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Acting as their own living mulch to lock moisture in the ground, these 7 flowering plants are a showstopper solution for tired beds in July, and will bring bobby-dazzler blooms that last into fall.
By Emma Kendell
Published
23 July 2026
In Features
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Jump to category:
- 1. Groundbreaker Hydrangea
- 2. Drift Rose
- 3. Blue Waterfall Bellflower
- 4. Firewitch Dianthus
- 5. Silvery Sunproof Liriope
- 6. Cool Wave Pansies
- 7. SunSparkler Dazzling Dynamite Sedum
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A great solution for heatwave summers, low-growing groundcover plants act as a living mulch to lock moisture into the soil and protect roots from extreme temperatures. And groundcover doesn’t need to be boring! These fabulously flamboyant flowering groundcover plants will bring months of beautiful blooms to borders, and keep your garden full of color into fall.
If it’s been a while since you looked at groundcover plants, you’ll be astonished to discover some dazzling new varieties that combine all the benefits of traditional groundcover with the ornamental delights usually only seen in far taller plants. There’s even a groundcover hydrangea for goodness sake!
So forget the usual fodder of forgettable groundcover and try a showstopper instead. Here’s my pick of the most eye-catching groundcover plants to keep your soil cool and your borders packed with blooms into fall.
Let’s start with the plant most likely to cause serious neighbor envy, shall we? Because if you plant this groundcover carpet of color-changing hydrangea blooms, expect everyone to ask what is! The fabulous new Groundbreaker series of hydrangeas brings all the beauty of the perennial blooms we all know and love to ground level. The world’s first-ever spreading groundcover hydrangea, this plant grows out instead of up, only reaching 12-16 inches high yet spreading up to 32 inches wide. Well-branched stems mean lots of conical flowers, and the blooming period lasts a whopping 100 days.
Launched two years ago, Groundbreaker hydrangeas only became available to buy in the United States in July 2026, and they’re proving hugely popular. And no wonder: growing panicle hydrangeas is straightforward to begin with, but these have been bred to be especially low maintenance.
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So if you want one, you’d better be quick as these beautiful hydrandgeas are selling out fast. At the time of writing, all three Groundbreaker hydrangea varieties are available from Plant Addicts. Groundbreaker Blush Hydrangea has large white flower panicles in midsummer that gradually develop blush pink tones. Groundbreaker Ruby Hydrangea also blooms white but its flowers deepen to a rich ruby red, while Groundbreaker Greeny Hydrangea transitions the other way with blooms opening a bright lime green then gradually softening to a creamy white.
The series of Drift roses are a cross between full-size groundcover roses and miniature roses, so while they’ll bring abundant color to a border, they won’t take over. These rebloomers produce wave after wave of flowers from spring till late fall and are self-cleaning, which means you don’t need to deadhead. They’re super-easy to look after, too, being highly resilient against common rose issues including black spot and powdery mildew.
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There are all sorts of fabulous colors to choose from, and some have transitioning tones. In fact, the only downside to these low-maintenance roses is that they only have a mild scent, or no fragrance at all.
Nature Hills stocks a great selection of Drift roses. Popcorn Drift blooms a golden yellow and transitions to cream, while Coral Drift, Peach Drift and Apricot Drift also have color-shifting blooms in a variety of warm tones. Sweet Drift is a ravishing pink with around 30 petals on each flower, while Pink Drift has simple single blooms that are better for pollinators. Red Drift holds its bright scarlet color even in a hot summer.
There are lots of good things to say about this pretty plant, but perhaps its finest asset is that it’s often employed by landscape designers, so instantly brings a professional look. While Campanula poscharskyana ‘Camgood’ is typically housed in a pot or a hanging basket, its trailing stems make excellent groundcover, speedily spreading around larger plants.
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And this little perennial is sure to attract attention with its ice-blue star-shaped flowers that last through summer into fall.
While this perennial grows quickly, it doesn’t run out of control, and happily thrives in pretty much any soil, as long as it gets at least 5 hours of sunlight a day. The small, bright green heart-shaped leaves are super-pretty, too. Blue Waterfall Bellflower plants are available from Plant Addicts.
