17 Edible Ground Cover Plants That'll Make Your Garden Look (And Taste) Amazing

There are multiple reasons to scour around the local nurseries for ground covers. Some you can plant to help choke out unwanted weeds, while others help fill in patchy areas where grass won't grow. However, a few neat options, such as Roman chamomile, dianthus, spearmint, sweet woodruff, thyme, moss rose, and more, serve a different purpose altogether: edibility. Aside from being highly ornamental thanks to their beautiful blooms and foliage, these ground covers are palatable and can be used to jazz up your cooking.

However, before utilizing any of these edible ground covers in your meals, remember a few things. Lots of nurseries, garden centers, and big-box retailers often treat their plants with inorganic pesticides to thwart infestations and ensure adequate health. Unfortunately, this makes these plants unacceptable for consumption. That's why you must either start these plants from seeds or choose plants certified organic if you require immediate cover (they'll carry "certified organically grown" on their name tags). Also, when using fresh flowers in cooking, make sure to remove their interior parts (like pistils), as they can taste sour and mar the overall experience. With that out of the way, include any of the 17 ground cover plants discussed below to make your garden look, smell, and taste amazing.

Frame garden borders or walkways with Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) where you can whiff the lovely, apple-like fragrance emanating from its flowers and foliage. A fast grower, Roman chamomile creeps along the ground, establishing an evergreen carpet that can withstand pedestrian traffic in USDA zones 4 to 9. Yellow or white daisy-esque flowers in bloom from summer through fall can be plucked and dried for teas. Refrain from consuming any leaves, as long-term consumption can induce allergic reactions and bleeding. Sensitive individuals may contract contact dermatitis, so be gloved while handling the plant. It requires full-to-part sun exposure.

To drape alkaline dirt in a flowering groundcover, consider dianthus (Dianthus spp.). Depending on the chosen variety, masses of white, pink, or purple blooms will make an appearance in spring or summer. Pluck their petals to garnish salads, or if you're into baking, crystallize them with sugar to decorate your cakes. However, avoid touching or consuming their leaves because they contain toxic chemicals that may induce vomiting in you and your pets and sometimes cause skin irritation. Dianthus grows best in full sun sites but can take some light shade, provided the soils drain well. These groundcovers are deer-resistant.

Daylily (Hemerocallis spp.) is a fast-growing yellow flower that doubles as a ground cover in yards and gardens. Massed in beds, different varieties explode in colorful blooms during spring or summer. Tugged fresh, you may use the flowers as salad garnishes when you're running short on asparagus or zucchini, given their similar taste. Naturally, be sure to check for any little butterflies that may be resting in the flowers after their meal. Daylilies thrive in zones 3 through 9 with fertile soils and full sun exposure.

Unsurpassed in taste compared to its minty brethren, spearmint (Mentha spicata) is another edible ground cover you can grow in your yard. Whether fresh or dried, the leaves can be used to flavor beverages or be crushed into a sauce. Even their summer-blooming, pinkish-white flowers are edible. Spearmint can withstand foot traffic, heat, and herbivory in zones 4 to 9. But your pets will find its presence offensive, so edge their beds or pull volunteer seedlings to contain their spread.

Spaced 6 inches apart, pink wood sorrel (Oxalis articulata) plants mat on the ground, adding a bolt of color with their showy, pink umbels cutely tucked into clover-shaped, green leaves. The calcium oxylates present in their petals, seeds, roots, and foliage lend these parts a lemony, zesty flavor. Although no serious consequences have been documented in humans, because of the history of cramping and indigestion in grazing animals, the general advice is to eat wood sorrel sparingly. Although hardy in zones 7 to 9, pink wood sorrel needs consistent watering during hot summers, or it will go dormant.

When you aren't tapping passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) as a climbing plant to turn your backyard into a butterfly haven, you can use it as a sprawling groundcover to quickly cover bare patches. Edibility-wise, passionflower blooms have frilly petals on offer during the summer, while their egg-shaped fruits — also called maypops — that follow thereafter are an interesting addition to your meal plans. However, you may have to race a few birds to enjoy the fruit. Please note that their leaves and stems can be toxic and shouldn't be consumed. Passionflower needs well-draining soil and is hardy in zones 5 through 9.

Perennials in zones 9 through 11, but annuals elsewhere, nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus) can be grown as edible groundcovers. You may either use their bushy varieties that stay under 1 foot or let the climbing vines trail over the ground. Traditionally available in yellow and orange colors, hybridizers have expanded their flower palette to include red, pink, and white, which helps attract pollinators. Barring their roots, nasturtiums are edible in their entirety. Gardeners enjoy their fresh peppery leaves and blooms for a punch of spice. However, note that nasturtiums are prolific self-seeders and can run over the yard if not deadheaded.

