# Common bugle: planting, care and price

> Common bugle (Ajuga reptans) is a native ground cover 7 to 30 cm tall that stays green in winter. Where it fits, how to plant it and what a plant costs.

Canonical: https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/common-bugle
Last updated: 2026-09-28

*Ajuga reptans*

![One low mat of wild common bugle in an empty bed of wood chips in front of a wooden fence in early May, with dark green leaves and blue-violet flower spikes](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/kruipend-zenegroen-d6c8b853.webp)

Published: 2026-09-28

Common bugle (Ajuga reptans) is a native ground cover from the mint family.
Runners grow over the soil from its rosettes, and they build a low mat that
stays green in winter. From April to June, short spikes of blue-violet flowers
rise above it. The plant likes moist soil with humus, in partial shade or shade.

## Common bugle at a glance

| Feature | Common bugle |
| --- | --- |
| Height | 7 to 30 cm |
| Spread | 0.5 to 1 m per plant, creeps further |
| Full grown after | 2 to 5 years |
| Sun | Partial shade to shade |
| Soil | Moist, with humus |
| Water | Average |
| Maintenance | Low: no pruning, only keep the runners in check |
| Flowers | April to June, blue-violet |
| For bees | Yes: nectar and pollen, April to June |
| Hay fever | Not or weakly allergenic |
| Leaves | Stay green |
| Hardy | Yes |
| Native | Yes |
| Poisonous | No |
| Pricks or stings | No |
| Price, young | About €2.50 to €3.79 each, 5-10 cm, in a small pot |
| Price, grown | About €7.95 each, in a large pot |

- **Leaf**: all year
- **Flower**: April to June
- **Fruit**: no noticeable fruit

![A spoon-shaped common bugle leaf close up, broad and rounded at the tip, narrowing towards the stalk, with a finely hairy edge](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/kruipend-zenegroen-leaf-521a57ca.webp)
*Leaf*

![An upright common bugle flower spike with whorls of blue-violet two-lipped flowers and purple-tinged bracts](https://tuinontwerp.app/images/blog/kruipend-zenegroen-bloom-34001c59.webp)
*Flower*

## How do I recognise common bugle?

Look first at the leaves near the ground. Together, the lowest leaves form a
rosette. Each leaf has a stalk and is spoon-shaped: narrow at the stalk, broad
and rounded at the tip. The edge is smooth or slightly wavy. On the square
stem, the leaves grow in pairs, each pair at right angles to the one below.
Higher up the stem they get smaller, and they often have a bluish tinge.

The stem is usually hairy on two opposite sides only. The flowers are
blue-violet, sometimes pink or white, and 1 to 1.7 centimetres in size. Small
whorls of two to six flowers are stacked one above the other along the spike.
The upper lip is quite small, so it is mostly the broad lower lip you notice.
After flowering, small nutlets form.

> **Did you know?**
>
> Each nutlet carries an oily appendage called an elaiosome. Ants drag the
> nutlets away because of it. In this way, ants sow the plant.

The plant that looks most like it is [ground ivy](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/ground-ivy). That
plant also has creeping stems and blue-violet flowers. Ground ivy's leaves,
however, are kidney-shaped or nearly round, with a scalloped edge. Nurseries
also sell the cultivar 'Atropurpurea'. Its leaves are bronze-purple all year,
though greener in shade. The wild plant has dark green leaves.

## Where does common bugle grow best?

Common bugle grows best in partial shade or full shade. Partial shade is a spot
with three to six hours of direct sunlight a day around midsummer. In sun, the
plant only does well if the soil stays moist. Clay and loam are fine, ideally
with plenty of humus in them. If heavy clay stays wet for a long time, choose
another spot. In the wild, the species grows in woods, along woodland edges, on
road verges and in damp grassland.

You will get little pleasure from it in these spots:

- **A dry border in full sun.** In a long drought the plant visibly suffers.
  Its leaves need soil that holds on to moisture.
- **A path you walk along every day.** The leaves do not stand up well to
  being trodden on.
- **Right next to the lawn or a border of perennials.** The runners creep into
  the grass or the border, and getting them out again is hard work.

In winter the mat keeps its dark green leaves.

In the app you can measure how much room there is under your shrubs or along
the fence, on a map of your own plot. That plot comes from the Kadaster, the
Dutch cadastre, and is drawn to scale with the neighbours' buildings around it.

## Planting and caring for common bugle

Nurseries sell common bugle as a young plant in a pot. A potted plant can go
into the ground at any time of year, as long as the soil is not frozen. Space
the plants about 30 centimetres apart, which comes to about 12 per square
metre. On planting day you mostly see bare soil. The spacing looks too wide,
but the runners close the gaps by themselves. In the first summer, water in dry
weeks.

Common bugle needs no pruning. There are two small jobs:

| When | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| When a runner creeps too far | Cut it loose and pull it out |
| When the mat gets too crowded | Dig out a piece and replant the rooted stems elsewhere |

Where the mat grows under a hedge or shrub, keep the nesting season in mind.
Many birds nest from March through July.

## What goes wrong with common bugle?

**There is a white, powdery layer on the leaves.** That is powdery mildew, a
fungus. A plant that keeps drying out gets it sooner. So water in dry spells,
and clear away the affected leaves.

**Clumps suddenly wilt, and the stems turn brown or black.** That is crown rot,
a fungal disease. Heavy, wet soil and an overcrowded mat make it more likely.
Remove the diseased plants together with the soil around them. Thin out a dense
mat every few years.

**The leaves wilt in a dry summer.** The soil under the mat has dried out. Water
until the soil feels moist again.

## Which insects and birds use common bugle?

On chalk grassland, the grizzled skipper (Pyrgus malvae) drinks nectar from
common bugle. This butterfly flies from mid-April to mid-June and is rare in
the Netherlands. The dingy skipper (Erynnis tages) seldom visits flowers. When
this small butterfly does, it picks low herbs such as common bugle. In the
Netherlands, the dingy skipper has become extremely rare.

