Hardy Tropical-Looking Groundcover Plants

[DTS]

Anyone have any suggestions for a hardy groundcover plants that looks tropical? Anything I search relating to that just brings me up actual tropical plants

[PalmsInBaltimore]

ferns maybe?

[Silas_Sancona]

Would look over stuff offered by Plant Delights for ideas ..Lots of neat options inc. Cast Iron Plant,  numerous -surprisingly tropical looking-  Orchids -Native / regionally native,  and non native-  ..etc.

[Allen]

Christmas fern I am not sure anything else that will survive overwinter.  If by a house my Colocasia fallax might come back for you.  Not tropical but I use creeping Veronica Liwanensis Speedwell around my path (Zone 5 rated)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zPrKbAFoIBc

Colocasia fallax

https://youtu.be/NJtPpu0TJU8?t=82

Christmas ferns evergreen thru winter

https://youtu.be/NJtPpu0TJU8?t=139

 

[rprimbs]

I think that purple heart has a tropical sort of color.  I want to grow that here -- in southern California -- around my palm tree.  I don't know how hardy it is though.  Some say 7-11.  Maybe it would make it in zone 6 with a little protection.

[Josh76]

I think Pachysandra can create a tropical-looking groundcover and it is really tough.

[Silas_Sancona]

7 minutes ago, Josh76 said:

I think Pachysandra can create a tropical-looking groundcover and it is really tough.

It is also extremely invasive..

https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-species-spotlight-japanese-pachysandra-pachysandra-terminalis

https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=3058

[Josh76]

1 hour ago, Silas_Sancona said:

It is also extremely invasive..

https://www.brandywine.org/conservancy/blog/invasive-species-spotlight-japanese-pachysandra-pachysandra-terminalis

https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/subject.html?sub=3058

Oh I didn’t know that. Yikes 😬 - I might have to remove it from my garden before it spreads! 

[Silas_Sancona]

33 minutes ago, Josh76 said:

Oh I didn’t know that. Yikes 😬 - I might have to remove it from my garden before it spreads! 

One of the worst plants i had to deal with in landscapes when i lived in Ohio and would find patches of it trying to spread out in the woods near certain houses i helped maintain that had extensive plantings of it..  Banned for sale / planting in - at least - Delaware now.

There is a native sp. of Pachysandra  in the Eastern / Northeastern U.S. that is a much slower spreader,  but doesn't fill in as fully as  the non native sp.

Native / regionally native Asarum sps (  = Wild Gingers  <  Roots may possess a similar scent when handled, but Asarum  are not related to edible / tropical Gingers >   would be a reasonable " ground cover-ish " alternative to reasearch  ..Much more interesting flowers too.

[Calosphace]

Christmas fern would be my go-to before even opening the thread

Native Pachysandra if you can source it is always great to add and would go well with the native Asarum as both tend to have a more mild growth rate.

 

Sunnier spots:

Callirhoe involucrata is short enough to be a groundcover, probably could mix it with Coreopsis auriculata 'Nana' (evergreen, mango orange flowers -- I'm assuming sun in MA but in FL I grow it in east-facing part shade)

Annual native that will reseed itself is Chamaecrista nictitans, definitely looks very tropical

(sun or part sun maybe?) Ruellia humilis is 4-9, not the most stereotypically tropical-looking but the genus is mostly tropical and it feeds the Buckeye butterfly

 

Other smaller things you can do is "edit" your weeds and turf for things with larger foliage and bolder flower colors (either stark white or saturated colors like bright red) which are more dominant in tropical rainforests.

[ChrisA]

Purple Heart is a wonderful plant! I don’t think it could survive zone 7, but here in zone 8b TX it dies back to the ground each winter but comes back quickly in spring and is a very fast grower.  Don’t plant too close to walk ways as it will cover them!

[Allen]

24 minutes ago, ChrisA said:

Purple Heart is a wonderful plant! I don’t think it could survive zone 7, but here in zone 8b TX it dies back to the ground each winter but comes back quickly in spring and is a very fast grower.  Don’t plant too close to walk ways as it will cover them!

