Hedera canariensis
This fast-growing evergreen has thick, shiny, deep green, lobed leaves with reddish stems. New growth is a light green color. It rarely produces flowers, but if it does, they are whitish green in color. Algerian ivy can…
Asparagus densiflorus ‘Sprengeri’
Asparagus fern is a mounding, spreading, evergreen that grows one to two feet with a three-foot spread. It is a fast-growing plant with bright green to yellow green, airy, fernlike, delicate leaves, and tiny thorns. It’s…
Aptenia cordifolia
This sprawling plant forms a dense mat that grows in flat clumps along the ground from six to twelve inches tall. It has bright green, heart-shaped, succulent leaves and small, reddish-purple to pinkish-purple, button-li…
Melampodium leucanthum
This low-growing plant with aromatic, daisy-like flowers has a mounded appearance with narrow grayish-green foliage. It grows to about one foot tall and eighteen inches wide. Small, abundant, white, daisy-like flowers wi…
Gaillaridia x grandiflora
The perennial continuous-flowering, rounded plant grows two to three feet tall from a taproot and spreads by underground rhizomes. It produces striking flowers and linear, dark green leaves that are serrated with coarse,…
Carpobrotus chilensis
The succulent evergreen with brilliant blooms has three-sided leaves that form a thick, fleshy green mat. The common ice plant grows six inches to one foot, spreading three feet through an aggressive rooting system. Its…
Dalea greggii
Creeping Dalea, also known as “Trailing Indigo Bush,” is an attractive, low-growing perennial with small silvery-gray leaves. Although solitary plants can be grown, <em>Dalea greggii</em> is often used in groupings as a…
Chrysactinia mexicana
Native to western Texas and Mexico, Damianita is a star performer in the arid Southwest. The bright green, needlelike leaves create a nice contrast to the flowers that bloom much of the year. This plant has a long bloom…
Baileya multiradiata
Desert marigold grows twelve inches tall and wide with fuzzy greenish-gray leaves and a compact, mounded shape. While a short-lived plant, it beautifies the landscape by producing bright yellow, daisy-like blossoms that…
Jacobaea maritima
The shrubby perennial grows one to two feet tall and wide in a mounding form. It is known for its silvery-blue, velvety-textured foliage that is intricate and lacey. The stems are covered with long, white, matted hairs.…
Hedera helix
English ivy is a hardy evergreen with dark green, glossy, lobed leaves growing six to eight feet when used as a groundcover. It climbs to fifty feet when used as a vine. The plant climbs and creeps by aboveground roots t…
Gazania rigens
The gazania has a compact, mounding growth habit and produces beautiful flowers and dark blue or green dandelion-like leaves that grow one foot high and wide. In spring, large, daisy-like blooms appear that come in a var…
Thymophylla pentachaeta
This low-growing, tufted, herbaceous perennial is a short-lived plant that grows seven inches tall and wide. It re-seeds itself each year during the summer monsoon and re-grows each season with warm weather. The plant ha…
Calylophus hartwegii subsp. fendleri
This fast-growing, bushy, perennial with linear, green foliage and showy flowers grows one foot high and two inches wide. During the spring and early summer, it develops small, yellow, buttercup-like blossoms. The flower…
Aptenia cordifolia
Hearts and Flowers <em>(Aptenia cordifolia)</em> is a fast growing, perennial succulent commonly used as a ground cover. This sprawling plant forms a dense mat that spreads in 3-foot wide clumps reaching a height of 6 to…
Drosanthemum speciosum ‘rosea’
Ice Plant mixes well with other desert-adapted plants either as a filler in containers or as a ground cover. It forms a dense mat of sparkling leaves and brilliant colored flowers. The small, pill-shaped leaves have tiny…
Dalea capitata
The sprawling, aromatic plant grows eight inches tall and three feet wide with lush, fine-textured, light green foliage and small, yellow flowers. It is fast-growing and forms a mound of dense foliage that makes it a gre…
Oenothera speciosa
The showy, semi-evergreen is admired for its magnificent pink, four-petal, bell-shaped flowers. It spreads in the landscape by underground rhizomes or seed to form extensive colonies growing from eight to twelve inches t…
Vinca major
The low-growing evergreen spreads and roots along the ground with its trailing, arching stems, forming a dense mat. It has dark glossy green, slightly hairy foliage with pointed tips. In early spring, it produces purplis…
Glandularia peruviana
The fast-growing groundcover with its colorful flowers reaches six inches or taller, with a three- to six-foot spread. It trails and spreads along the ground, producing new herbaceous roots as it grows to form a dense ma…
Myoporum parvifolium
Prostrate myoporum has grass green, narrow leaves evenly spaced in spirals around horizontally spreading stems. It is commonly used as a ground cover. A profusion of small white flowers appear in the spring and continue…
Tradescantia pallida
This attractive perennial is noted for its violet purple leaves and low-growing habit to one foot with an almost equal spread. The undersides of its narrow, oblong leaves are deep violet to pink. The plant is a vigorous…
Verbena rigida
Sandpaper Verbena has large, rough sandpaper-like leaves and stiff, upright branches. <i>Verbena rigida</i> is one of the largest members of the verbena family, growing to 2 feet tall by 4 feet wide. It is very hardy and…
Bulbine frutescens
The succulent evergreen with fleshy, smooth, aloe-like green leaves is low-maintenance and easy to grow. It spreads by underground rhizomes, creating clumps of growth that reach heights of eighteen inches and spreads of…
Ipomoea batatas
Sweet potato vine is fast-growing reaching heights of six to twelve inches with a spread of one to three feet. It has dark green or deep purple, heart-shape, lobed leaves. The variety ‘Blackie’ has the darker purple foli…
Viola odorata
The fast-growing, long-lived evergreen reaches four inches tall with aromatic, violet flowers and small, heart-shaped foliage that is slightly serrated and dark green in color. It grows in a rosette with creeping runners…
Acacia redolens
Native to Australia, trailing acacia is a low growing and wide spreading ground cover. It grows to about 1 foot tall and can spread to 12 feet across. The leathery leaves are actually the modified petiole of a “true” lea…
Osteospermum fruticosum
The colorful evergreen with its striking, daisy-like flowers is used to cover large, open areas, spreading by green stems that root into the ground to form a dense carpet of groundcover. The fast-growing plant reaches he…
Lantana montevidensis
Trailing Lantana is native to South America. Lavender to white colored flowers accent the trailing growth habit of this ground cover. Trailing lantana is immune to desert heat, tolerates almost any soil condition, and is…
Rosmarinus officinalis ‘prostratus’
One of the best and toughest ground cover plants for arid regions, Trailing Rosemary does well in nutrient-poor and shallow soils. This plant tolerates great heat and blazing sun as well as cold. Dark green leaves grow t…
