The Prettiest and Most Resilient Walkable Ground Covers

Sure, you can roll out some sod and call it good. But why not spruce things up, add a bit of color and texture to your landscape, and make your yard more attractive to pollinators with a walkable ground cover?

Also called stepables (or steppables), walkable ground covers are exactly that: wide-spreading, low-growing plants that can withstand foot traffic from humans and animals.

They make an excellent natural mulch that help reduce erosion, conserve moisture, and crowd out weeds. Instead of using wood chips, pea gravel, or bark to fill in the empty spaces in your landscaping, you can plant low-maintenance ground covers in your garden paths, between your pavers, or anyplace you’d put turf grass.

Walkable ground covers are much easier to maintain than a lawn (say goodbye to tedious tasks like edging and weeding!) and because they tend to stop growing once they reach a certain height, you almost never have to mow them.

Depending on what you’re after and how much patience you have, you can purchase ground covers in pots or plug trays, or start them from seed. (I list my favorite online sources below.)

Here’s what I recommend if you’re looking for a steppable ground cover that will come back year after year (or even stay green all winter, depending on your climate).

Disclosure: If you shop from my article or make a purchase through one of my links, I may receive commissions on some of the products I recommend.

Also called microclover, this low-maintenance perennial ground cover is a cultivar (Trifolium repens var. ‘Pirouette’ and ‘Pipolina’) of regular white clover. It’s similar to regular clover in that it functions as a nitrogen fixer (yay for healthier soil!) and it’s even a ground cover you can eat—though you’ll want to let it keep growing, as miniclover is one of the best alternatives to turf grass.

So what makes it so good? For one thing, it’s drought-tolerant and will stay green when other lawns start to brown. It only grows 3 to 6 inches tall so it requires zero mowing (though if you mow it, miniclover will form smaller leaves and maintain its miniature growth habit through summer). It also doesn’t need any fertilizer and spreads densely into a soft and cushiony ground cover.

Sedum (Crassulaceae, also called stonecrop) is found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as in Africa and South America. It thrives in full sun and can withstand heat as well as drought, making it perfect for warmer climates and yards with direct sunlight all day.

More importantly, sedum is tough. It’s an evergreen ground cover that can handle being walked over (especially by boisterous dogs and kids) and doesn’t require a lot of maintenance.

Native to Corsica, France, Italy, and Sardinia, Corsican mint (Mentha requienii) is a vigorous grower that self-seeds and spreads by rhizomes, making it invasive in warmer climates like the Southeast United States (though it’s not as aggressive as other types of culinary mint).

This invasiveness, however, is what makes it such an effective ground cover: Corsican mint can really move to quickly cover an area!

And with every step you take on this deliciously fragrant ground cover, you’ll get a whiff of a lovely minty scent (which may help repel garden pests like deer).

An excellent low-water grass alternative is silver carpet lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina). Native to South Africa, it’s a distinctive, dense ground cover that grows into a very low mat (up to 4 inches tall).

Talk about easy—silver carpet’s lamb ear isn’t picky about where you plant it. It thrives in poor soil and dry shade but also loves the sun. It needs only light watering until established and after that it’s very drought-tolerant, making it a great option for hot, arid climates. The fuzzy, silvery leaves are also unpalatable to deer and rabbits.

If you’re looking for a bright burst of color, creeping Jenny plants (Lysimachia nummularia) produce gorgeous golden leaves! Often referred to as moneywort due to its golden coin appearance, creeping Jenny appears to cover your yard in a beautiful yellow carpet.

It loves full sun and can tolerate light shade. Though this ground cover can thrive with very little maintenance, it does need to be lightly watered from time to time if there’s a drought.

Native to North America, beach strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis, aka coast strawberry or sand strawberry) creates a lovely evergreen carpet of green foliage.

This is another walkable ground cover that thrives in full sun to light shade and tolerates moderate foot traffic. It grows a little taller than some of the other plants on this list, sometimes reaching as tall as 6 inches with runners reaching about the same length.

For a wonderfully fragrant yard, consider planting woolly thyme or creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum). Both plants like direct sunlight and require very little care. They quickly spread to form a soft, fragrant carpet over the soil, and they’re two of the best perennials you can grow for pollinators.

Woolly thyme has fuzzy leaves and stems and blooms beautiful pink flowers that bees absolutely love!

Creeping thyme produces stunning purple flowers in summer and gives off a delicious herbal scent, especially when walked on or brushed against.

Mazus (Mazaceae, sometimes called creeping mazus) is a fast-growing, semi-evergreen ground cover that maxes out at 3 to 4 inches tall. It likes full sun to partial shade and tolerates light foot traffic.

Once established, it spreads to form a dense mat of foliages with tiny orchid-like lavender flowers in late spring and summer. It makes a beautiful ground cover for bulbs and pairs well with daffodils, since it’s also deer-resistant.

Indigenous to Western Asia and Europe, snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum) is a short-lived perennial growing up to 6 inches tall. It prefers sun and grows best in well-drained soil.

This pretty plant definitely lives up to its name. During the summer months it bursts in a profusion of dainty white flowers that look like fat snowflakes against the silvery foliage.

This post updated from an article that originally appeared on September 1, 2021.