We have purple heart come back here in zone 7 but OP is zone 6

[ChrisA]

That’s impressive Allen!

[DTS]

21 minutes ago, Allen said:

We have purple heart come back here in zone 7 but OP is zone 6

yeah I doubt it would like the ground to be frozen for 4 months

[Rivera]

12 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Native / regionally native Asarum sps (  = Wild Gingers  <  Roots may possess a similar scent when handled, but Asarum  are not related to edible / tropical Gingers >   would be a reasonable " ground cover-ish " alternative to reasearch  ..Much more interesting flowers too.

👍 I agree, nice little flowers on Asarum sps

For shady/mostly shady, I would consider these if I was in the north eastern US.

Asarum canadense

Maianthemum stellatum

I grow the related but somewhat different looking Asarum caudatum in San Francisco where it seems to grow best in dappled light. No good in the sun, nor in the deepest darkest shade for me. 

[PalmsInBaltimore]

1 hour ago, ChrisA said:

I don’t think it could survive zone 7

These are so common in Maryland 7a/b that I actually wonder if they could survive a warm 6b in Michigan with mulching or something. Here they come back with a vengeance every spring and go wild by summer

[Silas_Sancona]

13 minutes ago, Rivera said:

👍 I agree, nice little flowers on Asarum sps

For shady/mostly shady, I would consider these if I was in the north eastern US.

Asarum canadense

Maianthemum stellatum

I grow the related but somewhat different looking Asarum caudatum in San Francisco where it seems to grow best in dappled light. No good in the sun, nor in the deepest darkest shade for me. 

Agree, only spots i remember finding our native Asaurm  in places like Big Basin / Henry Cowell were in brighter, dappled shade rather than in areas where shade was deeper..  What Trilliums i'd come across also seemed to prefer that kind of lighting also.

Darker spots seemed to be reserved for ferns ..and the occasional patch of spindly looking / sun- starved Oxalis oregana  or CA. Buttercups and / or Hound's Tongue, ( Adelinia grandis ).

[Merlyn]

A couple that I have used, no clue on hardiness though:

• Cyrtomium Falcatum - big leaf holly fern that is clump-forming and not aggressively spreading

• Monarch Fern / Wart Fern - big leaf fern that's sort of aggressive but easier to control than typical Boston ferns

• "Palm Grass" Molineria/Curculigo Capitulata - looks like big whole leaf palm seedlings.  This spreads by underground rhizomes, but escaped my pot about a year ago and hasn't become aggressively invasive.  I think it's only zone 9b+.

• Philodendron "Xanadu" - a smaller leaf mini-Selloum but probably isn't hardy in your area either.

• Tradescantia Zebrina - a white/purple vining ground cover.  This one fills up my nursery area twice a year.  I rip some of it out and it grows right back.  It's also zone 9+ but is ok in low light.  You could treat it as an annual with fast summer growth, and it would never get out of hand.

[RFun]

15 hours ago, ChrisA said:

Purple Heart is a wonderful plant! I don’t think it could survive zone 7, but here in zone 8b TX it dies back to the ground each winter but comes back quickly in spring and is a very fast grower.  Don’t plant too close to walk ways as it will cover them!

Purple Heart is suited for a zone 7 similar to the zone 7 in Maryland as was mentioned.  It can take some cold.  It's just a question of how much.  

[RFun]

On 10/17/2024 at 9:28 PM, DTS said:

Anyone have any suggestions for a hardy groundcover plants that looks tropical? Anything I search relating to that just brings me up actual tropical plants

Lady Hardy Fern is perfectly suited for the climate in Michigan.  It has a nice look to it.

[RFun]

On 10/17/2024 at 9:28 PM, DTS said:

Anyone have any suggestions for a hardy groundcover plants that looks tropical? Anything I search relating to that just brings me up actual tropical plants

Ostrich Fern is another fern that would be suited for the Michigan climate.  Ferns have some impressive looks to them, no doubt.