Plants That Grow Horizontally Are Called: Creeping, Trailing More

Plants that grow horizontally are most accurately called creeping plants, spreading plants, or trailing plants, depending on exactly how they move across the ground. Groundcovers is the broad landscape term that covers all three. Each category has a distinct growth mechanism, and knowing which one you are dealing with changes how you find, plant, and manage them.

Creeping, spreading, or trailing: which term actually fits?

These three words get used interchangeably online, but they point to genuinely different things in the field. Creeping plants move horizontally via stolons (above-ground runners) or rhizomes (below-ground stems) that root at the nodes and form new plants as they go. Ground ivy is the classic example: it sends out stolons that creep just below the turfgrass canopy, root at each node, and colonize new ground without any help from you. Spreading plants expand outward through lateral branching, offsets, or underground rhizomes, but the spread is less runner-like and more of a slow, widening clump. Trailing plants have long, flexible stems that lie along the ground or hang down without rooting at the nodes. Trailing arbutus, native to sandy and boggy acid woodlands of eastern North America, is a textbook trailing plant: it hugs the surface, but those stems are not sending down roots at every joint.

There is also a botanical term worth knowing: procumbent. A procumbent stem grows prostrate along the ground but does not root at the nodes. That distinction matters if you are trying to figure out whether a plant will spread aggressively or just lie flat and stay put. Stoloniferous creepers root and spread; procumbent trailers just drape.

How to tell them apart when you are standing in front of one

The fastest field check is to gently lift a horizontal stem and look at the nodes (the joints where leaves emerge). If you see roots or root bumps at those nodes, you have a creeping or spreading plant that is actively colonizing new ground via stolons or rhizomes. If the stem is clean at the nodes and simply lies on the surface, you are likely looking at a trailing or procumbent plant.

• Stolons: above-ground runners you can see snaking across the soil surface, rooting at nodes to form new plants
• Rhizomes: below-ground horizontal stems you find when you scrape back the soil; new shoots emerge from nodes underground
• Tip layering: stem tips that touch the soil, root there, and start a new plant (common in some raspberries and groundcover roses)
• Procumbent/trailing stems: long horizontal stems with no roots at the nodes; the plant expands by lengthening those stems, not by rooting them

If you can pull up a small section and it comes away as a tangled mat of rooted stems, you are dealing with a vigorous stolon-rooting spreader. If the section comes up cleanly with roots only at the crown, it is more of a trailing or clumping spreader. That field test is usually enough to sort them out.

Common examples by habitat

Ground-hugging mat formers (temperate shade and woodland edges)

These are the classic groundcovers people picture when they search for horizontal growers. They stay under 12 inches, spread slowly by rhizomes or stolons, and form dense mats that suppress weeds. You find them naturally in temperate forest understories where light is filtered and moisture is consistent. Creeping phlox, wild ginger, and creeping Jenny fall here. Trailing arbutus occupies the more specialized end of this category, thriving specifically in sandy or boggy, acidic woodland soils in eastern North America.

Stolon-rooting turf spreaders (disturbed ground, roadsides, open lawns)

Ground ivy (creeping Charlie) is the most commonly encountered example in temperate North America. It spreads 1 to 3 feet and grows up to about 1 foot tall, forming evergreen mats that invade turf through stolons creeping below the grass canopy. Creeping indigo is another example from this group, found in high-traffic areas like parking lot edges, roadsides, and medians in warm climates. These plants are built for disturbed, open conditions and spread aggressively once established.

Trailing and vining spreaders (borders, slopes, dry gardens)

Vinca (periwinkle) and Asian jasmine are common examples here. Their stems trail across the ground and root where conditions allow, but they will also climb if given something vertical to grip. That dual habit is why extension specialists warn about keeping vining groundcovers away from trees: those trailing stems can eventually consume a trunk, blocking sunlight and adding weight to branches. On open slopes with nothing to climb, they function as effective groundcovers. On the ecological side, this group is closely related to plants that grow on tall trees to access sunlight, which take the same vining strategy but redirect it upward.

