9 Best Groundcover Plants That Are Cheap to Start From Seed in Spring & Quickly Turn a Bare Patch Beautiful

If you were to measure a plant’s worth in pretty flowers or lush leaves per cent spent, these gorgeous grow-from-seed groundcovers would win, roots down. Whether you’ve got a large area of soil to cover or simply want to fill in garden gaps to suppress weeds, all these groundcover plants can be raised from seed to give you great results for very little outlay. Some are perennial groundcover recommendations for a permanent transformation; others are annual groundcover plants for a temporary fix while you decide what to do with a tricky garden spot, or self-seeders that will spring up every year with minimal intervention from you.

Groundcover plants are a great way to cut down on garden maintenance but there’s more to these low-growing beauties than purely practical benefits. They will add color and texture to your backyard in place of ugly patches of bare soil, and many will happily thrive where little else will grow. Lots have a profusion of small leaves that will creep over paving edges or spill over retaining walls, softening hard landscaping and quickly making your garden look mature. Some are beautifully scented and can tolerate being walked on, so you can plant up pathway sides for a fragrant walkway. Using the same groundcover choice in a few different spots is such an easy way to tie your garden design together, too.

These may not be the star plants in your garden, but they are an essential element of your backyard line-up. Which will suit your garden best?

1. Best For a Super-Easy Blast of Color in a Sunny Spot

Moss roses (Portulaca grandiflora) bring cheery blooms in vibrant red, pink, orange, yellow, violet and white in glorious ruffles of crepe-paper-like petals that open in the daytime and close each evening. This is a succulent so it’s a good choice for a hot, dry and sunny spot, where it will create a foot-wide mat of 8-inch-high foliage and flowers from spring through fall. It’s incredibly low-maintenance, too, as it stores water in its leaves so needs minimal watering once established, and will bloom continually, even if you don’t bother to deadhead.

Being an annual, moss roses are extremely easy to grow from seed, available from Eden Brothers. Sow directly in your garden after your last frost date or start inside 6–8 weeks before. Plants are tender in zones 2–8 so will be zapped by your first frost, though often behave as perennials in warmer zones. It readily self-seeds so will likely be back all by itself the following year but if you only want this to be a temporary fix, it’s easy to control by removing the seedheads.

2. Best for Year-Round Fragrance & Foliage

Creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum) is such a generous plant, providing a dense carpet of tiny evergreen leaves all year round in zones 4–9. And just wait till you smell the fresh lemony fragrance that’s released when you step on them! That glorious scent makes creeping thyme perfect for groundcover around stepping stones, and some folk even grow creeping thyme lawns as it can tolerate light traffic.

Seeds are tiny and slow to grow at first, but the 4-inch-high plants can spread up to 18 inches in their first year, though you may have to wait until their second summer to enjoy the violet flowers. They’re slow to germinate, too, so be sure to buy your seed from a trusted supplier, and creeping thyme seeds are available from Eden Brothers. The trick to success is giving them consistent warmth and light: start seeds indoors up to 8 weeks before your last frost date, sprinkle them on the soil surface with just a light sprinkle of vermiculite over the top, in a seed-starting tray with a clear lid, preferably on a seedling heat mat. Then keep the compost mix evenly moist (and this can mean misting twice a day). Granted, it is a bit of a faff – but your efforts will be well rewarded with long-lasting, low-maintenance perennial plants that give excellent groundcover.

3. Best All-Year Pleaser That’s Polite Enough For Border Edges

If you’re after a well-behaved perennial groundcover plant that spreads without running riot over your garden and looks lovely year-round, Dianthus deltoides is a top choice for a sunny spot in zones 3–9. The evergreen needle-like leaves form a dense mat of foliage that grows up to a foot wide and 6–8 inches tall, in an attractive gray-green color that lasts through winter. The plant spreads by throwing out trailing stems that root, so it’s easy to contain if needed, and will graciously work its way around bigger plants in a border.

‘Arctic Fire’, available from Burpee, is a particularly pretty Dianthus deltoides cultivar with pretty white flowers of edible fringed petals with deep red centres from May to August. It flowers in its first year and the seed needs consistent temperatures of 60–70°F to germinate, so sow outside after your last frost date or start indoors up to 8 weeks before.

4. Best For Suppressing Weeds in a Vegetable Patch

Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) is a fast-growing annual that provides wonderful groundcover in borders but particularly in vegetable beds. It forms a dense mat but is polite enough to grow around other plants, and is quick to flower, taking just two months to go from seed to bloom. But sweet alyssum’s best attribute is its heavenly honey fragrance that pollinators love, drawing beneficial insects such as ladybugs to protect your crops from pests.

‘Royal Carpet’ is a cultivar that’s particularly well thought of for its use as a living mulch because it’s low-growing, only reaching 2–6 inches high, with abundant dark violet flowers: shear in mid-summer and you’ll be rewarded with a second flush. This variety is also exceptionally easy to grow from seed, available from Amazon, making it ideal for beginner and expert gardeners alike. Sow outside after your last frost date or indoors 4–6 weeks before. Suitable for zones 4–11, it self-seeds so you’ll likely get free plants for zero effort forever more.

