Native groundcover plant options for every garden environment | Gardening 101 | Gardening Australia

Sophie shows us some of her top groundcover picks for different purposes, to show there’s a plant for every and any garden. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
Groundcovers are a loosely defined concept, but basically it means plant that aren’t going to get much taller than 20cm, and spread laterally as they grow. They can be woody or herbaceous, perennial or annual and can include things like strappy leaved plants, flowering shrubs or even ferns.
Not only do they look beautiful, groundcovers also offer practical benefits. They can suppress weeds, prevent what would otherwise be bare soil from drying out, mitigate radiant heat from the sun, provide valuable habitat and even stop sloping garden beds from sliding!

BOMBPROOF/DICHONDRA REPENS:
If you’ve tried it all before and you’re still having no luck, don’t despair. Sophie’s got something that will thrive under even the blackest of thumbs.
Commonly known as Kidney Weed, Dichondra repens is a dense, mat-forming plant, with small green leaves that are shaped like a kidney. Native and widespread to everywhere in Australia except the NT, it’s easy to see why. Spreading via runners, it will rapidly form lush green carpets in almost all conditions, and take some serious drought before it’s leathery leaves start to wither. It’s not fussy about light either, full sun to full shade for this bad boy.
The rapid spread means Dichondra is a great low-water, no-mow lawn substitute. A few tubestock will colonise a large area within a year, and larger pots can be broken up into clumps to plant out.

BIRD ATTRACTING/KENNEDIA PROSTRATA:
Groundcovers are invaluable for boosting habitat in your garden. If they’re dense and softly woody it’s perfect shelter from predators for invertebrates, reptiles and even small birds.
If you’re after a groundcover that will boost your backyard bird numbers, you need Kennedia prostrata. It’s a prostrate or twining shrub with large, bright red pea flowers, earning it the common name “running postman”. The flowers bring birds in, dripping with nectar and designed for little beaks. Because they’re held low to the ground they’re especially attractive to smaller, more timid birds that will also appreciate the shelter of the woody mound it creates as it grows.
It has a spread of around a metre and a half, it will blanket an area in leathery green leaves without being aggressive.

SOPHIE’S PICK:
If you need something that’s got more muscle to compete with interlopers, Sophie’s got a hot pick. She’s trialled many groundcovers at her place, but there’s one that really impressed her. It’s the broadleafed form of Myoporum parvifolium. She’s got it growing up either side of her driveway where the spreading low shrub provides fruit and flowers for birds and insects alike, and the evergreen foliage an attractive, no-fuss carpet.
It brings a lot to the table and will do well in most conditions, but really thrives in full sun and well drained soil. There’s different forms available as well; things like purple foliage or different shaped leaves.

ARID CLIMATES/EREMOPHILA BISERRATA:
If you’re in an arid area please don’t think we’ve forgotten about you. Chances are you’re on very sandy, low-nutrient soil that gets bakingly hot for most of the year and you need something that’s going to grow and thrive in these conditions. These eastern-seaboard recommendations just aren’t going to cut it. Enter Eremophila biserrata.
Dark, rich-green serrated leaves and yellowy green flowers with a small purple strip flowers appear from late Spring to mid Summer and are usually promptly swamped by honeyeaters, who hop all over the plant to get to them.

FILLING THE GAPS:
Maybe you’ve laid some pavers and need something to fill in the gaps between the stonework. Look at the native violet (Viola hederacea). Spreading via stolons this delightful little running herbaceous ground cover will quickly fill any gaps with small purple flowers, and will readily take the occasional bit of foot traffic. The flowers are also edible.
It will do better in some shade and with some water, but will only start to complain under the harshest sun.
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