Well, you have many choices. You could fill in with the dwarf mondo grass which is very thick and weed choking. It's lovely too.
You can also try corsican mint & pennyroyal which I do recommend only if you are not planting along the edges with more delicate things...these are mints, and they spread very fast and of course become a tangle of roots.
The most lovely of all would be mosses. You could have a gorgeous variety of mosses which are now available at many of the specialty nurseries or possibly from someone elses side yard, lol. The variety is fantastic and could be so beautiful. Especially mixed with miniature ferns here and there!

GGG

GGG,

Great suggestions. I went to Pike's and bought about 36 dwarf mondos and some foam flower (just 5) for around the sides. I even planted today and love the result (can't wait for it to spread). I REALLY want to do moss too - but they wanted $4.00 a (tiny) plant and I would need so many I couldn't stomach the cost. Any suggestions on where to get low cost moss (other than a neighbor...hehe). While I was at the Nursery and everything is on sale - I ended up buying 4 tassel ferns and 3 Japanese Beech ferns to put at the side of the path beneath a Cherokee Brave dogwood (also bought today). It is very dangerous to my pocketbook when I enter a nursery. I am lucky I left with only these things.

OK.
Buy one of each moss you like.
Then get some buttermilk.
Find a good old rotten moist log, or some pots of soil that you can keep moist (you could put plastic bag domes on them for humidity and moisture).
Take a chunk of your precious moss and whip it up in the blender with your buttermilk. You only need a bit. Paint your log, or invent a way to get it on the top of the soil.
You will have lots of baby moss in a short time.
Seperate little chunks.
Pot it up and keep it moist.
PLant it when it's large enough.
Lots of moss for little cost :)
You could also come over and have some of mine. It's nothing fancy but it's free. And it's moss. I live in East Atlanta Village.

GGG

Welcome to Georgia! Shaded pathways can be such welcome garden in the heat of the summer. And when you use some evergreen plants, they can be a welcome sight in the winter as well. I love to use mosses, native evergreen ferns, evergreen gingers (hexastylis species), unusual rocks, moss covered pieces of wood and the occasional pieces of "art" to create interest in winter and spring/summer.

I am a big fan of native plants, especially in the woodland. Since you are new to Georgia, you might want to consider joining the native plant society to learn more about the native plants in Georgia and how you can incorporate them into your garden. GNPS also has a very active rescue program to save plants that are in the path of development. For a small annual membership fee, you can participate in those rescues several weekends a month and bring home lots of native ferns, mosses and other cool plants. We also have meetings every other month and other activities.

Whereabouts are you located? I'm in the Woodstock/Roswell area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Georgia Native Plant Society

creeping jenny is nice and has a ligher color. I've tried irish moss, but haven't had much luck.

I am going to try the moss puree! Sounds fun if nothing else - and my kids will want to get into the project too. Can I keep the growing baby moss in my screened porch? Will the temp be ok or do I need to be inside with it?

I am in in Acworth, by the way. The native plant rescues sounds fun. I will check out the site and when I have my own roots more firmly planted - I might just have to join up!

By the way - how do I add a picture to the messgae? I see others do it but I can't get it to work!
Thanks again!
Kathy

For moss puree, be sure to use a blender that you don't want to use for food anymore. Perhaps get one from the thrift store. Yes, the moss is quite hardy and can stay outside while it is growing.

If you store your pictures on a photo hosting site (like photobucket and others), then you can "reference" the picture from that site to here using a simple html command. The html command is the image source one (spelled img src, you can google that term for instructions). You can also use the test forum to test out your skills. If you do it right, you should "see" any picture that you reference when you do the preview step.

Here is a link that might be useful: Test forum

I know you've already pretty much got your pathway done, but I also love to put little Ajuga's around shady pathways. They stay small during the year, especially the smaller leafed hybrids, but they do get lovely blue flower stalks of about 3 inches high to add lovely color and Ajuga comes in lots of different foliage colors to add interest. If you do use it I wouldn't put it between stepping stones b/c of the flowers, but it would look lovely on the side with your mondo grass.

Also, I would suggest Epimediums if you can get your hands on them as a specimen plant. They get tiny little flowers in the early spring and keep a fairly heart shaped leaf the rest of the year. Again there only like 4 inches talls.

And of course if you need something to cover an area fast Lamium is always good with it's silvery foliage and yellow or pink flowers. But it can get invasive and spread too far if you don't watch it. But it's silvery foliage really brights up the shade and it doesn't get any easier to grow!

Good luck with your shade gardening, living in Georgia means that shade gardening is just my absolute favorite b/c it's the one part of your garden you can still really enjoy even in the heat of summer!

Good luck!

GTP

If you have the room to add them to the back of your border, southern shield fern are beautiful. They stay a light springtime green all summer and fall. They are vigorous and really do need room to expand.

Two other ground covers to consider are asarum (ginger) and cyclamen. Some asarum are evergreen, others not. The cyclamen is a winter bloomer.

I second GTP's recommendation for epimedium. I got my first one two years ago and love it. It always looks nice.

By the way, the asarum (ginger) that are evergreen have been reclassified as "hexastylis". Here is a link to the most common one that is found in natural areas throughout the metro area. If you have them naturally, you can transplant them to more visible areas along your path.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:841971}}

Wow - what great suggestions!. My path is only 1/3 done (what a huge endeavor I have taken on) So, all of these ideas can be added. I googled all the plants and don't know where to start....but I will hunt them down locally - then go to catalogs.

Anyone have a favorite nursery in the northwest Atlants suburbs?

I recommend a trip to Athens in the spring. The nurseries around there carry a lot of the perennials mentioned here. You might try Classic Nurseries, which has a subsidiary called Classic Groundcovers, for more traditional groundcovers. Goodness Grows is a good source of natives and other plants that don't show up in most nurseries. There is a wonderful hosta nursery in Auburn (semi-close to Mall of Georgia) called Pixie Forest. I think they are strictly mail order.

As you have noticed, none of these are in the northwest burbs, but I don't know that area at all.

Here's a list of native plant suppliers in Georgia from the Georgia Native Plant Society website:

http://www.gnps.org/SOURCES2.HTM

That might help. You should also contact Eco Gardens (listed in the link above). They specialize in many very unusual cultivars of plants both native and non, mostly for shade. They are not in the Northwest, but still very worth it. It's not a normal nursery, but by private appointment and you can obtain a list if you are lucky!

GGG

I don't think you are necessarily looking for native plants (but I'd be thrilled to hear you were), so my suggestion is to take a look at Home Depot Landscape Supply (there is one in Woodstock near the I-575/Hwy 92 exit). They have way more plants than the average Home Depot and in a larger variety of sizes also.

If you are trying to figure out if a particular plant is native, the USDA plants database is a good one and indicates whether a plant is native or introduced.

If you do want native plants, this list is a list of the nurseries that contributed to this year's native plant sale and there are quite a few in Canton/Woodstock.

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Plants database