Where horizontal growers actually thrive

The University of Arizona extension describes groundcovers broadly as creeping, sprawling, or clumping plants whose main job is covering ground. That framing is useful for climate-zone thinking: in arid climates, trailing drought-tolerant species do the work that mat-forming rhizome creepers do in humid temperate zones. The plant type changes, but the horizontal growth strategy is the same ecological solution to covering ground efficiently. Tall grasses that grow around plants and trees are called turfgrass the horizontal growth strategy is the same ecological solution to covering ground efficiently.

How to plant and manage horizontal growers

Planting and spacing

Expect groundcovers to take up to two years to fully establish and cover an area. Spacing depends on growth rate, cost, and how quickly you need coverage. Faster spreaders can go further apart; slower mat-formers need closer planting to close gaps before weeds move in. As a practical rule, plant in early spring or fall when temperatures are moderate. Summer planting works but demands much closer attention to watering until roots settle in.

Apply a 2-inch layer of mulch between plants after installation. This does two things: it holds moisture during establishment and blocks the weeds that would otherwise fill the gaps while your groundcover is still spreading. Do not skip this step with slow spreaders.

Watering through the first season

The practical moisture check: push your finger a few inches into the soil. When it feels mostly dry at that depth, water. After the first growing season, most established horizontal growers only need watering during dry spells in summer and fall. If your groundcover is competing with tree roots for moisture (a common situation in shade plantings), check the soil more frequently since tree roots pull water fast in dry weather.

Containing aggressive spreaders

Stolon-rooting spreaders and vining trailers both need physical edging to prevent them from moving into lawns, borders, or onto tree trunks. Install a solid bed edging at the boundary before you plant, not after the plant is established. For species like vinca and Asian jasmine, check the perimeter a couple of times per season and cut back any stems that are rooting outside the intended area. Keeping air circulation good within dense mats also reduces disease risk, especially in wet climates where poor airflow in a tight planting can cause rot problems.

Common misunderstandings and better search terms to use

The biggest source of confusion is treating creeping, spreading, trailing, and groundcover as synonyms. They overlap, but they are not the same thing. Someone searching for 'plants that grow horizontally' might actually want a turf substitute (stolon spreader), a weed-suppressing shade plant (rhizome creeper), a slope stabilizer (trailing vine), or a low ornamental border plant (procumbent trailer). Plants that grow on mountains are called alpine plants, adapted to cold, wind, and rocky soils plants that grow horizontally. The horizontal growth is the shared feature, but the right plant for your situation depends on how that horizontal growth works.

People also frequently confuse groundcover with lawn. Lawn grasses are horizontal growers too, but they are managed by mowing. True groundcovers are not mowed. They rely on their natural low growth habit to stay in place. Similarly, vines are horizontal growers when they are on the ground, but the moment they find something to climb, they redirect upward. That dual behavior is why the category of plants that grow above the ground is closely related to this one: the same species can belong to both groups depending on whether it has something to climb. Plants that grow above the ground are called vines when they climb, or trailing plants when they stay along the surface.

If you are trying to find the right horizontal grower for your location, search using the environmental conditions rather than just the growth habit. More useful search filters include your climate zone (USDA hardiness zone or Koppen climate type), light level (full shade, part shade, full sun), soil type (sandy and acidic, clay, well-drained loam), and moisture regime (drought-tolerant, consistently moist, boggy). Combining those filters with terms like 'creeping groundcover,' 'stolon-spreading perennial,' or 'trailing native plant' will get you to accurate results much faster than searching for 'horizontal plant' alone.

• Use 'creeping groundcover + [your climate zone]' to find mat-forming stolon or rhizome spreaders suited to your region
• Use 'trailing perennial + [shade/sun] + [soil type]' for procumbent or vining low-growers in borders
• Use 'spreading groundcover + drought tolerant' or '+ moist shade' to filter by moisture needs
• Use 'native groundcover + [your state or region]' to find species that naturally occur in your habitat type
• Avoid 'horizontal plant' as a search term since it does not map to any botanical or horticultural category extension services use

One more distinction worth flagging: plants that grow parallel to the ground is sometimes used to describe prostrate or procumbent forms specifically, which are flatter and more strictly ground-level than a typical spreading plant. If you are looking for something extremely low-profile, that term will narrow your results more precisely than 'horizontal' or 'spreading' alone.