Creeping Smartweed™ — Low-Growing, Native Groundcover with Pink Blooms & Pollinator Friendly

Bring beauty, resilience, and biodiversity to your yard with Creeping Smartweed™ (Lady's Thumb Plant) , a naturally low-growing, spreading plant that thrives where traditional lawns struggle. Reaching only 4–6 inches in height, Creeping Smartweed forms a lush carpet of green foliage accented by delicate rosy-pink flower spikes that bloom from summer into early fall. These blooms provide season-long color and transform any overlooked patch of ground into a vibrant, living display.

Unlike standard turf, Creeping Smartweed is a true groundcover that stays low without mowing, saving you time and maintenance costs. Its decumbent stems spread gently in all directions, filling in bare areas and creating a thick, uniform cover that remains attractive throughout the growing season. Adaptable and unfussy, this plant grows well in loam, clay, rocky, or gravelly soils, tolerates both moist and dry conditions, and stands up to heat and light drought. It even withstands occasional mowing, though it rarely grows tall enough to need it.

But Creeping Smartweed is more than just practical — it’s ecologically powerful. As a native North American plant, it supports a wide range of wildlife. Its flowers attract bees, butterflies, wasps, flies, and skippers, providing nectar throughout the summer. The foliage hosts caterpillars of moths and Copper butterflies, while its developing seeds are a food source for the Gray Hairstreak butterfly. Songbirds including Mourning Doves, House Finches, and sparrows feed on the seeds, while small mammals like ground squirrels and mice also benefit. Choosing Creeping Smartweed means creating a yard that truly supports the pollinators and wildlife that keep ecosystems healthy.

Naturally reseeding and gently spreading, Creeping Smartweed creates a living green mulch that suppresses weeds and thrives with minimal input. While not intended as a lawn for walking, play, or lounging, it is ideal for border areas, slopes, naturalized zones, and low-use sections of the yard where you want a solution that is beautiful, easy, and ecologically valuable.

Best Uses:

• Pollinator gardens and habitat plantings

• Border edges and foundation plantings

• Slopes, embankments, and erosion-prone areas

• Native, low-maintenance “green space” zones where turf won’t grow

With Creeping Smartweed™, you’re not just planting a groundcover — you’re planting a pollinator-friendly, low-maintenance native that adds beauty and ecological value to your landscape.

🌿 Planting Instructions

1. Site Selection: Choose a sunny to lightly shaded location. Creeping Smartweed thrives in loam, clay loam, sandy, or rocky soils.

2. Soil Prep: Loosen the top 1–2 inches of soil and remove weeds. This plant isn’t fussy, but a clean bed helps it establish faster.

3. Seeding: Broadcast seeds evenly over prepared soil in spring or early summer. Lightly press seeds into the surface — do not bury deeply.

4. Watering: Water lightly but consistently until seedlings establish (about 2–3 weeks). Once established, Creeping Smartweed tolerates both moist and dry conditions.

5. Maintenance: Minimal. It reseeds naturally, spreads by shallow rooting, and withstands occasional mowing if needed — though it typically remains just a few inches tall.

Grows well in all areas throughout the continental US, except for Washington, Idaho, and Utah. 

Whether you're restoring native habitat or simply adding a burst of sunshine to your yard, Wild Sunshine™ makes it easy to plant with purpose — the Earthwise way.