The best ground cover for shade depends on your soil. For moist, acidic shade, plant native partridge berry or running cedar. For fast evergreen cover under trees, vinca minor (periwinkle) forms a dense 4 to 6 inch mat. For taller native texture, add Christmas fern. Space vinca about 12 inches apart, or one plant per square foot.
This guide comes from TN Nursery, the third-generation family nursery in Altamont, Tennessee, growing native trees and plants since 1959. This site is our customer education site, here to help before and after you order. Shade is where lawns give up: grass thins under trees, bare soil washes off slopes, and weeds move in. A low, spreading groundcover fills that space and keeps it green with little mowing or fuss. The trick is matching the plant to the kind of shade you have. Moist woodland shade with acidic soil suits our native picks, while drier ground under big trees needs a tougher spreader. Below are four shade groundcovers we ship bare-root and dormant, with the light, soil and height each one needs. You can browse more in our ground cover plants collection. After the picks, you will find how many plants to order, how far apart to set them, and how to plant bare roots between tree roots.
Best ground cover for shade
1. Partridge Berry: native evergreen for moist shade
Partridge Berry is native to the woods of eastern North America and stays evergreen all year. It grows only 2 to 4 inches tall, spreading slowly as its trailing stems root along the ground. Small, fragrant white flowers open in spring, followed by bright red berries that hold through winter. Give it low to moderate light and moist, well-drained, acidic to neutral soil. Direct sun can scorch the leaves. Hardy in zones 3 to 8.
Tip: Mulch around it to hold moisture; it dislikes both drying out and soggy ground.
2. Vinca minor: fast evergreen cover under trees
Vinca minor, listed at TN Nursery as both Vinca Minor Vine and Periwinkle Plant, covers bare shade fast. It forms a dense evergreen mat 4 to 6 inches tall. Blue, purple or white flowers open in spring and rebloom lightly through summer. It grows in partial to full shade, suits ground under trees, and handles dry spells once established. It is not native, so if you garden beside natural woods, the native picks here may suit you better.
Tip: Trim back runners that reach paths or flower beds; it spreads quickly.
3. Running cedar: native evergreen for drier shade
Running Cedar is a low evergreen native to eastern North American woodlands. It stays 2 to 6 inches tall and keeps its green all year. It thrives in partial to full shade with low to moderate light, and prefers well-drained, acidic soil. Unlike partridge berry, it tolerates soil from moist to dry, which makes it a native choice where shady ground dries out between rains. Hardy in zones 3 to 8.
Tip: Soak the bare roots for about two hours before planting, then mulch the base.
4. Christmas fern: taller native cover for woodland shade
Christmas Fern is native to forests across the eastern United States, and its fronds stay green through winter. At 1 to 2 feet tall and wide, it fills a shady bed with texture rather than a flat carpet. It likes partial to full shade and well-drained, nutrient-rich soil kept moist but not waterlogged. Once established, it can handle short dry periods. Hardy in zones 3 to 8.
Tip: Pair it with partridge berry: ferns above, berries and evergreen leaves below.
Spacing and planting bare roots under trees
For vinca minor, an Ask Extension expert advises 12 inches between plants, which works out to one plant per square foot. A 10 by 10 foot bed of 100 square feet therefore takes about 100 plants. Wider spacing costs less but fills in slower: at 18 inches apart, each plant covers about 2.25 square feet, so the same bed needs roughly 45. Partridge berry spreads slowly, so a bed of it takes longer to close at the same spacing. For any spacing, divide 144 by the square of the spacing in inches to get plants per square foot. Under trees, plant bare roots in small pockets between the tree's roots rather than tilling the whole area. Soak the roots before planting, set each plant at the depth it grew, and firm the soil around it. Water well, then spread a thin layer of mulch to hold moisture and keep weeds down while the groundcover spreads. Plant soon after the box arrives, while the plants are still dormant.
Care and keeping: First-year care: bare-root groundcovers arrive dormant, so expect roots and little or no green at first. Keep the soil evenly moist, never soggy, through the first growing season, especially under trees where roots compete for water. Refresh mulch as it thins, pull weeds while the plants knit together, and trim runners only to keep them in bounds.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best ground cover for dry shade?
Of the plants above, vinca minor is the toughest choice for dry shade under trees: it handles dry spells once established and spreads fast. For a native option, running cedar tolerates moist to dry acidic soil. Water either one regularly through its first season while the new roots settle in.
What are some low-growing groundcovers?
Partridge berry is the lowest here at 2 to 4 inches tall. Running cedar stays 2 to 6 inches, and vinca minor reaches 4 to 6 inches. All three are evergreen, so they keep shade beds green in winter. Christmas fern is taller, at 1 to 2 feet.
What ground cover blooms all summer?
None of these shade picks flowers nonstop. Vinca minor comes closest: its blue, purple or white flowers open in spring and rebloom lightly through summer. Partridge berry flowers in spring, then carries red berries through winter, which keeps a shady bed interesting long after the flowers fade.
Keep reading
