Best Low Growing

Echinocereus berlandieri, commonly known as Berlandier's hedgehog cactus, is a sprawling, low-growing cactus native to southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. The species is named in honor of Jean-Louis Berlandier, a Swiss-Mexican botanist who collected specimens extensively in the region during the...

David's viburnum is a low evergreen shrub from western China introduced by Ernest Henry Wilson in 1904, notable for its deeply veined leaves and striking turquoise-blue berries produced on fertilized female plants.

Spiraea japonica, commonly called Japanese spirea, is a compact deciduous shrub native to East Asia, including Japan and China. It produces broad, flat-topped clusters of small pink to reddish flowers during summer, often above toothed, lance-shaped leaves. Numerous cultivars are grown in borders an...

Helianthemum nummularium, commonly known as the common rock rose, is a low-growing evergreen subshrub belonging to the Cistaceae family. Native to Europe and parts of western Asia, the plant is characterized by its woody base and foliage covered in fine, soft hairs. It produces prominent, saucer-sha...

A cholla of the Colorado Plateau in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico, named after U.S. Army explorer Amiel Weeks Whipple who surveyed the Southwest in the 1850s.

Common Selfheal is a widespread herb in the mint family, historically utilized in European traditional medicine for its purported wound-healing properties.

Sheep Laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) is a low evergreen shrub of eastern North America known to be toxic to livestock, particularly sheep, with deep pink flowers appearing in early summer.

A low-growing cholla of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and Sonora, Mexico, forming sprawling mats of club-shaped segments in rocky bajada and desert flat habitats.

The most cold-hardy cactus in the United States, native from Massachusetts to Florida, surviving temperatures to -30°F and producing yellow flowers atop sprawling green pads.

Savin juniper native to mountains of Europe and central Asia, notable for being toxic in all its parts and for a long history of use in traditional medicine.

A low-growing shrub native to the southeastern Alps and Balkans, notable for its purple to lilac-pink flowers and spreading habit, popular in rock garden design.

Dyer's greenweed, a European shrub historically used to produce a yellow textile dye, often combined with woad to create a green color called Kendal green.

Common Cinquefoil (Potentilla simplex) is a trailing perennial native to eastern North America, bearing five-petaled yellow flowers and palmately compound leaves with five toothed leaflets.

A widespread prickly pear across the western Great Plains from Canada to Mexico, tolerating extreme cold and noted for its variable flower colors ranging from yellow to magenta.

Wild violets are herbaceous perennial plants native to eastern North America, easily recognized by their heart-shaped leaves and distinctive purple or blue asymmetrical spring flowers.

Mahonia repens is a low-growing western North American evergreen shrub that spreads by rhizomes to form groundcover colonies, closely related to M. aquifolium but rarely exceeding 30 cm in height.

Common speedwell (*Veronica persica*) is a low-growing Eurasian weed that was introduced to North America and is notable for its small, bright blue striped flowers.

Sand Cherry is a low, spreading shrub native to the Great Lakes region of North America, specifically adapted to thrive in sandy, exposed coastal and inland dunes.

Kalmia angustifolia is a low-growing North American heath-family shrub historically toxic to livestock—hence the common name—producing clusters of rose-pink flowers across boggy and rocky habitats.

Opuntia humifusa var. humifusa, known as devil's tongue, is a low-growing eastern US cactus recognized by its yellow flowers and cold-hardy, juicy red fruits.

Common Chickweed (Stellaria media) is a European annual naturalized on every continent, ranked among the world's most widespread weeds and eaten as a potherb since at least medieval times.