Ground cover covered

In any great garden design, the icing on the cake is the covering of the ground – that last finishing touch once you have the trees, shrubs and climbers in place. In this two-part series, plant expert Penny Cliffin offers tips on the top groundcovers for gardens of every kind

Ground covers have many functions – weed supression, water conservation, promoting microbial life, insect and lizard habitat, and food for pollinators and people.

Different groundcovers (plants that can form massed effects of less than a metre in height) suit different growing conditions and vary in the scale of space they will fill. Here are some 5-star contenders:
 

Perfect partners

To provide some structure for herbaceous perennial plantings, which tend to grow fast and get heavy and floppy, groundcovers can work well. A hardy evergreen base layer can cover the foreground and provide a support structure for the looser, more flamboyant perennials to achieve a year-round show.

Native groundcovers are also great for open sunny banks, pots, rockeries, and shady understory situations.

Native sun lovers - for mixing with perennials, pots, rockeries and coastal sites

Shady Characters – for the understory layer and the shadier side of the garden

Big Sunny Banks

Penny Cliffin has a degree in horticulture and has returned to part time lecturing in plant selection and horticulture for the landscape programmes at Unitec Institute of Technology, now that COVID-19 has halted HIKOI Garden Tours - www.hikoigardentours.co.nz
 

Penny is also a founder, accredited academic member and past President of the Garden Design Society of New Zealand (GDSNZ).