29 Beautiful Ground Covers That Thrive in Shade
Shady areas in the garden can often be tricky to plant, but the right ground covers can transform those difficult spots into lush, vibrant spaces.
Ground covers not only add texture and beauty, but they also help prevent weeds, retain moisture, and provide a low-maintenance solution for your yard.
In this guide, we’ve gathered 29 of the best ground covers for shade, perfect for creating a green, inviting garden even in low-light conditions.
Barrenwort
Barrenwort is an evergreen ground cover that enchants with heart-shaped leaves and delicate spring blooms. Growing up to 18 inches tall, it thrives in shady areas, especially under trees or shrubs.
Its vibrant flowers come in shades of pink and white, making it a stunning addition to any garden. You will appreciate its easy pairing with other spring-flowering plants like hellebores for a layered look.
Blue Lilyturf
Blue Lilyturf, also known as Liriope Muscari, is a favorite for those seeking an alternative to grass. With its grass-like appearance, this hardy plant produces spikes of purple flowers in spring.
Growing up to 6 inches tall, it is perfect for covering slopes or shaded garden spots, while maintaining a vibrant evergreen presence year-round.
Blue Star Creeper
Blue Star Creeper forms a thick carpet of pale-blue flowers and tiny leaves, creating a lush living ground cover. It spreads rapidly and adapts well to both full sun and partial shade.
You’ll find it perfect for quickly filling areas in your garden, giving a soft yet striking touch.
Bugleweed
Bugleweed adds a splash of deep indigo-blue to your garden with its dense blooms. Even after the flowers fade, its beautiful foliage—available in green, bronze, purple, or variegated—continues to enhance the garden’s aesthetics.
This resilient plant thrives in both shade and partial sun.
Bunchberry (White Flower)
Bunchberry is a perennial ground cover with striking green leaves and delicate white flowers. Often used medicinally, it grows well in shaded areas but requires regular watering to flourish.
Red berries following the blooms keep this plant visually appealing throughout its growing season.
Impatiens
Impatiens bring vibrant color to shady spots with their wide, alternating green leaves and delicate, five-petaled flowers. Available in a variety of colors, this plant thrives in dense shade, adding life and beauty to any garden corner.
Ornamental Sweet Potato
Ornamental Sweet Potato offers bold, heart-shaped leaves in a range of colors, from gold to nearly black. This fast-growing annual thrives in partial shade, creating a vibrant ground cover with its unique foliage, perfect for borders or sprawling across garden beds.
Creeping Liriope
Creeping Liriope is a tough, evergreen ground cover that performs well in shady spots beneath large trees. It produces spikes of purple flowers in spring and spreads quickly across the ground, creating a beautiful green carpet.
Regular pruning in spring helps encourage fresh growth.
Carpet Box
Carpet Box, or Japanese spurge, forms a dense carpet of deep green leaves, ideal for large shaded areas under trees or shrubs. Its glossy leaves feature notched edges, while small white flowers add a subtle charm in spring.
Its drought tolerance makes it a low-maintenance favorite.
Purple Heart
Purple Heart is a striking ground cover known for its vibrant purple leaves and rapid growth. Ideal for partially shaded areas, this plant adds color and texture, making it a great choice for creating a dense, attractive ground cover.
Spotted Dead-nettle
Spotted Dead-nettle features heart-shaped leaves and vibrant magenta, pink, or white blooms. It spreads quickly across shaded areas, offering a beautiful, low-maintenance solution for adding color and texture to garden beds and borders.
Wild Geranium
Wild Geranium adds a natural, woodland charm to the garden with its pink to lavender blooms. It thrives in partial shade and is a favorite among pollinators like butterflies.
Its easy maintenance makes it an excellent ground cover choice for shady garden beds.
Creeping Saxifrage
Creeping Saxifrage adds visual interest to your garden with its round, silver-flecked leaves and clusters of white flowers. Thriving in rock gardens and shady areas, this resilient plant tolerates hot summers and brings texture to otherwise difficult-to-fill spots.
