Hydrangeas are stunning on their own, but adding the right ground covers can take your garden’s charm up a notch. I love how these low-growing plants fill in the space around hydrangeas, creating a lush, soft carpet that makes the whole area feel fuller and more inviting.
It’s like giving your garden a natural, cozy backdrop that highlights those big, beautiful blooms. These ground covers work hard to keep weeds down while adding texture and color all season long.
Here are 17 great options that pair perfectly with hydrangeas to boost your garden’s style and comfort.
1. Creeping Thyme
Tough yet delicate-looking, this aromatic ground cover creates a carpet of tiny flowers that bees absolutely adore. The low-growing habit prevents it from competing with hydrangeas for attention.
When crushed underfoot, it releases a wonderful herbal scent that adds another sensory dimension to your garden. The purple, pink, or white blooms complement hydrangeas perfectly while its drought-tolerant nature means less watering for you.
2. Sweet Woodruff
Dainty star-shaped white flowers appear in spring, creating a magical woodland feel beneath your hydrangeas. This shade-lover thrives in the same acidic soil that blue hydrangeas prefer.
The whorled, bright green leaves form a lush carpet that stays attractive all season. Sweet woodruff’s gentle spreading habit fills in gaps beautifully without becoming invasive, and its subtle vanilla scent when dried is an added bonus for gardeners who enjoy bringing the garden indoors.
3. Hostas
Available in countless varieties with leaves ranging from tiny to enormous, hostas offer amazing texture beneath hydrangeas. Their blue-green, chartreuse, or variegated foliage creates interesting color echoes with hydrangea blooms.
Requiring similar growing conditions, these shade-lovers form perfect partnerships in woodland gardens. Some varieties even produce lovely lavender or white flower spikes in summer, adding vertical interest at ground level while hydrangeas create the higher layer of your garden’s composition.
4. Coral Bells
Sporting foliage in dramatic purples, coppers, silvers, and greens, these beauties bring year-round color beneath deciduous hydrangeas. Their delicate flower stalks add vertical elements while staying low enough to showcase your hydrangeas.
Modern varieties offer incredible color range and leaf textures that complement hydrangeas beautifully. Coral bells (Heuchera) thrive in the same rich, well-drained soil as hydrangeas, making them natural companions that add sophistication to your garden design without competing for resources.
5. Japanese Forest Grass
Graceful arching blades of this ornamental grass create movement and texture beneath static hydrangea shrubs. The gold-striped varieties brighten shady spots while solid green types offer subtle elegance.
This slow-grower won’t overwhelm your garden design but gradually fills in to create a soft waterfall effect. Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa) performs beautifully in the same partially shaded conditions that hydrangeas love, making maintenance simple while adding sophisticated texture to your garden beds.
6. Ajuga
Often called bugleweed, this tough ground cover offers glossy, colorful foliage in shades of chocolate, burgundy, or variegated patterns. In spring, spikes of blue flowers create a stunning underplanting for pink or white hydrangeas.
Ajuga fills in quickly to suppress weeds and prevent soil erosion around your prized shrubs. Its low-growing habit means it won’t compete with hydrangeas for visual attention, while its tolerance for less-than-perfect conditions makes it an easy-care addition to your garden design.
7. Lamium
Silver-splashed foliage lights up shady spots beneath hydrangeas while pink, purple, or white flowers add seasonal color. This adaptable ground cover handles dry shade—a challenging condition many other plants can’t tolerate.
Lamium (spotted deadnettle) grows quickly to fill in bare areas but isn’t aggressive enough to threaten your hydrangeas. Its semi-evergreen nature provides winter interest in milder climates, extending the season of beauty in your garden when hydrangeas have lost their leaves.
8. Ferns
Unfurling fronds create woodland magic beneath hydrangeas, with countless varieties offering different textures and heights. Japanese painted ferns bring silver highlights while cinnamon ferns offer rusty accents that complement hydrangea foliage beautifully.
Most ferns prefer the same rich, moist soil as hydrangeas, making them natural partners. Their vertical yet soft form creates architectural interest without visual competition, and many types are evergreen or semi-evergreen, providing structure even when hydrangeas are dormant.