No bird species has been described by name as using common bugle.

## Is common bugle poisonous?

Common bugle is not known as a poisonous plant. That still does not make it an
edible one. Nothing on it pricks, either: the stems and leaves are softly
hairy.

The photos on this page were made with AI, based on real photos and descriptions of this plant.

## Frequently asked questions

### How tall does common bugle grow?

The leaves lie flat on the ground. With the flower spikes included, common bugle grows 7 to 30 centimetres tall.

### Does common bugle spread?

Yes. The plant makes long runners that creep over the ground and form new rosettes along the way. One plant grows 0.5 to 1 metre wide. Cut the runners loose where they go too far.

### Is common bugle poisonous?

No, common bugle is not known to be poisonous. That does not make the plant edible.

### Does common bugle grow in shade?

Yes. Partial shade and full shade are the two best spots for it. Partial shade means three to six hours of direct sunlight a day around midsummer. In sun, common bugle only does well if the soil stays moist.

### Is common bugle native to the Netherlands?

Yes. Common bugle is an original native of the Netherlands. Here it grows in woods, along woodland edges, on road verges and in damp grassland.

## Sources

- [Duistermaat, Sparrius & Denters, Standaardlijst van de Nederlandse flora 2020 (Gorteria 43)](https://natuurtijdschriften.nl/pub/1019223)
- [NDFF Verspreidingsatlas — Ajuga reptans](https://www.verspreidingsatlas.nl/0024)
- [NDFF Verspreidingsatlas — Glechoma hederacea](https://www.verspreidingsatlas.nl/0582)
- [Flora van Nederland — Kruipend zenegroen](https://www.floravannederland.nl/planten/kruipend_zenegroen)
- [RHS — Ajuga reptans (bugle)](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/742/ajuga-reptans/details)
- [RHS — Ajuga reptans 'Atropurpurea'](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/94495/ajuga-reptans-atropurpurea/details)
- [RHS — Shade gardening (definities zon en schaduw)](https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=934)
- [RHS — Powdery mildews](https://www.rhs.org.uk/disease/powdery-mildews)
- [Missouri Botanical Garden — Ajuga reptans](https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b200)
- [Melinda Myers — Crown rot causing sudden wilting and death on ajuga](https://www.melindamyers.com/audio-video/melindas-garden-moment-audio-tips/problems-pests-weeds/crown-rot-causing-sudden-wilting-and-death-on-ajuga-bugleweed)
- [PFAF — Ajuga reptans](https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Ajuga+reptans)
- [Imkerpedia — Drachtplanten](https://www.imkerpedia.nl/wiki/index.php/Drachtplanten)
- [Pollennieuws / Flora van Nederland — Aandachtspunten hooikoorts vriendelijke tuin](https://www.pollennieuws.nl/post/?permalink=aandachtspunten-hooikoorts-vriendelijke-tuin)
- [De Vlinderstichting — Aardbeivlinder](https://vlinderstichting.nl/vlinder/aardbeivlinder/)
- [De Vlinderstichting — Bruin dikkopje](https://vlinderstichting.nl/vlinder/bruin-dikkopje/)
- [Vogelbescherming — Snoeien in het broedseizoen, mag dat?](https://www.vogelbescherming.nl/actueel/bericht/snoeien-in-het-broedseizoen-mag-dat)
- [Antigifcentrum — Weinig of niet giftige planten](https://www.antigifcentrum.be/Toxinfos/weinig-of-niet-giftige-planten/)
- [Heijnen Planten — Ajuga reptans (prijs en planttijd)](https://www.heijnen-planten.nl/kruipend-zenegroen-ajuga-reptans-5-10-pot-p9)
- [Heijnen Planten — Ajuga reptans 'Atropurpurea'](https://www.heijnen-planten.nl/kruipend-zenegroen-ajuga-reptans-atropurpurea-5-10-pot-p9)
- [Natuurlijk Sterker — Ajuga reptans (prijs)](https://natuurlijksterker.nl/webshop/ajuga-reptans-07-liter-pot-p9-bio-kruipend-zenegroen-biologisch-geteeld-inheems/)
- [PlantBezorgd — Ajuga reptans (prijs)](https://plantbezorgd.nl/product/vaste-planten/ajuga-reptans-kruipend-zenegroen/)
- [Yarinde — Kruipend zenegroen (plantafstand)](https://yarinde.nl/products/kruipend-zenegroen-ajuga-reptans)
- [Wikimedia Commons — Leaf: photo by Tournasol7 (CC BY 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ajuga_reptans_in_Araches-la-Frasse_%282%29.jpg)
- [Wikimedia Commons — Flower: photo by AnRo0002 (CC0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20170502Ajuga_reptans1.jpg)

## Read next

- [Ground ivy: where to plant it, care and price](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/ground-ivy) - Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) is a native ground cover 15 to 60 cm tall with blue-violet flowers. Where it fits, what it costs and what can go wrong. (2026-09-27)
- [Lesser periwinkle: where it grows, planting and care](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/lesser-periwinkle) - Lesser periwinkle (Vinca minor): an evergreen ground cover 15 to 30 cm tall for shade. Where to plant it, what it costs and what to do when it goes wrong. (2026-09-23)
- [Common daisy: planting and care for the native lawn flower](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/common-daisy) - The common daisy (Bellis perennis) is a native perennial 5 to 15 cm tall that flowers from March to October. Where it grows, what it costs and what goes wrong. (2026-09-28)
- [More about ground cover](https://tuinontwerp.app/en/blog/category/plants/vaste-planten/bodembedekkers)