Ground Cover That Pulls Moisture From Ground

Multi-Colored Ground Covers

• While searching for the perfect moisture-loving ground cover, consider the beauty and adaptability of the plant to your garden's overall theme. For example, the plant houttuynia cordata chameleon, commonly called the "chameleon" plant, is a multi-colored moisture lover that adds three seasons of interest to your landscape. Its tri-colored leaves add a decorative accent to any garden, and it is both insect- and disease-resistant.

Spring Bloomer

• Brunnera macrophylla, more commonly called "heartleaf brunera," makes a good choice for a moisture-loving ground cover. It has heart-shaped, fuzzy-looking leaves, and in the spring, its blooms have a baby blue color. This plant, which spreads rapidly and is under 12 inches in height, also self-seeds.

A Wetland Paradise

• Planting euonymus fortunei, better known as "dart's blanket," is key to turning a too-moist patch of your landscape into a wetland garden. The additional advantage of this evergreen shrub is that is salt-tolerant, a bonus if you live close to an ocean. Its summertime green leaves turn reddish-purple in the autumn, and it grows well in wetter areas and spreads rapidly.

Tips

• In selecting the ground cover for a moist area of your garden, consider the hardiness of the plant, its full-growth size, blooming time and appearance, the same considerations that govern selection of plants in any other part of your landscape. For a ground cover, however, you must also consider its spreading tendencies and rate of growth in your area's plant hardiness zone.