5+ Succulent Ground Covers & Brilliant Dry Garden Border Plant Ideas!

This March I'm prepping my Med Garden with new border plant features and succulent ground covers.

Mediterranean Garden design inspiration inside!

I often get inspiration for my Med Garden by observing plants that are doing well in my neighbourhood.   

On my country road there was a new home built up from ruins just 2 years ago, and it is amazing to see what they have done with the gardens.  It really is a from zero to hero story.  There was nothing there but small mountains of rock, and now just two years later the property looks like something that would be featured on a garden show.

A standout feature that I noticed was what they have done with ground covers and border plants.  The gardens have a very neat and tidy look, with beautiful foliage spilling over garden paths and driveway borders with seamless continuity.  There are no dry dusty patches in summer, and no overgrown weedy patches in the winter rainy season.

I have been marvelling at how they have achieved this splendour in just a little over one year!

I got up a little closer on a walk one day and saw that the neat and tidy full borders were creeping succulents.  What a great idea!  I discovered that creeping succulents spread fast to cover up rocky patches in the dry heat, and crowd out weeds in the wet winter.  For feature plant borders they have cleverly used flowering herbs, lavender, rosemary, and sage.

Here are 5+ Succulent Ground Cover ideas to keep your Mediterranean garden borders looking brilliant in every season.

5+ Succulent Ground Covers

Creeping Sedum (Sedum dasyphyllum - Corsican Stonecrop)

Rainbow Bush (Portulacaria afra ‘Variegata')

Ice Plant (Delosperma / Lampranthus)

Blue Chalk Sticks (Senecio serpens)

Hens and Chicks (Echeveria)

+BONUS

TIP:  Most succulents have shallow roots, need full sun and excellent drainage.

5+ Succulent Ground Covers & Border Plant Ideas

Creeping sedum (Sedum dasyphyllum - Corsican Stonecrop)

Sedum dasyphyllum or Corsican Stonecrop is a hardy ground cover that forms a dense carpet and grows particularly well from rocky slopes. It self propagates easily as fallen leaves and stem sections will readily re-root. It has tiny, dense, glossy leaves and despite its delicate look, it can tolerate extended droughts, but regular water in the summer will encourage growth. It is a summer bloomer, producing white, star-shaped flowers on short stalks that attract pollinators.

I've planted Creeping Sedum along my garden's stone walkway. I love its evergreen matte effect, which I've planted amongst Lavender and flowering Sage. Just look at those sweet tiny white flowers!

Rainbow Bush (Portulacaria afra ‘Variegata')

A sprawling, slow growing succulent shrub with unique reddish-brown stems and variegated cream and green roundish leaves. A very easy to grow succulent that can grow to 1 metre in height with an equal spread. Size is also easily controlled with selective pruning. The lavender pink flowers are seldom seen outside the wild but the knobbed tan-reddish stems with colourful leaves makes it a brilliant accent plant.

I've planted Rainbow Bush as a border in front of my cactus wall for a dramatic effect!

Ice Plant (Delosperma / Lampranthus)

Despite its name, Ice Plant likes it hot, thriving in challenging spots like a dry, rocky slope or cascading off the edge of a roof.   Native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa, this succulent has needlelike waxy foliage that grows low to the ground, with purple-pink, daisy-like flowers.

I've planted Ice Plant along the borders of my pool. The vibrant pink-purple flowers bring a whimsical Hawaiian vibe to our pool-side fun.

Blue Chalk Sticks (Senecio serpens)

A small succulent that hugs the ground, branching from the base and rooting along the stems to provide an easy care, attractive ground cover for warm sunny hillsides and borders. Powdery blue-green fleshy leaves provide year round interest, taking on purple tints in extreme heat and sun exposure.  Small white flowers in few flowered corymbs rise just above the foliage summer through fall.  This succulent comes from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

I am planning to plant Blue Chalk Sticks as an exotic border along one side of my driveway. I haven't found them yet, but when I do, I want this gorgeous effect in photo below!!

Hens and chicks (Echeveria)

The hens and chicks plant, is a mat-forming perennial succulent with fleshy pointed leaves arranged in rosettes. The parent rosette is the "hen," and the smaller rosette offshoots or babies that grow from it are the “chicks."  Native to the mountainous regions of Mexico and northern South America. The mature plant, the hen, develops numerous offsets, chicks, which surround the mature plant until the offsets are mature enough to support themselves.  In nature, the offsets break away from the hen once they are mature, but they can also be pulled or cut off and transplanted in the home garden.  The hen actually benefits from the removal of offsets since much of its energy is used to supporting the chicks.  There are many varieties and cultivars of Echeveria producing a kaleidoscope of unique leaf shapes, colors and textures. 

I've planted hens and chicks on a previously bare dusty patch in my garden - I can't wait to see them spread!

BONUS!

Creeping Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus Prostratus)

Not a succulent, but also a key ingredient for ground covers and borders in the Mediterranean garden. This variety of Rosemary is a low-growing and spreading evergreen shrub with strongly aromatic, needle-like leaves, about 2 in (5 cm) long. Clusters of pale blue flowers appear in spring and summer, occasionally in fall.

Panda Plant (Kalanchoe tomentosa)

Not a ground cover, but a stunning succulent for borders! This succulent plant is often referred to as Panda Plant, cat ears, pussy ears or even donkey ears on account of its velvety soft, almost furry leaves. The water-storing leaves are fleshy, white-felted and pointed-oval in shape, usually arranged in a rosette. They are grey green in colour with red or brown, dotted edges.  Panda plants are native to Madagascar, where they usually grow up to a metre tall on rocky ground. Kalanchoe tomentosa, in its native environment, produces bell-shaped flowers in green, purple or yellow that bloom between March and June.

Lavender

Not a succulent or ground cover, but worth a mention as lavender can be a brilliant feature as a border plant. When planted in neat row it can be pruned into round mounds of fragrant purple flowers.

I can't believe that I hadn't experimented with succulents before now - it is a whole new world of Mediterranean garden friendly plant options that I look forward to discovering!

I love March in the garden, so full of beautiful possibilities for the seasons ahead :)

I'm excited to see how my new succulent ground covers and border plants fill out my Med Garden this year - Just planted!

Share your ideas for border plants and ground covers in the comments below!

Watching my Med Garden grow....

Jade

Lewon

Med