There are several sedums that would work, love the sun, don't need watering, can take some foot traffic, have flowers in late spring, but alas are not fragrant. I'd love to suggest wooly thyme but I have no luck with thyme (it keeps running out). Pun.

Nancy the nancedar

I have had good luck with the creeping thymes. I have a varigated lemon thyme that did quite well and has pretty pink flowers. The bees love it though. Grows about six inches high and spreads like mad in partial shade. If you buy a four inch pot you can hack it into six or more peices and it will spread very quickly. Theresa.

pennyroyal and chamomile both do really well in partial shade, spread well and are quite fragrant. the chamomile could take full sun, but i don't think he pennyroyal would. worth a shot, though. ck the stepables website to get some good ideas (though i don't think fragrant is one of the parameters you can specify). good luck! tammy

Creeping thyme works well - lavendar or white flowers in spring. But I like Blue Star Creeper better - it's thicker and lower than thyme and has light blue flowers in spring. Hardier than Corsican Mint and just as drought tolerant. Lowe's has nice ones right now at $2 a pot - a steal as they're triple that at nurseries. You'll also see beautiful Irish Moss at Lowe's but don't be tempted, it dies out even more easily than the mint.

Sweet Woodruff for shady areas, a variety of creeping thymes for the sunny areas. I like planting several thymes to get a variety of textures, flower colors, and blooming schedules. My favorites for around stepping stones:

elfin thyme (unbelievably tiny)
tuffet thyme (looks like moss, pink flowers)
alba thyme (white flowers)
nutmeg thyme/caraway thyme (look the same, different fragrance, taller than the others but very vigorous)
wooly thyme (fuzzy leaves and more gray in color)
gold oregano thyme (light green leaves)

To keep thyme "going," be sure that you have good drainage. If there is a puddle, the thyme will melt into goo. After blooming, trim the tops (either by hand or with careful use of a weedeater). Rake the thyme with a garden rake in the early spring to remove dead sections and fallen leaves.

I also have a patch of the blue star creeper. Its pretty, but zero fragrance. The blue flowers are a nice accent among all the white and pink of the thymes, however.

Here's my stepping stones in bloom:
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Wow granite! georgious!!! -Ais

Pennyroyal was hardy for me in full sun and part shade. Provide moisture/mulching for best results, but I do I have a dry, sunny bank with almost full sun which the pennyroyal is clearly thriving on right now.

Thanks for the Lowe's tip, Raven! I have some blue star creeper -- bought at nursery prices last year -- and was planning to propagate because of the pricing. But I now have 4 little pots waiting to plant! And I picked up a blue spruce sedum which will make a lovely addition to my yellow & blue area...

: )

Arwen

raven, that's a great tip!! i love blue star creeper & was hoping to score some more for a wlkway.

granite- your walkway is lovely. what i'd hoped mine would look like. thanks, tammy

Granite, your garden is gorgeous! Thanks for the pictures on your website, too. I am envious. Looks like that cool mountain air really agrees with your plants.

I am interested in Blue Star Creeper, but am not sure what it is. Is it a form of Amsonia? I plan to go to Lowe's tomorrow in Cary - hope that they have some.

Any ideas for something that creeps but loves full shade? I need stepping stones to a gate that is under a huge 130-year old oak tree.

Granite, what a lovely picture. I love the bench under the tree, looks very inviting.

Peppep, deadnettle (Lamium maculatum)and mazus (Mazus japonicus) may be worth trying, but I think both like consistent moisture. Lyre-leaf sage can thrive anywhere, including dry shade, but does not have small leaves like the other groundcovers mentioned.

hey, which lowe's did you guys find the blue star at? i ck'd the lowe's in garner this past weekend & they didn't have any. i'd really like to stock up 'cause i have some pathways i'd like to use it in. thanks for any info. you can email me if you want. oh, blue star is laurentia fluvatis or sometimes pratia angulata(i've seen another name that i can't recall off the top). amsonia is also called blue star, but is a completely different plant. a marvelous one, i might add. google it. tam

I have good luck with sweet woodruff.

sweet woodruff loves shade ... and it's evergreen in my yard. it's beautiful in or out of bloom. multiplies quickly and transplants easily - great qualities if you're goal is to line a path.

I've got it! I found Lime Thyme at L.A. Reynolds nursery in W-S. It's a lime green and very fragrant. I just love it. BTW, isnt blue star creeper just Perriwinkle/Vinca Minor? That would be a bit too tall for my purposes. Thanks everybody. Good suggestions!

Blue star creeper is something else -- one of the scientific names (not sure which is the latest) is Pratia pedunculata.

the stuff i got yesterday at lowe's in cary was labelled isotoma fluviatus, and it's also known as laurentian fluviatus, in addition to pratia. could we make it anymore confusing? quirk- blue star is flush with the ground. it couldn't be too tall- there isn't any height. it's tiny, like corsican mint. and it's one of the few that can take a good bit of foot traffic. tam

I checked the Lowe's in Greer, SC yesterday for blue star creeper with no luck. Among the many ground covers that they do have were several flats of sweet woodruff - I seem to recall that all of their ground cover items were $1.47 each. My reference book, Botanica, has Pratia pedunculus but doesn't mention blue star as a common name. It doesn't list Isotoma at all. Does anyone know which is the blue star mentioned in the previous postings and which Lowe's may still have it? I am back in town, so its back to the Cary Lowe's tomorrow to check out Isotoma.

The blue star creeper referred to above is Pratia pedunculus. It's also the other scientific names that Tami mentioned. Scientific names change as taxonomists shuffle plants around in their classifications.

I would also recommend browsing the stepables.com website. They have lots of pictures & suggestions.
Have fun!