Long-Flowering Covers

• A Missouri Botanical Garden Plant of Merit, Evolvulus glomeratus Hawaiian Blue Eyes tolerates winter temperatures to 20 degrees above zero. Its spreading mounds of silvery-green, downy foliage grow from 9 to 18 inches high with an up-to-3-foot spread. On sunny days, white-stamened, blue, 1-inch flowers top the pest-and-disease-resistant perennial. Resembling tiny morning glories, the blooms appear from early summer until frost. Glandularia canadensis Shauna Ann, a rose vervain cultivar, stands 6 to 10 inches tall. Hardy to minus 20 degrees, this Verbena family plant spreads up to 2 feet. It pairs flat clusters of lavender-pink blooms and dark green, lobed foliage from midspring to early fall. Shauna Ann thrives in sun and averagely moist, well-drained soil.
  
  

Shade Ground Covers

• Gaultheria procumbens wintergreen's glossy, green oblong leaves release a crisp fragrance when bruised. Just 6 inches high, this broad-leaved evergreen shrub illuminates summer shade with bell-shaped, waxy white blooms. Its flowers give way to bright red berries that persist into winter. Purple autumn foliage adds interest. Wintergreen flourishes in partial to full shade and consistently moist, acidic well-drained soil. Asarum canadense wild ginger grows in partly to deeply shaded woodlands, where it spreads slowly and grows as tall as 1 foot. Each plant's gingery-flavored root produces two green, heart-shaped leaves and one, early-spring-to-early-summer purple-brown flower. These ground covers tolerate winter temperatures of minus 40 and minus 30 degrees, respectively.
  
  

Wet Soil Ground Covers

• Flowering from May until September in cool summer climates, Chrysogonum virginianum var. australe golden star forms a 4- to 6-inch-tall mat of oval, bright green leaves. Where summers are cool, golden star produces nodding stems of five-petaled, deep yellow flowers continuously from May and September. In warmer climates, however, bloom may be limited to spring and fall. Up to 2 feet wide, golden star likes moist or wet, organically rich well-drained soil in partial to full shade. Mazus reptans, another mat-forming ground cover, stands only 2 inches high. Between early and midsummer, small, yellow-and-white-speckled lavender flowers top its narrow, green leaves. Mazus prefers full sun to partial shade and rich, moist-to-wet soil. Both plants survive winter temperatures to zone 5.
  
  

Dry Soil Ground Covers

• Santolina chamaecyparrirus lavender cotton, a 1- to 2-foot-tall perennial hardy to zone 6, forms spreading clumps of feathery, aromatic silver-gray gray foliage. Golden-yellow, button-shaped 3/4-inch blooms top the Aster family plant's erect stems in summer. The up-to-3-feet-wide, broadleaved evergreen's foliage has a history insecticide use. Cerastium tomentosum Yo Yo snow-in-summer's silver-gray leaves form mats reaching 6 inches high and 18 wide. Clusters of 1-inch white flowers open atop its 10-inch stems in late spring or summer. Both plants perform best in full sun and dry, sandy well-drained soils.