Blue Flowering Ground Cover

If maintaining a water-guzzling lawn is too much work for you, consider the ground cover alternative. Ground cover plants are available in a wide array of colors, with blue being a classic favorite. Once the ground cover has taken hold, it acts as a living mulch, suppressing weeds by crowding out and shading them. Prepare the soil prior to planting by loosening, removing weeds and adding high-quality compost to speed the spread of the plants with healthy vigor.

Big leaf periwinkle (Vinca major) is a ground cover to endure in spots in the yard where other ground covers have failed. It is a tough evergreen that grows well in both shade and sun, and on both level ground and hillsides. Soft blue 1-inch-wide flowers open in late spring. If planted near other flowers, big leaf periwinkle will overrun and smother them with its aggressive nature. It thrives in USDA zones 4 through 9.

Another aggressive ground cover growing well in USDA zones 5 through 9 is hardy plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides). This long-lived, deep blue flowering plant quickly spreads through the landscape, providing its colorful show in the early fall. As the flowers finish, the leaves slowly turn to a red shade for continued vivid garden color.

A less aggressive, slow-growing blue ground cover is thyme-leaf speedwell (Veronica oltensis). At only 1 inch high, it can be inserted between concrete or stone pavers or given its own corner in the landscape. Hardy to USDA zones 4 through 9, this tough evergreen sports blue flowers in the early spring.

A member of the same family as thyme-leaf speedwell, Turkish speedwell (Veronica liwanensis) is a ground-hugging shiny evergreen foliage that creates a thick 2 inch carpet. In early spring, spikes of tiny blue flowers pop up to welcome the warmer weather. This flowering ground cover thrives in USDA zones 4 through 8, needing some shade in the hotter areas of its range.

Resholt's bellflower (Campanula portenschlagiana) is a garden favorite with its deep blue bell-shaped flowers on slender stems. The flowers are held above a mat of small glossy green leaves. This blue ground cover is hardy to USDA zones 4 through 8. Besides its use on flat ground, Reshlot's bellflower is very pretty as it cascades over a rock wall.

Hidcote blue comfrey (Symphytum grandiflorum) has many clear blue downward-facing blossoms. As an early spring bloomer, its blue flowers are a complement to yellow daffodils if planted in the same garden bed. This flowering ground cover grows well in USDA zones 4 through 9.