Guide
Creeping Jenny: A Fast Groundcover With an Invasive Streak
The short answer
Creeping Jenny, or moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia), is a low creeping perennial that forms a leafy mat just 2 to 4 inches tall, studded with bright yellow cup-shaped flowers in early summer. It roots wherever leaf nodes touch soil and spreads by rhizomes, so it covers ground very fast, especially in moist spots where other groundcovers fail.
That speed is also the problem: the green species is documented as invasive across much of the United States, escaping into wet meadows, stream banks, and floodplain forests (Wisconsin DNR, USGS). If you use it at all, keep it away from lawns, borders, and any waterway, or choose the golden cultivar 'Aurea', which Wisconsin Horticulture notes is much less aggressive.
Where It Works (and Where It Doesn't)
- Thrives in moist to damp soil in sun or part shade; the kind of wet ground that kills many other groundcovers.
- Useful spilling over container edges, walls, and in contained damp corners.
- Poor choice next to lawns or perennial borders — it spreads too aggressively and is difficult to control (NC State Extension).
- Never plant near streams, ponds, ditches, or drainage swales; it invades wet natural areas.
Planting and Care
Plant divisions or nursery plants in spring in moist soil; stems root at the nodes on contact, so plants knit together quickly with no special care. It needs no fertilizer program and takes shearing well.
Containment is the real maintenance. Edge the planting hard, pull runners that cross the line, and never dump trimmings in natural areas or compost that reaches wild ground — fragments root.
⚠ The green species of creeping Jenny is listed as invasive in much of the US and is regulated in some states (Wisconsin DNR). Check your state's invasive plant list before planting; prefer the better-behaved 'Aurea' cultivar or a native alternative in moist sites.
Sources
Reviewed 2026-07-18. We cite university Extension, government, and established horticultural sources — and never invent pesticide rates or dangerous treatments.
- Wisconsin DNR — Moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia) — Invasive status and behavior in moist habitats such as wet meadows, stream banks, and floodplain forests
- North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox — Lysimachia nummularia — Growth habit (2-4 inch leafy mat, yellow flowers, roots at nodes, rhizomes), aggressive spread, noted as invasive through much of the US, unsuitability near borders and lawns
- Wisconsin Horticulture (UW-Madison Extension) — Golden Creeping Jenny, Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' — The species can be invasive while the yellow cultivar 'Aurea' is much less aggressive and suitable for judicious ornamental use
- USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species — Creeping Jenny species profile — Non-native origin (Europe/temperate Asia), naturalization in North America