PlantFiles: Mazus
Mazus reptans

Based mainly on your comments here and other places on line, I am going to try this plant in some of my walkways. I found an inexpensive source in a website called Stepables. I don't know how much they charge for shipping, but I guess I'll find out. One flat is about $100 (48) plants and should cover about 50 square feet. I hope it does well here in zone 9b.

Forms a dense foliage mat, full of blooms in May in my garden.

fastest spreading plant i have ever seen it has grown from covering 10cm to over 1metre square it has brilliant flowers that look like little trumpets coming off the ground and the flowers are brightened up by a bright yellow path in the centre of the purple trumpet. foliage has formed a mat and has even spread onto my lawn and killed a small patch of grass(i moved it before it outgrew my lawn)

This plant seems to spread quickly! It's a bit yellow at the center, but has many new green shoots, so I'm guessing that it's going to be fine. The flowers are lovely, and it's forms a thick mat. Mine is growing on a west-facing sloped rock garden, which gets some dappled shade and it seems to be doing well.

I just got this plant last year on end of season sale and I love it! It grows fast and makes beautiful little lavender purple flowers that make me think of lobelia. If you get down on the ground and actually smell it, it has a pleasant sweet fragrance too!

Grows and flowers well in mostly shade as well as sun. Outcompetes other weeds. This is one plant you put in the ground and just forget about. Takes care of itself.
Evergreen in zone 6

I love this plant. Bought as a marginal pond plant, it has survived my zone 5 winter with slight yellowing. Has been blooming since mid April, and continues to bloom. I placed it in pond level with dirt, and it seems very happy. Likes full sun, in the water. I hope to divide this and spread the beautiful blue blooms all around my pond.

Figures - I thought they were zone 4 hardy - seem like a lot of sources says that they are zone 4 hardy but none have survived winter here in Minnesota.

I bought one of these last year from a nursery while on a gardening trip to zone 7-8 to try out in a blue stone walkway. It is doing fantastic. Growing in limestone and sand, between the blue stones, in strong sun, and it has multiplied, and now flowering. I live in 9a, and I avoid watering. Go figure. I am ready to buy more and fill in the rest of the pathway. It is a great plant.

Grows in full sun to partial shade. This is a very low growing, spreading groundcover that forms a thick mat of tiny leaves with tiny purplish-blue flowers that bloom from spring into summer. Prefers well-drained soil.

Was given spring 2003 a small start of this, it quickly spread from 2 inches to 23 inches!!! blooms are darling little lavender with specks. It easily tolerated my path thru the garden where I walk, without being totally crushed or killed. Kept on blooming and growing.

A wonderful little groundcover for the shade. Tolerates foot traffic. Mine is growing under a pine tree in clay soil. It's a little too rambunctious to go between my pavers, though. It needs a bit more room. Watch it when it does its growth spurt in the spring and trim it back, or it will get into the lawn! Its purple flowers in late spring are just darling.

This plant grows anywhere, yet is not invasive. Thrives in full shade, full sun, severe drought (no water for 3 months during summer of '99), and underwater for a month in '01. I strongly recommend to everyone. Find someone who grows it for a start: the few nurseries locally that carry it charge $8-9 for a quart pot.

Foliage in Zone 6 turns red during winter; back to green in spring.

Prefers moist, rich soils. Foliage is evergreen in warm winter climates. Excellent ground cover for small areas. Also effective grown between stepping stones or in rock gardens. Tolerates foot traffic.