Plants that keep weeds from taking over your garden beds can transform the maintenance requirements of your garden. Filling your borders with these beautiful varieties means you can enjoy time in your garden, rather than it just adding to your to-do list.
Many of the best ground cover plants to prevent weeds are also plants that keep weeds from taking over your garden beds; however, a well-designed garden needs plants with a variety of different heights, colours and textures to add depth and interest to the scheme.
Here, we have rounded up a wide variety of types from evergreen beauties to pollinator favourites – ensuring you’ll find the perfect fit for your plot.
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1. Alchemilla mollis
‘To reduce weeding, ground cover is essential,’ explains garden expert and author Sarah Raven. ‘Plants like Alchemilla mollis quickly cover bare soil, locking in moisture and crowding out weeds. They’re a simple solution that makes a huge difference to how much time you spend maintaining borders.’
Not only is alchemilla mollis a great plant to keep weeds from taking over your garden, but its flowers also look beautiful cut in a vase – a must-have addition to a cut flower growing patch.
You can order Alchemilla Mollis in a 2-litre pot for £15.99 from the RHS. Alternatively, you can pick up a pack of 6 plug plants for £12.99 on Amazon, which has rave reviews.
2. Groundcover roses
Roses aren’t most people’s first thought when looking for plants that keep weeds from taking over; however, groundcover roses work a treat at stopping weeds.
Bringing the same beautiful blooms and delightful perfume as their traditional counterparts, these varieties have a low profile and wide spread, meaning they cover the ground and prevent weeds from receiving the light they need to grow and establish.
When using groundcover roses to manage weeds, it’s important to choose the right variety. Rose ‘Flower Carpet’ is a repeat-flowering ground cover rose that can cover up to 3ft of border. Plant in full sunlight or partial shade, its low-growing stature (just 2ft tall) makes it the perfect plant for the front of the border, with fast-growing climbers or statement trees. Crocus has groundcover roses in a wide variety of colours, meaning there’s a perfect match for every planting scheme.
3. Hardy geraniums
Highly durable, growing hardy geraniums are an excellent addition to a border, especially if you want to keep weeds from taking over your garden beds.
‘Geranium ‘Rozanne’ is one of my go-to spring perennials,’ says Sarah Raven. ‘It flowers from early summer right through to the first frosts, keeping borders together while suppressing weeds. Once planted, it needs very little attention beyond an occasional tidy.’
If purple doesn’t complement your planting colour palette, Waitrose Garden has a wide stock, including white and pink varieties.
4. Hellebore
A well-known favourite of the winter garden, hellebores have so much more to offer than just adding colour to your winter garden. In addition to its pretty blooms, this cottage garden staple has dense, large leaves that quickly form a canopy over the soil, preventing weeds from taking root.
To keep weeds to a minimum, plant several hellebores together to form a dense covering. You also pick up Helleborus Orientalis Mixed Perennial Plug Plants from Amazon if you fancy bagging three different blooms at once.
5. Ajuga
These are the plants that I chose to keep weeds from taking over my own garden. With rich, darkly coloured leaves, it forms a dense mat over the soil, making it impossible for weeds to take root. Come spring, the plant erupts in upright purple spires, which are loved by pollinators.
I have mixed and matched the deep purple ‘Catlin’s Giant’ – available on Crocus here – and ‘Burgundy Glow’ – also available on Crocus – to create a beautiful, colourful edge to our patio area.
6. Nepeta
Native plants’ weed control capabilities are not to be underestimated. Nepeta is incredibly fast-growing, making it great for filling in sparse garden borders, and since it covers the ground, it is perfect for preventing weeds from popping up underneath.
Nepeta is a deciduous herbaceous perennial, which means that it dies back in autumn, then regrows in spring – this leaves plenty of space for bulbs in spring, when the weeds are less problematic, but coverage when the weeds start to grow.
Nepeta is also one of the most affordable plants that keep weeds from taking over your garden beds, as it can be easily grown from seeds – available on Amazon.
While this plant, or any on this list, won’t help you get rid of weeds – for that, you need a weedkiller like this from Amazon or to try some weed-killing hacks – but they will stop new weeds from taking root.
They are a beautiful solution to keep weeds at bay, and make sure you’re spending less time weeding and more time enjoying your garden.
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