Yellow Archangel
Yellow Archangel offers stunning yellow tube-shaped blooms in spring, complemented by its rich green and silver foliage. It’s a great option for edging garden beds or covering shaded areas, adding a vibrant burst of color to your garden.
Lenten Rose
Lenten Rose features large, cup-shaped blooms in striking purple tones, complemented by golden yellow stamens. Growing in clusters, this evergreen plant thrives in shaded areas and blooms from late winter through spring, providing color even in cooler months.
Sweet Woodruff
Sweet Woodruff is a fast-growing ground cover that thrives in shade, creating a lush carpet of green foliage. It’s drought-tolerant and requires little maintenance, making it an easy and attractive choice for filling shaded areas in your garden.
Wild Ginger
Wild Ginger quickly forms a dense carpet of green, heart-shaped leaves, making it an ideal ground cover for shaded areas. It tolerates the deepest shade and spreads rapidly, creating a lush, green backdrop for woodland or shaded gardens.
Mint
Mint not only brings a refreshing fragrance but also serves as an excellent ground cover. This perennial grows easily and spreads quickly in shaded areas, thriving in moist, well-drained soil.
Its lush green foliage adds a refreshing touch to the garden.
Hosta
Hosta, a shade-loving perennial, offers large, elegant leaves in varying shades of green. Its delicate white and pale purple flowers bloom in summer, adding a soft touch to the garden.
Ideal for full or partial shade, hostas bring a lush, tropical feel to any landscape.
Leatherwood Fern
Leatherwood Fern stands out in shady areas with its deep green, notched leaves. Whether planted on its own or alongside other plants, this evergreen species adds texture and interest to the garden year-round.
It is a hardy option that grows well in any soil type.
Creeping Jenny
Creeping Jenny is a trailing ground cover that flourishes in partial shade, forming a mat of light green leaves. When exposed to sunlight, the foliage brightens to a vivid yellow, making it a versatile option for both garden beds and hanging baskets.
Christmas Fern
Christmas Fern offers a bold green texture that holds its beauty year-round. This fern creates thick tufts and thrives in full shade, making it a perfect choice for adding depth and interest to shady areas of your garden.
Its drought resistance is an added bonus.
White Inside-Out Flower
White Inside-Out Flower brings delicate, bell-shaped blossoms to the garden in early spring. It prefers moist, well-drained soil and thrives in part to full shade, creating a charming display of small white flowers and lush green foliage.
Cuban Oregano
Cuban Oregano grows into a lush carpet of aromatic, velvety leaves, perfect for shaded areas. Its striking green foliage is accented with white edges, and the plant produces small pink and lilac flowers.
Minimal care is needed once established, making it an easy addition to any garden.
Golden Sweet Flag
Golden Sweet Flag thrives in moderate shade, displaying attractive golden leaves with green stripes. It performs best in moist soil, making it a popular choice for gardens near water features or ponds.
Its elegant, grass-like appearance enhances any shaded garden area.
Wandering Jew
Wandering Jew is a colorful ground cover known for its vivid lilac and silver-striped leaves. Its succulent stems form a dense mat of foliage, making it an ideal choice for adding color and texture to shaded garden areas.
Variegated Ground Ivy
Variegated Ground Ivy, a creeping evergreen from the mint family, is prized for its aromatic leaves and vibrant blue-violet flowers. It thrives in shady, moist areas, adding a touch of greenery and color to the garden, even during the winter months.
Common Periwinkle
Common Periwinkle is a fast-growing, low-maintenance ground cover that thrives in sun and shade alike. Its glossy, dark green leaves and striking purple-blue flowers spread easily, making it an excellent solution for filling large spaces quickly.
Golden Star Grass
Golden Star Grass brings bright yellow blooms to shady areas, with daisy-like flowers that emerge in spring and reappear in late summer. This ground cover is perfect for edging pathways and garden beds, offering a cheerful pop of color even in low-light conditions.
