Don't Fall For Its Beauty: The Blooming Ground Cover You Don't Want In Your Garden

Let's be honest: it's hard to deny the appeal of a fast-growing, blooming ground cover for flower beds when you're looking to fill any empty spaces in your landscape. In fact, ground cover plants are the unsung heroes of the garden: they suppress weeds, help retain moisture in soil, and add lush color and interest to an otherwise devoid patch of dirt. When choosing a ground cover plant, it's important to find a balance between a plant that takes forever to establish and one that quickly takes over your yard like a weed. And while crown vetch (Coronilla varia) might look like the perfect solution here, you'd be wrong. Why? Because it spreads aggressively.

Crown vetch certainly sings a powerful siren song, offering up oval-shaped leaves and charming clusters of blooms ranging from pinkish-purple to creamy-white that appear from early summer through autumn. The perennial is truly bewitching. Once planted, though, you'll likely quickly regret ever inviting this unruly ground cover into your garden. For starters, it has a relentless drive to spread. Left unchecked, crown vetch can rapidly come to dominate a garden bed you worked hard to curate. It colonizes space aggressively and easily thanks to its creeping underground roots (called rhizomes) and robust seed dispersal. It's simply one of those pink lawn weeds you should pull immediately, no matter how lovely its blossoms are.

Crown vetch is so effective at spreading and thriving that it was historically planted to help with erosion control. Unfortunately, this knack for surviving means it has easily made itself at home in the wild and naturalized across many regions, and now it's just an invasive nuisance that chokes out native plants and changes the natural soil composition. Plus, once they're in soil, the seeds can stay alive for 15 years. Just think: if it can blanket highway medians, imagine what it can do to your backyard flower beds. 

Yes, this is a pink perennial flower that looks enchanting, but you don't have to sacrifice your garden's ecosystem for a lush and lovely aesthetic. If you're looking for some carpet-like ground cover without the constant fear of a hostile takeover, there are plenty of gorgeous (and more well-behaved) options to choose from. Creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) is a phenomenal alternative that brings a spectacular spring time show of pinkish-purple blooms. It loves full sun and will look beautiful, and it's not an aggressive spreader. Another solid choice is creeping thyme (Thymus praecox). Not only does it produce delightful clusters of tiny flowers, it's also drought-tolerant and releases a nice herbaceous fragrance when you brush its leaves. By opting for these easygoing ground covers over aggressive spreaders like crown vetch, your landscape gets to achieve that perfect blooming aesthetic. And you're left with a peaceful, low-maintenance garden you can actually enjoy.