Oregano (Origanum vulgare) perhaps requires little introduction. These annuals are primarily grown for the slightly bitter leaves that enhance the taste of Italian-American dishes with their mild thyme-touched minty flavor. You can even use their flowers as garnishes if these edible groundcovers aren't cut back and are allowed to bloom. That way, you can also attract beneficial insects by growing oregano in your garden, especially hoverflies that prey on aphids. As seed-grown oregano can exhibit variable taste, it's ideal that you propagate these plants using cuttings from the stems for the best flavor.

With a flowering season that lasts from fall to spring, it's no wonder pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) are a cool-season favorite. What you may not know, however, is that apart from being fragrant and showy, their blooms are edible, too. Tasting mildly sweet, their blue or purple petals can be used to adorn cakes and cheese crackers. Keep removing discolored flowers to encourage reblooming for harvests. Also, be mindful. If you're buying full-grown plants from stores or nurseries, they may've been treated with pesticides and wouldn't be safe for consumption.

If you don't have to contend with cute bunnies sidling through your yard, give common blue violet (Viola sororia) a go. Indigenous to the central and eastern U.S. region, this pretty wildflower will enliven your beds with purple petals and their fans, like bees and butterflies, through spring and summer. Pick them as well as the leaves surrounding them for a dash of edible green, though be mindful of caterpillar damage. As blue violets are assertive spreaders, lay them down near paths or walls to barricade their spread, and where they can be mowed easily.

Aptly named, sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) produces sweet, vanilla-scented, white flowers that you may use to flavor your morning brew. Dried, their evergreen foliage can also be consumed, if you don't mind their hay-like aroma. However, avoid this plant if you've been prescribed blood-thinning medicines. Sweet woodruff serves as a beautiful ground cover plant that deer won't touch in your yard in zones 4 to 8, but check if it's invasive in your area before planting. Since it can tolerate heavy shade and doesn't mind juglone, you can safely grow it underneath trees, including black walnuts. Regular mowing should control its spread.

Common thyme (Thymus vulgaris) is a culinary herb whose leaves are a staple in Mediterranean cuisine. Their spring-blooming, pinkish-lavender blooms are also edible, albeit with a milder taste, and lure in plenty of pollinators. Common thyme is often used as a lawn alternative because it can withstand foot traffic, though you must maintain it at around 5 inches high so that its vigor remains intact. Use this groundcover in areas visited by deer or rabbits, as they find its aroma offensive. Or, grow it in water-wise landscapes present in zones 5 through 9 to benefit from its drought tolerance.

Since moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora) enjoys fast-draining soils, mass these annuals in your beds carrying rocky or sandy soils for a low-maintenance ground cover. Don't be afraid to grow these plants in dry, hot sites because they can handle drought and heat. With constant deadheading, expect ruffled flowers to carpet your ground — and your plate — in gorgeous hues of pink, red, or purple from spring through fall without becoming weedy. The black seeds that follow these blooms make tasty meals as well. But because they're super tiny, it may take you a while to collect them in substantial amounts.

Consider populating bare patches in dry, sandy sites with wild or Scarlett strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) that thrives in such challenging conditions. Or, plant them in sloped yards to keep soil erosion in check. Spreading through runners, these edible plants quickly gain a strong foothold. However, this can be problematic if you want to keep them restricted to a small area, so pick their location accordingly. As for edibility, you can indulge your sweet tooth with the red berries that are produced in the summer, assuming birds spare a few. They're cold-hardy in zones 5 through 9.

Native to the eastern U.S. region, wild oats, or sessile bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia), is a unique-looking groundcover you can grow in shaded sites of zones 4 through 8. Initially, their leaves appear like grassy blades that thicken over time and host specialized bees. In spring, they become interspersed with downward-nodding, bell-shaped, creamy yellow flowers, gifting the landscape a visual lift. When grown as a groundcover, it's ideal to allow the flowers to go to seed and self-sow in the landscape. Break off the shoots when they're still green and use them as cooked greens for an asparagus-like flavor.

In keeping with its name, lemon thyme (Thymus x citriodorus) is a culinary herb that's sprinkled on salads for a burst of citrus flavor. But given its compact size, with mounds maturing to about 1 foot high and across, coupled with tolerance for pedestrian traffic, lemon thyme can also be grown as a groundcover. It's quite low maintenance since pests or mammals (read: deer and rabbits) do not bother it. Plus, it can survive in poor soils or water-stressed areas, even when planted in full sun. Lemon thyme can be successfully grown in zones 5 through 8.

This can be controversial because many lawn owners consider Dutch clover (Trifolium repens) a weed, and it has escaped cultivation in a few U.S. states, including Wisconsin and West Virginia, where it is classified as invasive. But where it isn't considered problematic, Dutch clover can be grown as an edible, traffic-tolerant groundcover. Freshly plucked young leaves taste like spinach, and if dried, lend a vanilla flavor to desserts. Spring-blooming white flowers can be steeped into teas, and the seedpods that follow can be ground into flour. Better still, Dutch clover can improve soil fertility due to its ability to fix nitrogen and check erosion.