Low growing ground cover plants that will tolerate shallow chalk or alkaline soils

Ground cover plants are great for providing a low maintenance ground hugging and weed suppressing layer. Such plantings can relied on to keep down your gardening work load, whilst also providing massed swaths of attractive foliage.

Ground cover plants will tend to hug or spread over the ground yet can also be planted around taller plants, or as a low edge of bed planting or in drifts.

There are a wide range of ground cover plants that will tolerate dry chalk soils - whether in full sun or shade - and many are also drought hardy plants, as chalky alkaline soils have a tendency to dry out in summer sun. To give young plants a good start dig in plenty of compost into the planting hole and apply a 3 to 6 cm layer compost or bark chip on the soil surface after planting to lock in soil moisture and reduce weed competition.