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12 Plants That Will Keep Weeds Out Of Your Garden

Southern Living 5/18/2023 Kim Toscano

When it comes to weed management in the garden, focusing on prevention will save you from hours spent pulling weeds. Mulch is the most common tool used to keep weeds out of your garden. By preventing light from reaching seeds, mulch reduces weed seed germination. Plants can be used in the same way to cover soil and reduce the amount of sunlight reaching weed seeds. When selecting plants for weed prevention, look for those with a dense canopy to shade the soil.

We’ve rounded up a list of 12 great plants that will keep weeds out of your garden.

Moss Phlox

Botanical Name: Phlox subulata
Sun Exposure: Full Sun
Soil Type: Well-draining, Poor to Average
Soil pH: Moderately Acid to Slightly Alkaline (6.0-8.0)

This mat-forming perennial grows just 4 to 6 inches tall, but spreads up to two feet, covering the soil with a dense moss-like carpet of evergreen foliage. In spring, white, pink, or violet flowers cover plants and draw butterflies with their spectacular show. Moss phlox is great for erosion control on slopes or planting as a groundcover beneath roses and other shrubs.

Hardy Plumbago

Botanical Name: Ceratostigma plumbaginoides
Sun Exposure: Full Sun to Partial Shade
Soil Type: Well-draining, Moist
Soil pH: Slightly Acidic to Mildly Alkaline (6.1-7.8)

An aggressive groundcover for sun to part shade, hardy plumbago adapts to a variety of growing conditions, making a wonderful groundcover for repeating across a landscape. True-blue flowers and beautiful burgundy-red fall foliage provide interest from late summer through fall. Watch for butterflies and hummingbirds sipping nectar from the flowers.

Lamb’s Ear

Botanical Name: Stachys byzantina
Sun Exposure: Full Sun
Soil Type: Well-draining, Average
Soil pH: Slightly Acidic to Mildly Alkaline (6.1-7.8)

Weeds don’t stand a chance beneath the dense rosettes of velvety, silver-gray foliage characteristic of lamb’s ear. Plants spread by rhizome to produce a soft dense mat. This is a great plant for challenging places, as plants tolerate black walnuts, rocky soils, and drought, and resist deer and rabbit browsing. The cultivar 'Helene Von Stein' has some of the best foliage.

Lenten Rose

Botanical Name: Helleborus orientalis
Sun Exposure: Part to Full Shade
Soil Type: Well-draining, Rich
Soil pH: Neutral to Mildly Alkaline (7.0-8.0)

Beloved for their late winter flowers, hellebores or Lenten roses produce thick, evergreen foliage in dense mounds reaching up to 18 inches in diameter. Plant in masses beneath trees and large shrubs for an evergreen groundcover. Plants will slowly naturalize in woodland gardens through self-seeding.

Green and Gold

Botanical Name: Chrysogonum virginianum
Sun Exposure: Full to Partial Shade
Soil Type: Well-draining, Rich
Soil pH: Acidic (5.0-6.8)

A colorful flowering groundcover for shady gardens, green and gold blooms all summer long, producing sunny yellow blossoms atop beds of rich green foliage. This southeastern native looks lovely as an edging along woodland paths. Plants spread by rhizomes and self-seeding to form an attractive groundcover.

Bugleweed

Botanical Name: Ajuga reptans
Sun Exposure: Full Sun to Full Shade
Soil Type: Well-draining, Average
Soil pH: Acidic (<6.0)

Bugleweed spreads quickly by stolon to form a compact mat of lush foliage in green, purple, or ruby hues. The evergreen to semi-evergreen foliage is topped by vibrant purple flower spikes in mid to late spring. Bugleweed tolerates all light levels, making a useful groundcover for repeating through the landscape.

Hosta

Botanical Name: Hosta species and hybrids
Sun Exposure: Partial to Full Shade
Soil Type: Well-draining, Rich
Soil pH: Neutral (6.5–7.5)

With their broad leaves and dense clumping habit, hostas provide plenty of competition against weeds. The broad foliage grows as a rosette, varying in size from 6 inches to 3 feet in diameter, depending on cultivar. Lavender blooms stand above the foliage in summer, inviting hummingbirds to dine.

Catmint

Botanical Name: Nepeta racemosa 'Walker's Low'
Sun Exposure: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil Type: Well-draining, Average
Soil pH: Slightly Acidic to Mildly Alkaline (6.0-8.0)

'Walker's Low' catmint is not a groundcover but a mounding perennial growing 2 to 3 feet tall and wide. Though it dies back in winter, the plant quickly regrows in spring to cover exposed soil before weeds can get established. With gray-green foliage and aromatic blooms that cover plants on and off from early summer to fall, catmint makes a perfect filler for any style garden.

Fragrant Sumac

Rob Routledge, Sault College, Bugwood.org

Botanical Name: Rhus aromatica 'Gro-Low'
Sun Exposure: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil Type: Well-draining, Average
Soil pH: Acidic to Alkaline (5.0 to 8.0)

When you need to cover a lot of ground this native shrub fits the bill. Growing two feet tall and spreading up to 8 feet wide, 'Gro-Low' sumac is excellent for stabilizing slopes or naturalizing in native gardens. Plants tolerate a range of soil conditions, including poor soil, and thrive where other plants fail.

Creeping Juniper

Botanical Name: Juniperus horizontalis
Sun Exposure: Full
Soil Type: Well-draining, Average
Soil pH: Acidic to Neutral (5.0-7.0)

Though creeping juniper doesn’t spread like many groundcovers, its long, trailing branches hug the ground giving the plant its common name. Many tried and true cultivars like 'Blue Chip' and 'Blue Rug' feature scaly blue-green foliage, while several new varieties have bright yellow to gold foliage that shifts color with the seasons. This sprawling evergreen works well in hot, dry areas.

Allegheny Spurge

USDA Forest Service - Region 8 - Southern , USDA Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Botanical Name: Pachysandra procumbens
Sun Exposure: Full to Partial Shade
Soil Type: Well-draining, Rich
Soil pH: Acidic (5.5-6.5)

Not as aggressive as its Japanese counterpart, Allegheny spurge is a native, herbaceous perennial groundcover that slowly spreads by rhizomes to form a dense colony. Plants bloom in early spring, sending up fragrant white blooms before the new foliage emerges with its silver-green mottling. Allegheny spurge thrives in dappled shade under large trees and tolerates heavy shade.

Cheddar Pinks

Botanical Name: Dianthus gratianapolitanus 'Firewitch'
Sun Exposure: Full
Soil Type: Well-draining, Rich
Soil pH: Neutral to Slightly Alkaline (7.0-8.0)

'Firewitch' cheddar pink is a gorgeous evergreen perennial with silver-blue foliage spreading to form a dense mat. Stunning, clove-scented blooms cover plants in a flush of magenta pink for several weeks in spring. Flowers make excellent cut flowers and attract butterflies to the garden.

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