Are Groundcovers Invasive?

It is perhaps an indication of how small my garden is, and hence, how little need there is for groundcovers, that I never really thought about them before. But it stands to reason that if a plant is expected to cover some ground it should be able to spread. In my garden, the only difference between my few groundcovers is the speed and the method of spreading.

My favorite groundcover is cyclamen. Most people grow cyclamen in pots, and even in my area they are almost never seen in the ground. Yet they are very happy here, and spread very fast.

The flowers form seedpods...

... and a few months later, I have baby cyclamen everywhere.















They begin blooming in their second year. In my courtyard cyclemen have become so tightly clustered that nothing else can grow with them, which makes these plants invasive in the true sense of the word.

I bought this veronica (v. montana?) 2 years ago because it reminded me of forget-me-nots, which I love but can't grow here.

The little 4" plant has since spread by tip-rooting to cover about 3 square feet. It looks lovely in early spring.

However, the little stems started going right over lawn edging and into the lawn creating a bit of a maintenance issue: I now have to cut them back a few times a year. It is worth it for me.

I love the exuberance of candytuft (iberis sempervirens), which blooms so profusely in spring that one can barely see the leaves.

My plants originally came in little 2" pots and have grown into sizable mounds of at least 10 times their original spread. I thought they were just growing wider until I pulled up some of the stalks, and saw they were rooting as they spread.







Bacopa (sutera cordata) is a lovely groundcover with a long season of bloom, but one plant is capable of spreading to at least 4'. I cut mine back a few times a year.

I grow lots of herbs, many of which can be considered groundcovers. Trailing rosemary tip roots and will spread forever, but slowly. So will oregano and sage. Mint spreads like wildfire. All of them will cover the ground in a tight mat preventing weed growth very effectively.









All my groundcovers present a tradeoff between serving as beautiful living mulch (keeping the soil cooler and supressing weeds) and requiring periodic maintenance to keep them in their allotted space. From now on, as I look for more of them, I will keep this in mind.