A recent landscape trend is to use more ground covers to
provide a low-maintenance,
naturalized look.

Ground covers are excellent plants for beds under trees,
where most shrubs do poorly
due to competition.

Planting ground covers — or anything else — in the fall
allows the roots to establish
during a relatively cool, wet time. With early fall planting,
the roots may have six to
eight months to establish before the typically hot, dry
summer.

Fall planting can increase the number of plants that survive
and the growth in the
first year following planting. Fall and winter are also the best
time to transplant.

Ground covers may require weeding at first, but that is
usually greatly reduced once
they’re established. In fact, once established, many ground
covers don’t have to be
watered, either.

Three such easy-to-maintain ground covers — ivy, Liriope and
Vinca — can be found in
many attractive varieties. Here are some of the best.

Ivy (Hedera helix)

• ‘Chester’ has yellow and green variegated
  form.
• ‘English’ has dark green, heavily veined
  leaves.
• ‘Glacier’ has variegated leaves with
  white edges.
• ‘Gold Dust’ has light green leaves dusted
  with yellow variegation.
• ‘Hahn’s’ is a self-branching ivy. It’s
  similar to ‘English’ but
  tolerates sun better.
• ‘Needlepoint’ is green with sharp-point
  lobes.
• ‘Thorndale’ has green foliage with showy,
  creamy-white veins.
• ‘Wilsonii’ has dark green leaves with
  curly edges.

Liriope

• ‘Aztec Grass’ is upright and clump-
  forming, with variegated growth.
• ‘Big Blue’ has clumps of coarse, dark
  green leaves up to 18 inches
  long. It’s the most commonly used liriope, blooming in
  midsummer with lavender flowers.
• ‘Evergreen Giant’ is clump-forming, with
  leaves 24 to 30 inches long
  and lavender blooms. It prefers shade in hot areas. It’s not
  as cold hardy as other
  Liriopes and should be considered an annual above Macon. It
  does best in well-drained
  soils.
• ‘Majestic’ has deep violet flowers above
  dark green leaves 12 inches
  high.
• ‘Monroe’s White’ has green leaves with
  white flowers. It requires
  shade.
• ‘Silver Midget’ has grass-like foliage up
  to 12 inches tall with a thin
  band of variegation along the leaf edge.
• ‘Silver Dragon’ has bright white
  variegated leaves on a spreading
  plant. It maintains its variegation in shade.
• ‘Royal Purple’ looks much like Big Blue,
  except the flowers are a dark
  purple instead of light lavender.

Vinca

• Vinca major ‘Green’ has green foliage and
  large leaves.
• Vinca major ‘Variegata’ has green and
  white foliage, with the same
  growing habit as Green.
• Vinca minor ‘Alba’ has evergreen, dark
  green foliage with white
  flowers.
• Vinca minor ‘Bowles’ has small leaves
  with deep blue flowers.