Best Succulent Ground Covers for your Garden

If you have an area in your yard not being utilized and want to plant something that reduces the amount of water you use, succulent ground covers are the perfect option. Not just any succulent can tolerate the nuances that come with landscape design, like extremely hot or freezing temperatures, and full sun to partial sun most of the day. If there are trees that provide shade, this helps open up a whole new world of the succulent landscape possibilities, but for this article's sake we’ll focus on conventional succulent ground covers that will work well with little-to-no access to shade and either and temperate and frost hardy plants.

It should also be noted that before planting a succulent ground cover, you’ll need to first dig out the old soil and replace it with a fast draining succulent and cacti soil. You can find this at any home and garden center. For bonus points you can add a little extra perlite to the mix to ensure extra fast draining capabilities.

Senecio Blue Chalk Sticks

These gorgeous blue - green frosty succulents grow upright. The leaves are about 1 inch tall, and the plant sprawls out 2-3 feet and stands about 1 foot tall. In the Summer months you can expect this succulent to bloom white, yellow or green flowers. This plant is not frost hardy (no snow), but can handle temperatures down to 20 degrees F.

Senecio Blue Chalk Fingers

The green upright grower is much like its cousin, the Blue Chalk Stick, but it has thinner green leaves and lacks the frosty white layer. Grows to about 8 inches tall and forms a mound about 1 foot wide. Blooms white flowers in the Spring and Summer. Not frost hardy, but loves Mediterranean climates. Can handle temperatures down to 45 degrees F.

Sedum

Sedum has all types of varieties that can handle cold freezing temperatures. Usually the thinner the leaf the better it can handle frost.

Soft Sedum Ground Covers

These ground covers do well in climates where the temperature never goes below 50 degrees. The thicker the leaf, the less frost hardy it is.

Sedum Clavatum

This plump, vibrant colored blue-green rosette Sedum sprawls out. In full sun, the leaves get a red tip. Usually grows to about 4-6 inches tall, and sprawls to be 8-10 inches wide.

Sedum Jelly Beans

The upright growing sedum has a lovely red foliage when exposed to ample sunlight. Grows to about 1 foot tall usually. Super easy to propagate, as each leaf can be used to produce new plants.  All you have to do is remove the leaves and set them on top of the soil.  

Frost Hardy Sedum

Frost hardy ground cover Sedums can handle freezing temperatures and typically have thin or tiny leaves. All of these can be easily propagated by leaf or stem.

Blue Tears Sedum

This tiny but mighty Sedum has the tiniest, colorful leaves, and is frost hardy to Zone 5. Colors range from blue, purple, green and pink colors depending on the weather and soil. To propagate simply take a plant and gently rub the leaves off the stems. Take those little leaves and spread them all over your garden to grow many more. Grows to about 8 inches tall.

Sea Urchin Sedum

Lovely green and white thin leafed is frost hardy and can handle temperatures down to 0 degrees F, and has a wonderful texture and leaf shape that looks like a Sea Urchin under the sea.  When it is actively growing this plant will sprawl out in the late Summer.  

Sedum Confusum 

Frost hardy to Zone 5. These trailing tiny sprawling green rosettes turn a reddish color when it gets plenty of sunlight, making it a wonderful ground cover to have in the Spring and Summer months. Grows into a medium sized bush.

Blue Spruce Sedum

The tiny leafed blue colored grows to be about 1 foot tall and is frost hardy to about Zone 3. To propagate these, simply take 3 inches off the top of these plants and plant into the soil.