- Small plants other than saplings, such as mosses, ferns, grasses, and undershrubs, growing on a forest floor; undergrowth.
- A low-growing dense growth of plants, such as pachysandra or crown vetch, planted for ornamental purposes or to prevent soil erosion in areas where turf is difficult to grow, as in deep shade or on a steep slope.
- A plant used for such a growth.
ground cover
|
Dictionary:
ground cover ground·cov·er (ground'kŭv'ər) |
also n.
| Architecture: ground cover |
1. Low planting, often maintenance-free, used in masses.
2. A thin plastic sheet, or the like, spread over the ground in a crawl space to minimize moisture penetration.
| Gardener's Dictionary: ground cover |
A plant such as English ivy, lilyturf, or pachysandra used to cover the soil and form a continuous low mass of foliage. Ground covers are often used as durable, undemanding substitutes for turfgrass.
| Wikipedia: Groundcover |
Groundcover refers to any plant that grows over an area of ground, used to provide protection from erosion and drought, and to improve its aesthetic appearance (by concealing bare earth).
Contents |
Ecosystem
In an ecosystem, the ground cover is the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer. The most widespread groundcovers are grasses of various types.
Gardening
In gardening terms, however, the term groundcover refers to non-grass plants that are used in place of grasses.
Plants for groundcover
Four general types of plants are commonly used as groundcovers:
- Vines, which are woody plants with slender, spreading stems
- Herbaceous plants, or non-woody plants
- Shrubs of low-growing, spreading species
- Moss of larger, coarser species
Of these types, some of the most common groundcovers include:
- Bacopa (Bacopa)
- Ivy (Hedera)
- Gazania (Gazania rigens)
- Ground-elder (Aegopodium podagraria)
- Ice plant
- Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica)
- Junipers of various low-growing types
- Kudzu
- Lantana, creeping species
- Lilyturf (Liriope muscari and Liriope spicata)
- Mint (Mentha)
- Pachysandra
- Pearlwort (Sagina subulata)
- Periwinkle (Vinca)
- Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum)
- Soleirolia (Soleirolia soleirolii)
- Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
See also
References
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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Copyrights:
 |
 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Architecture. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture and Construction. Copyright © 2003 by McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Gardener's Dictionary. Taylor's Dictionary for Gardeners, by Frances Tenenbaum. Copyright © 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Groundcover". Read more |
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