Gardeners looking to avoid chemical weed killers can turn to a natural solution: ground cover plants. Award-winning garden writer and blogger Graham Rice, writing on the Richard Jackson Garden website, explains that these attractive plants naturally smother weeds, leaving no space for them to grow.
Ground Cover Plants as a Natural Alternative
Rice advises, "Choose to grow ground cover plants instead. These are attractive plants that naturally smother weeds. They cover the ground and don't leave any spaces where weeds can grow. It sounds ideal – and, frankly, it is." He notes that ground cover plants are far more effective at making new weeds "magically disappear," though well-established weeds may require some initial weeding.
Top Plants for Weed Control
Hostas are described as "the real stars" of weed prevention. Their foliage overlaps to shade the ground so effectively that "the weeds don't get a look in." They thrive in both shade and sunlight, provided the soil isn't too dry, and various cultivars with diverse leaf colours and patterns can create an unbroken carpet of weed control.
Bugle is another effective option, gradually creeping over the soil surface and rooting as it goes, with interlocking foliage leaving no gaps for weeds. Standing just a few centimetres tall, its leaves come in colours like green, bronze, pink, cream, and white, often in striking combinations.
Lady's mantle, also known as Alchemilla, offers three benefits: broad, rounded leaves that form a "weed-smothering mass," vertical flower stems so densely packed that there's "no room for weeds," and blooms resembling "masses of tiny stars in a lovely chartreuse shade" that last well in water. It is traditionally planted around roses to conceal bare stems at the base.
