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Flowering Ground Covers That Thrive Beneath Trees
By PEG ALOI
Pachysandra
This shade-loving ground cover has evergreen, star-like clusters of leaves and produces white flowers in summer. It needs room to spread or a garden bed to contain it.
Vinca Minor
Also called periwinkle, this cover grows vigorously in shade. It has small evergreen leaves, and its violet-blue, reddish-purple, or white flowers bloom in spring.
Sweet Woodruff
With light green, pinwheel-shaped leaves and tiny white fragrant spring flowers, this ground cover is low maintenance and non-invasive, and it thrives in shady areas.
Cranesbill Geranium
The easy-to-grow perennial Geranium sanguineum ground cover has rhizome-like roots and many cultivars that produce white, pale pink, or dark magenta flowers.
Lily Of The Valley
This common woodland plant thrives in shade and poor soil and produces tiny fragrant bell-shaped flowers in spring. It’s invasive and needs to be kept confined.