The colorful, low-maintenance plants in this book are particularly useful for gardeners who have difficult, steep, rocky, dry, or infertile spots where more finicky plants won't grow.

Includes index.

No category of plants works harder than ground covers to help a gardener create a beautiful yet low-maintenance landscape. In this book readers will discover the best plants * to stabilize banks and control erosion * to substitute for turf where grass won’t grow or is hard to mow * to line curbs and driveways, where salt will damage ordinary plants * to enhance a landscape with broad, dramatic sweeps.

Describes over three hundred species and varieties of ground covers, vines, and grasses with tips on selecting the right plant for the right place and advice for both amateurs and professionals.

For all-season color and a bountiful supply of cut flowers for the house, annuals fill a unique niche in a gardener's landscape plans.

Stretch your imagination about the potential of ground covers. Includes hostas, stonecrops, smaller rhododendrons, prayer plants, pyracanthas, box huckleberry, hellebores, daylilies, grasses, alpine willows, and unsupported climbing vines, just to name a few.