Ground covers are workhorses in the landscape. Gracefully scrambling over bare, rocky or difficult to tend areas, ground covers make garden care easier. They also double as border plants, since they are low-growing and often limited in their spread. No matter how they're used, ground covers are only improved by tiny flowers. Although many ground covers are cultivated for their foliage, some are also known for the blanket of colorful flowers they produce.
Many plants are known by the common name "ice plant," but the most commonly utilized in the landscape are drought-tolerant, succulent ground covers of the genus Delosperma. For example, D. cooperi, commonly known as Cooper's ice plant, reaches heights up to 8 inches and spreads up to 24 inches, sporting purple-pink blooms with white eyes from spring until summer in U. S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zones 6 through 10. The golden ice plant (D. nubigenum) is similar, but shorter than D. cooperi, at only 2 inches high with a 24-inch spread; this golden-flowered ice plant thrives in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 6 through 9.
Sedum is a genus containing about 450 succulent plants ranging significantly in size and growing habit. Many common landscape sedums are upright with umbrella-shaped flowers, but others have a decidedly creeping habit, making for unusual ground covers in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 4 through 9. Native to Japan, S. cauticola features grey-green foliage and purplish-red flowers in fall. About 6 inches tall, S. kamtschaticum offers tiny yellow flowers. A mat-forming sedum, S. spurium "Fuldaglut," displays red flowers. Yellow foliage as well as yellow flowers grace S. rupestre "Angelina,"creating a eye-catching accent.
Creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum) hugs the ground in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 4 through 9. This flowering ground cover, also doubling as a culinary herb, attracts scores of butterflies with its 6-inch flower spikes that erupt in spring or summer, depending on the cultivar. "Pink Ripple" provides summer color, while "Pink Chintz" flowers in the spring. Many other varieties of creeping thyme exist with flower spikes in white, pink and purple.
The Rain lily (Zephyranthes spp.) may be one of the more unique flowering ground covers for USDA Hardiness Zone 7 through 10. The foliage of this plant is fine and grass-like, forming a short clumping mound. However, the real magic happens when it rains; no more than 3 days following significant rainfall, masses of solid color blooms appear over the foliage on 12-inch stalks. These ground cover plants thrive in partially shady areas and naturalize easily. Members of the Zephyranthes family include Z. atamasco and Z. candida, sporting white flowers in autumn, while Z. grandiflora's pale pink flowers emerge in the springtime. Buttery yellow flowers from late summer to fall are the calling card of Z. reginae.
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