Sometimes, after planting trees and shrubs in your garden, it can feel like there is still something missing. In many cases, that missing element is a ground cover plant that can fill in the gaps between your taller plants while adding color and texture. But ground cover plants are not only beautiful. They are also functional since they can help reduce weeds as well. In this article, we’ll introduce you to 20 of the best ground cover plant species, all of which have white flowers.
Key Takeaways
As you read through this list of the best types of white flower ground cover plants, you will learn a lot about each species. However, there are also a few themes that will occur over and over throughout this article. Below are some key takeaways about white flower ground cover plants.
- White flower ground cover plants are usually short, at less than a foot tall.
- Many white flower ground cover plants spread quickly.
- White flower ground cover plants can be deciduous or evergreen.
- Some popular white ground cover plants are cultivars.
- White flower ground cover plants are excellent at limiting weed growth.
20 Stunning White Flower Ground Cover Plants to Complete Your Planting Beds
1. Bishop Weed (Aegopodium podagraria)
Bishop weed is a beautiful white flowering ground cover that, despite its beauty, grows more commonly in wild settings than it does in people’s gardens. However, although you are more likely to find bishop weed spreading throughout natural areas, this plant is a viable option for anyone who wants a blooming ground cover in their yard. Bishop weed is tal compared to many of the other plants that you’ll soon learn about, as it reaches about half a foot to one foot tall. At the top of this plant, you can find beautiful clusters of white flowers that look like miniature bouquets.
2. Candytuft (Iberis sempervirens)
The most interesting fact about the candytuft plant is that it can vary its growth habit depending on where you grow it. For instance, if you live in the warmer parts of this plant’s growth range, candytuft will grow as an evergreen and is more likely to become a woody plant. However, in colder regions, the candytuft plant is a perennial ground cover that will die back during the winter, only to return once again in spring. But regardless of the region in which candytuft grows, it will consistently provide rounded clusters of white flowers in spring.
3. Creeping Dogwood (Cornus canadensis)
It’s important to recognize plants that don’t often get credit for being as valuable as they are, especially when they often get overshadowed, at times literally, by their more popular relatives. Such is the case for the creeping dogwood, which is far less well-known than the flowering dogwood and kousa dogwoods to which it is related. The creeping dogwood is a phenomenal native ground cover plant that has lovely leaves, flowers with large white bracts, and a set of fruit that follows the flowers and can be just as colorful.
4. Creeping Mazus (Mazus pumilus)
When people look for a ground cover plant, they typically want something that will cover their intended area immediately. While there is no plant that can provide instant results, there are plenty that grows very quickly, and the creeping mazus is one of them. This plant comes from Asia and is not only a fast-spreading species, but it is also quite resilient. You can find this plant colonizing abandoned areas even when no one planted it there intentionally. Creeping mazus also has lovely little flowers that combine both white and a shade of light purple as well.
5. Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata)
If you enjoy seeing a bold pop of color during the early spring months and you are in need of a groundcover, then you are sure to love creeping phlox. When in bloom, the entirety of this plant will consist of flowers that make your garden look like it has a consistent and colorful carpet. Not all creeping phlox plants have white flowers. Some have pink or purple, but no matter what color you get, this flowering ground cover will add plenty of interest to your early spring landscape. In fact, the effect is most impressive when you combine multiple colors of creeping phlox in a single planting scheme.
6. Creeping White Thyme (Thymus serpyllum ‘Albus’)
You are likely more familiar with thyme as a common herb that has many uses in the kitchen. However, did you know that the plant that produces this ingredient is also an ornamental ground cover? When you grow creeping thyme, it will creep along the ground, often filling the spaces between hardscape pavers or the other plants in your garden bed. It will also provide a lovely scent in your garden too. But with that said, most creeping thyme plants have purple flowers. So, if you want white flowers for your creeping thyme, make sure you select the cultivated variety that goes by the name Thymus serpyllum ‘Albus.’
7. Crocus (Crocus)
Earlier, we mentioned a plant that is excellent for providing early spring blooms. Here is another plant that is capable of doing the same task. Crocus plants emerge from the ground with elongated cup-shaped flowers that can come in several colors, with white being one of them. While crocus plants don’t provide complete ground coverage and are only around for a brief time, they remain highly valuable since they can provide color while other plants are dormant. They are also a pleasant reminder that spring is on the way.
8. Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis)
Lily of the valley has dainty white flowers that have a bell shape. Each flower dangles downward from a small, slender stem that rises vertically and then curves sharply downward. The backdrop to those flowers is the foliage of the lily of the valley plant, which is deep green and large with a pointed oval shape that also stands upright. Lily of the valley is native to many regions of the world, including parts of both North America and Eurasia. In most cases, this plant will spread easily and reach a height of about six inches tall at most.
9. Myrtle (Vinca minor ‘Alba’)
Myrtle is one of the most popular and reliable broad-leaved evergreen plants that you can grow. No matter the season, this plant provides coverage thanks to its oval-shaped leaves that hold a glossy green color no matter the month. During spring, this plant blooms with pinwheel-shaped flowers that are typically purple. However, if you choose the variety that has the botanical name Vinca minor ‘Alba,’ you can rely on it to give you pure white blooms every year.
10. Pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis)
Pachysandra is another groundcover option that is incredibly common in residential landscapes. Part of the reason for that popularity comes from the fact that this plant has consistent evergreen foliage that remains dense all year. Pachysandra also spreads rapidly without thinning out at all. In addition to those favorable growth characteristics, these plants are also capable of blooming with small white flowers. Each one has an overall cylindrical shape and a fuzzy texture. Pachysandra is also a plant that you can depend on to survive, even if your growing location does not receive a lot of sunlight each day.
11. Snow in Summer (Cerastium tomentosum)
Snowfall in summer is not something that most people throughout the world expect during that season. However, with the snow in summer ground cover, the appearance of freshly fallen snow in the hot summer months is what you will get. This plant is relatively large for a ground cover and forms small rounded mounds. Each of those mounds will feature pure white flowers in the summer. The stems and leaves of this plant are also light green, sometimes looking like they have hints of white, which further adds to the snowy effect of this plant.
12. Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum)
Gardeners face many challenges when choosing plants for their landscape. One of the most well-known and difficult to overcome of those obstacles is the lack of sunlight. Fortunately, there are a few white flowering ground cover plants that can grow well in those settings. One of the best examples of that is the sweet woodruff which tolerates partial to full shade. Amazingly, this plant is also adaptable to different soil types, including acidic, neutral, and alkaline soils. All the while, this plant will grace your garden with lovely white flowers and frilly leaves.
13. White Ajuga (Ajuga reptans ‘Alba’)
At times, you may be in need of a ground cover that is both beautiful to look at and capable of surviving even when it experiences foot traffic. In those situations, ajuga is one of the best plants you can grow. Ajuga spreads easily where conditions are favorable and is resilient even if you walk on it once in a while. Most ajuga plants have a purple hue to their flowers and leaves. However, this version, known commonly as white ajuga, will provide the pure white blooms you are likely looking for if you are reading this list. White ajuga will also be very easy to care for if you provide the growing requirements it prefers.
14. White Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
White bloodroot, which can go by the name Indian paint, bloodwort, or simply, bloodroot, is a ground cover plant with showy flowers. Each bloom has relatively large petals that surround a bright yellow center. These flowers scatter themselves across the ground and are accompanied by vibrant green leaves that have a unique shape. In the wild, white bloodroot grows best in moist woodland areas, which means you should try to recreate those conditions if you select this plant as the ideal white blooming ground cover for your yard.
15. White Campanula (Campanula betulifolia)
While the white bloodroot plant that we just mentioned has fantastic flowers, the blooms this next plant provides are even more showy and impressive. The white campanula is a perennial ground cover that has large cup-shaped flowers that appear in large quantities. Within each of those cup-shaped flowers is a distinct yellow reproductive structure in the center that gives each bloom contrast. Overall, the white campanula plant is a bit taller than most of the other plants on our list, as it reaches over a foot tall in most cases. However, it still provides good horizontal coverage as well.
16. White Ground Cover Rose (Rosa ‘Flower Carpet White’)
The roses that most people are familiar with have red or pink blooms and come in a shrub form. However, there are roses of all kinds, including some that grow as vines or miniature trees. Along with those options, there are some rare rose versions that can grow as ground covers. Perhaps the best example of this is the aptly named white ground cover rose, which creeps along the ground while providing classic white rose flowers.
