For many people, the term “groundcover” brings up one image — Japanese pachysandra. But in the broadest sense, groundcovers are any material — living or nonliving — that place a buffer between the soil surface and the atmosphere. Groundcovers are an important part of the visual landscape, but they are just as important ecologically.

The conventional ground-covering formula features lots of lawns with “islands” of trees, shrubs, and flowering borders surrounded by seas of bark mulch.

Now, a lot of people are interested in a new look. Here are four questions that may help you rethink the ground-covering formula for your home, office, or community buildings.

1. How much of the outdoor space is “active,” used for children’s play or pets, outdoor dining, sports, and parties?

2. How much of the area is lightly used? Do you cross the front yard only once a day to visit the mailbox?

3. Which areas are visible but rarely visited?

4. Which areas are rarely seen or visited?

If your landscape — or part of it — fits the active category, conventional turf and hardscape may be the best choices. Most of the landscapes I’m invited to visit, however, are lightly used by the occupants. Many grow grass, it seems, without much awareness of alternatives.

Some plants other than grass can withstand light foot traffic very well. Want ideas? Visit Treadwell Plants, Stepables or Jeepers Creepers. Each of these growers offers a search form where you can select the level of anticipated foot traffic as well as light and soil conditions. They also offer search forms to help you find their plants locally.

Moss is a fine walkable groundcover for low-traffic areas, especially where nothing else will grow. For pre-propagated moss sheets or moss growing supplies, visit Mountain Moss, Moss Acres or Fred's Wild Sod, or read Annie Martin’s book, “The Magical World of Moss Gardening” (Timber Press, 2015).

What about no-traffic areas? Consider a mixture of low-growing shrubs, which include both broadleaf and needled evergreens as well as some beautiful flowering species.

In the low-growing broadleaf evergreen category, we have native bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and leucothoe (Leucothoe axillaris). Among non-natives, sweet box (Sarcococca hookeriana var. humilis) and Russian arborvitae (Microbiota decussata) may be good choices.

Among needled evergreens, consider the low-growing native junipers, including blue rug (Juniperus horizontalis) and common (Juniperus communis). Low-growing non-native evergreens can also fill the niche, such as shore juniper, Japanese garden juniper, and Savin juniper.

The choices are so many that it’s worth a visit to the UConn plant database, which can help you create a customized list. It offers a “groundcover” filter under the “Plant Form and Size” selection.

Bottom line: Keep soil covered. But if you’re ready to go beyond pachysandra, bark mulch, and conventional turf grass, there are lots of choices.

Kathy Connolly is a landscape designer, horticulture consultant, and speaker from Old Saybrook. Contact her through www.SpeakingofLandscapes.com.

There are at least five reasons why all soil should be protected by mulches and groundcovers:

1. To protect soil surfaces from drying sun and wind.

2. Bare soil is prone to nitrogen loss, as this key nutrient is volatile and easily lost. Groundcovers, both living and nonliving, help keep this key nutrient available to plants. Some nitrogen-fixing groundcovers, such as clover and micro clover, measurably improve the nitrogen content in soil.

3. To prevent erosion during periodic downpours (and protects soil from overzealous sprinkler systems).

4. To protect beneficial soil-dwelling microbes. In the case of biodegradable mulches such as bark mulch and chopped leaves, the composted material becomes a food source for the soil microbe community.

5. To help fight weeds in more ways than one. It not only fills space where weeds might take root, it also reduces soil disturbances that can cause buried weed seeds to emerge and germinate.