9. Epimedium
Fairy wings, as they’re commonly called, feature heart-shaped leaves that often emerge with bronze or red tints in spring. Their delicate, dancing flowers appear on wiry stems above the foliage, creating an ethereal look beneath more substantial hydrangeas.
Epimedium handles dry shade like a champion once established, solving that difficult garden challenge. These tough but beautiful plants form a weed-suppressing mat that doesn’t threaten to overtake your hydrangeas, making them ideal low-maintenance companions.
10. Astilbe
Feathery plumes in shades from white to deep red create vertical accents beneath hydrangeas without stealing their thunder. The fern-like foliage offers contrasting texture that complements the broader leaves of hydrangea shrubs.
Astilbes thrive in the same rich, moist conditions that hydrangeas love. These shade-tolerant perennials bloom at roughly the same time as many hydrangea varieties, creating a coordinated display that extends the color show from ground level upward through your garden beds.
11. Lily of the Valley
Fragrant bell-shaped blooms appear in spring, offering delightful scent before hydrangeas take center stage. The bright green, strappy leaves create a tidy groundcover that spreads to form a dense carpet.
Lily of the valley performs beautifully in shady spots where many plants struggle. While this ground cover spreads enthusiastically, established hydrangeas can easily coexist with it, creating a charming cottage garden effect as the tiny white flowers give way to hydrangea’s bold blooms.
12. Liriope
Often called lilyturf, this grass-like perennial creates neat clumps with spikes of purple or white flowers in late summer. Its arching, strappy leaves provide wonderful textural contrast to hydrangeas’ broader foliage.
Liriope muscari handles challenging conditions from dry shade to poor soil with ease. The evergreen or semi-evergreen nature (depending on your climate) means it provides structure year-round, defining garden edges and filling in spaces beneath deciduous hydrangeas even in winter.
13. Pachysandra
Glossy, evergreen leaves create a dense carpet that suppresses weeds while adding year-round structure beneath hydrangeas. Small white flower spikes appear in spring but the foliage is the real star of this reliable ground cover.
Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese spurge) spreads gradually to fill in bare areas without becoming problematic. It handles the same acidic soil conditions that blue hydrangeas prefer, making it an especially good companion for these varieties while providing consistent green beneath deciduous shrubs.
14. Brunnera
Heart-shaped leaves with stunning silver variegation brighten shady spots beneath hydrangeas. In spring, sprays of tiny blue flowers resemble forget-me-nots, creating a dreamy woodland effect.
Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ and similar varieties offer season-long interest through their spectacular foliage. These clump-forming perennials maintain a tidy habit without spreading aggressively, making them perfect companions that won’t threaten to overtake your prized hydrangeas while adding distinctive texture to your garden design.
15. Vinca Minor
Glossy evergreen leaves form a dense mat that effectively suppresses weeds while periwinkle-blue flowers add spring color. This adaptable ground cover handles challenging conditions from dry shade to poor soil.
Vinca (periwinkle) stays low enough to showcase hydrangeas while preventing soil erosion on slopes. Its moderate growth rate means it fills in nicely without becoming too aggressive in most gardens, though occasional trimming at the edges keeps it from wandering where it’s not wanted.
16. Mondo Grass
Forming tidy clumps of grass-like foliage, mondo grass creates a neat, formal look beneath more exuberant hydrangeas. The standard green or black mondo varieties offer different moods—from traditional to dramatic—in your garden design.
This slow-growing ground cover requires minimal maintenance once established. Mondo grass (Ophiopogon) handles partial shade beautifully and stays compact, making it perfect for smaller gardens or creating defined edges around hydrangea specimens without threatening to overtake them.
17. Wild Ginger
Heart-shaped, glossy leaves form a naturalistic carpet that’s perfect for woodland gardens featuring hydrangeas. Though the flowers are hidden beneath the foliage, the leaves themselves provide beautiful texture and form.
Wild ginger (Asarum) spreads slowly to form colonies that suppress weeds effectively. Native varieties support local ecosystems while European ginger offers larger, more dramatic foliage—both pair beautifully with hydrangeas while preferring the same rich, moist soil conditions.