Periwinkle, ivy, pachysandra and ajuga tend to be thugs in my beds--always fighting for total control of the area.

How about a mass planting of Lemon Lime hostas? They stay small, spread quickly and are a carefree, cheerful yellow.

Or candytuft? It's evergreen and has stunningly white flowers in the spring.

Ginger makes an interesting groundcover, also. Do some google image searches to see them.

I have planted about seven varieties of sedum in a similar area---At the beginning the area needed frequent hand weeding, but now the plants are growing together and forming a kind of carpet. I am in zone 6 (CT), and my favorite sedum is the turkish sedum---beautiful blue and it spreads very rapidly to cover a large area.

Have fun! Molly

Thanks for the suggestions. I was very closed to buying a big' ole lot of ajuga. I have not been dilligent about the weeding this season and right now it seems the sedum are losing the battle to the the weeds. I think I'll try some of the other varieties. I love the idea of the turkish sedum. If not, I'll fall back on the hostas.

The sedums may be losing the battle to the weeds because they will need sunnier conditions to thrive - full to part shade is not an ideal siutation for them. I'd consider using a more shade tolerant groundcover in this area. London Pride, Saxifraga umbrosa or x urbium has an appearance similar to many stonecrop sedums and is evergreen and extremely shade tolerant. If the area is contained by sidewalk and street, any of the other, more aggressively spreading shade GC's like ajuga, pachy or vinca will work equally well and not require constant monitoring.