I live in Michigan, and I'm looking for a low-maintenance, flowering ground cover that will thrive in sandy soil and a sunny location. Formerly the manager of interpretation and plant records at The New York Botanical Garden, Bruce is an expert on a wide range of indoor and outdoor plants, insects, and pests. Melanie Menachem-Riggs is a garden designer and lecturer with a degree in horticulture and botany. She works on residential landscapes using garden structures and plants, including perennials, annuals, herbs, vines, and shrubs to create interest and enhance flowering in the garden. Improve your sandy soil by adding organic matter and mulching the plants to conserve water.
Ground covers can include plants that are annuals, perennials, and shrubs.
Dwarf deciduous flowering shrubs can be effectively used as ground covers. They flower for a specific time and also lose their leaves for winter. Ground-cover roses like Rosa 'Magic Carpet' or Rosa 'The Fairy' were developed to flower all summer and into fall. Or consider Hypericum calycinum, a small shrub with 2-inch yellow flowers. Heath and heathers are a bit more difficult to grow, but a mixed planting of different varieties will flower over the entire year.