5. Best For a Relaxed Cottagecore Aesthetic

If you’ve never heard of Virginia stock (Malcolmia maritima), then listen up! These fast-growing annuals are oh-so-pretty and grow from seed to a carpet of fragrant 10-inch-high pink, white and purple flowers in under two months. Although it’s an annual, this is a prolific self-seeder so once you’ve added it to your garden, you’ll never be without it.

Any plant with ‘maritima’ in its name indicates that it has evolved in a coastal environment so are often exceptionally tough with a real will to live. Virginia stock is no exception and you’ll find this delightful bloom popping up in pathway cracks and along patio edges as it thrives in meager conditions where most plants would struggle to survive. For this reason, it’s useful as a gap filler on border and path edges.

Virginia stock seeds are available from Eden Brothers. Sow directly where you want the seeds to grow. They’re fairly cold-tolerant so it's fine to sow once the soil can be worked, up to four weeks before your last frost date. Often germinating within a week, this is a super-easy plant for beginners and children to try, too, and is suitable for zones 3–10.

6. Best for Year-Round Lush Leaves in Hot Zones

Perennial kidney weed (Dichondra repens) is often used as a lawn replacement in Mediterranean countries as it stays green all year-round in mild climates, in sun or partial shade. It can’t cope with prolonged frozen spells, though, so it’s only hardy in zones 8–11. But as long as it’s warm enough, the glossy, deep green kidney-shaped leaves form a lush, springy carpet of foliage, adorned with a sprinkle of tiny yellow flowers in spring and summer.

Naturally low-growing to reach a height of 3 inches, Dichondra repens is low maintenance once established, though you can give it a light mow three or four times a year for the best texture and it will need watering through prolonged dry spells to stay lush.

Sow kidney weed seed, available from Amazon, directly where it’s to grow, once soil temperatures are reliably above 65°F in late spring. The trick to success is to keep the soil consistently moist from sowing through the seedling stage.

7. Best Resistance to Rabbits, Deer & Road-Users

Aurina saxatilis is a perennial that’s often referred to as alyssum, but don't confuse it with annual sweet alyssum. Aurina saxatilis ‘Basket of Gold’ is a particularly good cultivar for groundcover if you struggle to outsmart the local rabbit and deer population as it’s rarely eaten by these big-appetite browsers. It spills so stylishly over a bank or retaining wall and can even cope with salt spray, so it’s a great choice for a front yard or driveway.

'Basket of Gold' is drought- and heat-tolerant, doesn’t mind poor soil and loves a sunny location, forming foot-high mounds of attractive gray-green foliage that’s evergreen in zones 3–10. Bees and butterflies will appreciate the profusion of bright yellow fragrant flowers in spring.

Easy to grow from seed, even for beginner gardeners, it needs temperatures of around 65°F to germinate so sow directly outside after your last frost date or start indoors up to 8 weeks before. Growing Aurina saxatilis from seed is far better than buying plants as it doesn’t like to be moved once established. Aurina saxatilis seeds are available from Eden Brothers.

8. Best For a Tricky Spot with Poor Soil and Dry Conditions

Rock cress (Aubrieta deltoidea) will grow pretty much anywhere, laughing in the face of dry, rocky or sandy soil where most plants struggle to cope. Hardy in zones 4–9, this tough cookie perennial is extremely drought-tolerant once established, and its only requirement is a quick shear to reduce its height by half once it's finished flowering to keep it growing in a low, 6-inch-high carpet of tiny evergreen leaves. In return, rock cress will treat you to an abundance of pretty four-petalled purple flowers in late spring to early summer.

With a shallow yet extensive root system, this is a handy plant to help to stabilise a steep slope, and each will spread to 1–2 feet wide, meaning a packet of seeds can cover a big area.

Aubrieta deltoidea is simple to grow from seed, available from Amazon. The seeds need light to germinate, so press them lightly into moist soil or lightly cover with vermiculite. You can direct-sow after your last frost date or start indoors 6–8 weeks before. They can take up to three weeks to germinate (a little less if they have consistent warmth) so be patient with these little pretties.

9. Best For Acidic Soil

Finding a groundcover plant that’ll thrive on acidic soil is tricky, but here’s a lovely solution that can be grown from seed. Irish moss (Sagina subulata), also known as heath pearlwort, is happy in acidic or neutral soil and grows into dense evergreen cushions 1–2 inches high and up to a foot across that can tolerate light foot traffic.

This perennial is a little particular about where it grows, but give Irish moss the right conditions and it will create a wonderfully textured groundcover, studded with tiny white flowers in summer. It needs moist but well-draining soil and full sun with midday shade, where it’s fast-growing but easy to remove if it spreads too far. Sagina subulata dislikes intense heat and drought so it’s best for the temperate climates of zones 4–7 where it’s reliably hardy through the winter.

It’s similarly straightforward to grow from seed, available from Amazon, as long it you give it the right conditions, sowing outdoors after the last frost once the soil temperature is reliably above 65°F, or indoors a few weeks beforehand. Consistent moisture and light is crucial for germination.