum, though ‘Yo-Yo’ offers more compact growth, while ‘Silver Carpet’ boasts especially thick, woolly leaves.
Loves full sun and well-drained soil, and shows good drought tolerance once established. Plant where drainage is sharp – it won’t tolerate wet winter soil.
Gazania
Tough and cheerful daisy-like flowers make gazanias a must-have for hot, dry gardens. These hardy annuals (perennial in zones 9-11) shine from early summer through fall with blooms in orange, yellow, pink and cream shades.
The silvery-green leaves have a woolly underside that helps them handle heat and drought. Flowers close up at night and on cloudy days, reopening when the sun comes out. Popular varieties include ‘Big Kiss Yellow,’ featuring large golden blooms, and ‘New Day Bronze,’ with copper-orange petals.
Best performance comes in full sun and well-draining soil. Disease resistant and largely unbothered by pests, gazanias are great choices for containers and coastal gardens.
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