Low profiles

“Buying a plant because it's pretty doesn't work,” Hopkins says. Before considering the following aesthetic or fun characteristics, make sure a groundcover is suited to your region and yard.

Visual interest: It won't win any beauty contests, but Leptinella Platt's Black is arresting. “This is a creepy creeper, looking rather like a bunch of millipedes. For people who want something really interesting, this is that plant,” says Starla King, co-owner, Signature Gardenscapes, Ashburn, Va.

Happy habitats: Thymes and sedums will attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

Step-and-sniff: The creeping thyme Doone Valley “has foliage that, when crushed, smells like pink lemonade,” McGowen says.

Old softies: “Leptinella varieties feel the most scrumptious underfoot. They are like soft little ferns that creep and roam to make a very sweet carpet,” Hopkins says.

Speedy spreader: Moneywort, or Creeping Jenny, “is a beautiful, bright, golden-green trailing plant, but it quickly will take over your garden floor, the path and anything near it,” King warns. Plant it at your own peril.