17. White Rock Cress (Arabis caucasica)
When you allow a white rock cress to grow and spread as it pleases, it will eventually form a broad swath of pure white flowers. However, you should not let that overall effect let you miss out on the chance to admire the beauty that each individual flower holds. Every bloom on this lovely plant has four distinct white petals that encircle a yellow center point. The flowers stand on slender stems that rise a few inches above the foliage, which is responsible for providing ground coverage.
18. White Spotted Deadnettle (Lamium maculatum ‘White Nancy’)
While most of the plants on our list have amazing white flowers, many of them lack interesting foliage colors that can match the beauty of those blooms. Here we have an exception. As is true of the other plants here, the white spotted deadnettle has great white flowers, but it also has an interesting foliage color too. Each leaf has a loose triangular shape and is mainly green with a strong tint of white that makes them stand out from other leaves in your garden.
19. White Stonecrop Sedum (Sedum album)
Stonecrop sedum plants are known for their ability to survive even when conditions are far from favorable. These plants tolerate dry soils with limited nutrients, and they love to sit in full sunlight. Additionally, this species of sedum comes with small white flowers. The white stonecrop sedum is also resistant to pests and diseases. In fact, as long as you avoid areas that have soils that are prone to waterlogging, then this plant will continue to grow well each year.
20. White Veronica (Veronica longifolia ‘Vernique White’)
In many ways, this final entry stands above the rest. The white veronica plant is exceptionally tall for the groundcover, and most of that height comes from this plant’s flowers, which are long and spike-like. Those flowers are stark white on the ‘Veronique White’ cultivar of this plant, and they point straight up into the sky. As such, if you want a ground cover that not only gives the floor level of your garden more interest but can stand out among other plant types as well, then the white veronica is right for you.
Frequently Asked Questions About White Flower Ground Cover Plants
What is the Fastest Growing Flowering Ground Cover?
There are many ground cover plants that grow very fast, which is why we cannot mention one as being the fastest. Often, people have a strong preference for ground covers that grow quickly since they are able to cover large areas in a relatively short amount of time. However, these plants also come with the downside of being difficult to maintain and control at times. Some of the fastest-growing ground covers you can grow myrtle, phlox, thyme, and sweet woodruff, among many others.
What is the Best Ground Cover to Prevent Weeds?
Another fantastic benefit of ground cover plants is that they can help to suppress unwanted plants in your garden. The reason is that ground covers prevent sunlight from reaching weeds that are attempting to germinate. Generally, the more a ground cover can cover the ground with dense foliage, the better it will be at blocking out weeds. Some of the best plants for that job are creeping phlox, thyme, ajuga, sweet woodruff, and pachysandra.
What is the Toughest Ground Cover?
Many ground cover plants are not only beautiful to look at but also incredibly durable and resilient. One of the best examples of this is the white ajuga plant, which is so durable that you can walk on it, and it will continue to thrive. Sedum ground covers are also quite tough but for different reasons. Their toughness comes from the fact that they can tolerate adverse growing conditions, which means they will grow without issue, even in areas where other plants fail quickly.
What is the Fastest-Growing Evergreen Ground Cover?
Creeping thyme, pachysandra, and myrtle are all examples of ornamental evergreen ground cover plants that grow at a fast rate each growing season. The benefit of choosing a fast-growing ground cover is that it will cover areas of your garden in a short time. The advantage of growing an evergreen ground cover is that you won’t need to worry about your ground cover allowing for large bare patches in your garden during the winter months.
What is the Fastest-Growing Ground Cover for Shade?
Fortunately, there are a few fast-growing ground covers that can survive in shade conditions. Two of the best examples of this are the pachysandra, which is evergreen and dense, and the sweet woodruff, which thrives in forest conditions. Each of these plants will not suffer when growing in either partial shade or full shade. In most cases, their growth rate remains fast as well.
Ground cover plants with white flowers are as interesting as any other type of plant, which means that there are plenty of questions that people have about them. To help you understand this plant group in greater depth, we have answered a few of the most commonly asked questions below.
20 Effective Types of White Flower Ground Cover Plants that Fully Cover Your Garden Floor
Although they are short in stature, white flower ground cover plants can be as beautiful and eye-catching as any other type of plant. As you now know, these plants come in many different forms, all of which share the same trait of having brilliant white flowers. Once you find the one that is right for you, it will quickly cover the ground in your garden and provide beautiful blooms along the way.
