Maculata lamium and other lamiums such as Pink Pewter, Golden Anniversary, Beacon's Silver, Aureum, Red Nancy and White Nancy are low growing lamiums that will slowly self seed (but easy to remove also) to fill in the area. I found that my maculata lamium bloomed from June through frost. Love it. Lamium will grow in shade and part shade. Its leaves change color as fall arrives.

Here is Beacon's Silver last fall...

Brenda

Are the 3-4 hours of sun around mid-day? It makes a big difference. I have some low-growing dianthus in part shade (Arctic Fire is a favourite and grows very flat) and it does well, but it gets sun around noon to four.

Love the lamium - I do have some but don't know the exact variety- White Nancy sounds familiar so that may be what I have. Your Beacon's Silver is lovely,

The sunlight comes early in the morning until around 10 and then again later afternoon.

Thanks for any ideas

I have a mix of Geranium cantabrigiense 'Biokovo' and Nepeta x faassenii along the sidewalk and it is as tough as nails. The foliage smells nice when you step on it or a bike runs over it. The cranesbill blooms only in the spring but if you cut back the nepeta it keeps blooming then the fall colour of the cantabrigiense is well worth growing it just for that alone.
Leo