Sharing know-how about UK gardening

Plants sold specifically as ground cover plants may spread rapidly but not particularly attractively. For example, rose of Sharon (Hypericum calycinum) looks scruffy in winter and is invasive.

Better mannered and readily available evergreens include winter and spring-flowering heathers for sunny spots, carpeting silvery-leaved deadnettles (Lamium species), darker-leaved bugles (Ajuga sp.) and taller Bergenias with their leathery elephant's ears leaves.

Amongst those plants which die down each autumn to revive in the spring, choose from the many hardy geraniums (Geranium sp.) or day lilies (Hemerocallis) for their spreading habit and long flowering season, and Hosta for their large leaves. And don't forget that climbers such as ivies, honeysuckle and Clematis will happily scramble along the ground if deprived of support.