Most perennials will shed their leaves and die when temperatures drop below freezing, but that doesn’t mean your garden has to be a brown wasteland all winter.
My garden would be a much less interesting place without the hardy evergreen groundcovers that add color and texture in the winter and fill the garden with flowers in the summer.
So how hardy are they?
All of the groundcovers I recommend below are hardy to Zones 3 or 4, but from my own experience they usually retain their foliage and stay green in Zones 5 and above. In Zone 4, it can be evergreen or semi-evergreen, depending on the variety, the location and health of the plant, and the amount of rain, wind, or snow your garden receives.
(If you live in a warmer region, see our list of evergreen ground covers by climate.)
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hardy evergreen ground cover
Here are some of my favorite hardy ground covers that keep their foliage in zones 5 and above.
1. Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans)
Bugleweed is not only extremely cold hardy, but tolerates a variety of soil types and growing conditions ranging from full sun to full shade. However, it is a very active groundcover, so plant it where you want to suppress weeds. Don’t worry if it spreads. It blooms in spikes of showy flowers from spring to summer, attracting many pollinators.
At maturity, bugleweed can reach up to 10 inches in height and a spread of about 3 feet. Most varieties spread by runners and quickly fill an area, but some types of bugleweed are more upright and do not creep as easily.
2. Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens)
Candytuft is a flowering groundcover that can stay green in zone 5 if planted strategically (such as in a warm microclimate in your garden). In winter, the dark green leaves add color to an otherwise drab landscape. Meanwhile, in spring, it blooms with “clusters” of white flowers that contrast beautifully against all the greenery.
While many other groundcover plants spread through rhizomes (underground stems), candytuft propagates by spreading roots along its stems wherever they touch the ground. It typically grows to about 16 inches in height and width.
3. Creeping lily (Liriope spicata)
Creeping lily grass stays green just fine in warm climates, but in colder climates the leaves may turn brown around the edges by late winter. This grass-like ground cover (sometimes called monkey grass, although it is not actually a grass) forms clumps of leaves from which small purple flower spikes bloom in late summer and fall, just as other flowers begin to die back.
It takes several years to fully grow, but if you’re looking for an easy-to-grow ground cover that’s non-invasive and prefers shady locations, creeping lily grass is worth the wait. At maturity, it reaches 1 to 2 feet in height and spreads to 2 feet in width.
4. Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)
This plant, also known as cinnabar, is a great plant if you need a ground cover that will grow in poor soil where other plants have failed. Bearberry is very cold-hardy (actually adapted to arctic and subarctic climates), and its leaves remain throughout the winter, but can turn red or purple before turning green again in the spring.
The name berry refers to the small berry-like fruit (drupe) that appears in the summer. Although technically edible by humans, it is less desirable in terms of taste and texture. Best left for wildlife and visual interest.
Bearberry is a bushy, densely branched shrub that grows up to 12 inches tall and 6 feet wide.
5. Creeping Juniper (Juniperus horizontalis)
Creeping juniper is a low-maintenance ground cover that tolerates harsh conditions such as drought, heat, salinity, and even deer. The trailing branches (which look like they spill down from the rock wall) have feathery leaves that remain green all year round, although some varieties change color from silver to reddish-purple in winter.
Very compact varieties like ‘Pancake’ grow only 4 to 6 inches tall with a mature spread of 4 feet wide, while other varieties can cover much larger areas.
6. Creeping Speedwell (Veronica Repens)
This low-maintenance, fast-growing ground cover forms an evergreen carpet of gray-green leaves that can take on a bronze or reddish hue in severe weather before returning to lush green growth in spring. As the days get longer, many small light blue to purple flowers bloom and continue to bloom for a long time.
Creeping speedwell spreads throughout the soil, growing in dense mats up to 2 inches tall and 18 inches wide.
