Native Groundcovers for South Florida

Why Choose Native Groundcovers in South Florida?

Why Grow These South Florida Native Groundcovers?

• Adiantum capillus-veneris (Southern Maidenhair Fern) – Fine textured fern for moist, shaded rock faces and walls, perfect for softening shady corners and water features.
• Bacopa caroliniana (Lemon Bacopa) – Low, spreading plant with tiny blue flowers and citrus scented foliage, ideal along the edges of ponds, rain gardens, and wet ditches.
• Canavalia rosea (Bay Bean) – Vigorous dune vine with thick leaves and rosy purple flowers that helps stabilize coastal sand and tolerate intense salt spray.
• Chrysobalanus icaco (Coco Plum) – Dense, low shrub often used as a groundcover hedge near the coast, with edible plums that attract wildlife.
• Glandularia maritima (Beach Verbena) – Mounding coastal groundcover covered in violet purple flowers, excellent for sunny, sandy beds and dunes.
• Helianthus debilis (Beach Sunflower) – Sprawling groundcover with cheerful yellow daisies almost year round in full coastal sun.
• Heliotropium gnaphalodes (Sea Lavender) – Compact, salt tolerant shrub with silvery foliage and white flower clusters, great for seaside slopes and rock gardens.
• Hymenocallis latifolia (Perfumed Spider Lily) – Strap leaved plant with fragrant white spider flowers, useful in clumps among other coastal groundcovers.
• Ipomoea imperati (Beach Morning Glory) – Low, thick leaved vine that creeps across dunes with white morning glory flowers and strong sand holding roots.
• Ipomoea pes-caprae (Railroad Vine) – Fast moving dune vine with purple funnel flowers that knits together open sand and resists salt and wind.
• Jacquemontia pentanthos (Skyblue Clustervine) – Delicate looking but tough vine with clouds of sky blue flowers, useful scrambling over rocks, fences, or low shrubs.
• Nephrolepis biserrata (Giant Sword Fern) – Bold, arching fern for moist, partially shaded ground where you want lush, tropical texture.
• Nephrolepis exaltata (Boston Fern) – Classic fern for shaded beds, tree bases, and hanging baskets, forming dense mats that outcompete weeds in humid shade.
• Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia Creeper) – Versatile vine that can cloak fences, climb trees, or sprawl as a groundcover, with red fall color in cooler pockets.
• Peperomia obtusifolia (Baby Rubber Plant) – Low, glossy leaved plant for bright shade, ideal as a living mulch beneath shrubs and in containers.
• Pteridium aquilinum (Bracken Fern) – Tall, coarse fern useful in naturalistic plantings and woodland edge restorations where it can spread as a ground layer.
• Rivina humilis (Bloodberry) – Small, shade tolerant plant with dangling clusters of bright red berries that birds love, good under trees and along paths.
• Ruellia caroliniensis (Carolina Wild Petunia) – Low, sun tolerant perennial with lavender purple flowers that appear over many months and attract butterflies.
• Serenoa repens (Saw Palmetto) – Slow spreading palm shrub that forms low colonies, excellent as a structural groundcover in dry pine and coastal landscapes.
• Sesuvium portulacastrum (Sea Purslane) – Fleshy, salt loving creeper that hugs the ground and stabilizes dunes, seawall edges, and sandy medians.
• Sisyrinchium angustifolium (Blue Eyed Grass) – Clumping, grass like plant with small blue flowers, perfect for weaving through sunny meadows and low borders.
• Spartina patens (Saltmeadow Cordgrass) – Fine textured grass forming low hummocks in sunny, salty sites, important for shorebird habitat and erosion control.
• Sporobolus virginicus (Seashore Dropseed) – Tough coastal grass that creates dense mats on dunes and shorelines, excellent for stabilizing sandy slopes.
• Zamia pumila (Coontie) – Low, palm like cycad that slowly forms colonies, ideal for dry, dappled shade as a long lived, evergreen ground layer and host plant for the Atala butterfly.