Fragrant plantain lily

Bergenia cordifolia (often treated by botanists as a synonym within B. crassifolia) is a tough, evergreen perennial native to the Altai Mountains, southern Siberia and Mongolia, grown for its bold, heart-shaped leathery leaves that flush red-bronze through winter and its deep pink flower spikes in early-to-mid spring. It is one of the most tolerant groundcovers in cultivation - enduring deep shade, poor soil, drought, and hard continental cold (commonly rated to USDA Zone 3 in US horticulture; RHS rates it H7, hardy below -4°F). The honest catch is its shallowly creeping rhizomes: in mild, moist climates they can colonise well beyond the intended planting, and the large, persistent leaves trap fallen debris and are notoriously attractive to slugs and vine weevils.

Liriope muscari is an evergreen, grass-like perennial native to the shady forest understories of China, Japan, and Korea, where it grows at elevations of 330 to 4,600 feet. In gardens it forms dense, weed-suppressing clumps of arching dark-green foliage topped by spikes of lilac-purple flowers in late summer, followed by ornamental black berries - earning it the RHS Award of Garden Merit. It is drought-tolerant and remarkably adaptable, but the honest catch is its behaviour outside its native range: in parts of the eastern United States it is a documented invasive species, spreading by rhizomes and self-seeding into natural areas, and it provides minimal wildlife value compared with native groundcover alternatives.

Mondo grass is a stoloniferous, evergreen perennial in the Asparagaceae (not a true grass despite its grass-like leaves), native to China, Japan, India, Nepal, and Vietnam, grown as a fine-textured, low groundcover that forms a dense, weed-suppressing turf of dark green foliage. It tolerates deep shade and dry spells once established, making it popular for difficult spots under trees and along pathways. The honest catch is its aggressive spread by underground stolons - in warm zones (8-10) it readily colonises beyond its intended boundary and needs hard edging - and its attractive metallic-blue berries contain steroidal saponins that are mildly toxic if eaten.

The classic cool-season bedding plant, grown for 2-4 inch flattened "face" flowers in nearly every color, usually marked with a contrasting dark blotch and central whiskering. A garden-origin hybrid (not a wild species) treated as a short-lived perennial run as a cool-weather annual or biennial - it blooms hardest in spring and fall and inevitably succumbs to summer heat. The Missouri Botanical Garden lists it as the top-selling winter bedding plant in the deep South.

A tender perennial grown almost everywhere as a warm-season bedding annual, prized for blooming reliably from June to frost in white, pink, red, and bicolor. Its thick, waxy dark-green-to-bronze leaves minimize water loss, giving it real tolerance for hot, humid summers. Compact and mounding at 6 to 12 inches, it is a workhorse edger and container filler in sun-dappled part shade.

A genus of compact native foliage perennials (largely Heuchera villosa hybrids in the modern colored-leaf trade) for shade edges, containers, and color contrast near paths. The 'Marmalade' cultivar shown here is heat- and humidity-tolerant and deer-resistant.