Top Sun-Loving Ground Covers: 15+ Beautiful, Low-Maintenance Picks

You want a hardy, fast-spreading, pretty ground cover for full sun. Low maintenance assumed. Here are the best options by category.

Flowering Favorites

• Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle) — chartreuse blooms, soft foliage
• Campanula portenschlagiana — purple bells, mat-forming
• Delosperma (Hardy Ice Plant) — succulent, daisy-like flowers, drought-proof
• Phlox subulata (Creeping Phlox) — spring carpet of pink/violet/white, fragrant
• Thyme 'Ruby Glow' — deep pink flowers, fragrant, tough
• Plumbago 'Royal Cape' — sky-blue flowers all summer, evergreen in Zone 7+

Foliage & Edible Stars

• Sagina subulata (Irish Moss) — emerald carpet, tiny white flowers
• Strawberries — runners spread, edible fruit, pretty leaves
• Groundcover Roses — 'Amber Cover', 'Innocencia Vigorosa', thornless 'Taos'

Spring Showstoppers

• Candytuft, Snow-in-Summer, Basket-of-Gold (Alyssum saxatile) — intense white/yellow spring blooms

Fragrant Picks (Zone 7+)

• Gardenia 'Fragrant Pathways' — compact, fragrant, spreads
• Viola odorata — actually prefers sun, not shade

Search Bluestone Perennials' custom tool for your zone. Pick 2–3, plant in drifts, enjoy years of coverage.