Yes, small gardens need groundcover too! Firewitch dianthus makes for brilliant groundcover in a small garden as it’s incredibly well-behaved but works hard to form a dense, weed-blocking mat of pretty silvery-blue leaves. With a flurry of pink flowers all through spring and summer – and fall, if you shear off faded blooms – Dianthus gratianopolitanus was bred to give maximum color for minimum effort.
What’s more, the spicy, clove-like scent of the flowers is a wonderful addition to hot summer days, while the foliage is evergreen in most climates.
Each plant spreads to around a foot wide so, depending on the size of your border, you’ll need to add a few, and single and multi-pack Firewitch Dianthus plants are available from Fast Growing Trees.
This variegated monkey grass forms clumps rather than spreads, so it makes excellent groundcover to underplant a border of bigger perennials or shrubs where controlling a more vigorous plant would be tricky. This drought-tolerant plant can even cope in dry shade once established, so it won’t mind a jot that trees and shrubs are sucking most of the moisture out of the soil.
The striped leaves are evergreen in most climates and, in midsummer, purple flower spikes add to the show and last through fall. Liriope ‘Silvery Sunproof’ plants are available from Nature Hillsand are tolerant of pollution so will thrive roadside, and is even rated as Firewise in several states. While monkey grass typically needs partial shade to thrive, this variety tolerates sunlight far better than most others.
These little gems light up a tired border and don’t be fooled by the dainty, delicate appearance – they're tough cookies and bloom for months on end. In fact, this is one of the longest-blooming pansies available. While pansies are typically planted in patio pots and hanging baskets, this is a trailing variety so spreads to form groundcover in a border and quickly but politely fills gaps between bigger perennials. Pansies can be planted in summer in zones up to 9, so put this on your list of July garden jobs.
How Cool Wave pansies behave will depend on your climate, but they’re an excellent way to bridge the summer-to-fall gap in all zones. In zones 5 through 11 they’ll survive the winter: in zones 5-6, they’re dormant through winter but bounce back in spring; in zones 7-9, they’ll bloom pretty much continuously through all four seasons; in zones 10-11, wait for the intense heat of summer to pass before planting for endless cool-season flowers. In cooler zones 4 and below, treat these beauties as annuals and plant afresh each spring.
Pansies prefer cooler conditions and will fade in hot temperatures so, in a hotter zone, plant in a partially shady spot that doesn’t bake in the midday sun; in cooler zones, it’s fine in full sun.
Pansies can be challenging to grow from seed so it’s best to skip straight to the good bit with young plants. Cool Wave Morpho pansy plants are available from Burpee in a striking purple-blue and yellow combo, and the color intensifies as temperatures drop. Cool Wave Raspberry Swirl pansy plants are also available from Burpee, with a pretty mix of rosy, golden tones.
If you want to add color to a border without upping the workload, Sedum ‘Dazzling Dynamite’ should be your go-to solution. This well-behaved low-growing perennial is extremely heat- and drought-tolerant once established, and while pollinators love it, deer typically don’t touch it. That burgundy-red foliage is vibrant enough on its own, but when topped with bright pink flowers through summer and fall, SunSparkler Dazzling Dynamite Sedum is a real showstopper.
Unlike some sedums that fade in summer heat, this keeps its color well, and Dazzling Dynamite plants are available from Nature Hills. The succulent leaves slowly spread to form a dense mat, even on poor soil, making this one of the most low-maintenance groundcover plants you can get.
Emma is an avid gardener and has worked in media for over 25 years. Previously editor of Modern Gardens magazine, she regularly writes for the Royal Horticultural Society. She loves to garden hand-in-hand with nature and her garden is full of bees, butterflies and birds as well as cottage-garden blooms. As a keen natural crafter, her cutting patch and veg bed are increasingly being taken over by plants that can be dried or woven into a crafty project.<\/p>","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-25/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); }
Emma KendellContent Editor
Emma is an avid gardener and has worked in media for over 25 years. Previously editor of Modern Gardens magazine, she regularly writes for the Royal Horticultural Society. She loves to garden hand-in-hand with nature and her garden is full of bees, butterflies and birds as well as cottage-garden blooms. As a keen natural crafter, her cutting patch and veg bed are increasingly being taken over by plants that can be dried or woven into a crafty project.
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