I love Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia). It is in full bloom right now and a delight en masse...great for planting under deciduous trees. There are some nice cultivars out nowadays with really pretty mottled foliage too...

I am also a big fan of Lamb's Ear as a groundcover. Contrasts so well with everything else...

I have, and love, many of the groundcovers mentioned by Terryanddanny, though I feel like I'll be stoned if I mention some of them in many gardening circles! I've also got lamium, liriope, daylilies, sweet woodruff, mazus reptens, and lots of hostas. They're all fairly new and I have yet to learn whether I'll regret planting or moving many of them, and which do best where. My aim, in my shady yard, is to have mostly shrub beds with groundcovers and some shade perennials in between. We'll see in a few years how it works out.

I like lamium (dead nettle) for that purpose. I'd say vinca, because I love it, but it definitely needs weeding. Ajuga is also good as a ground cover that chokes out the grass and weeds. And, yes, I too like violets in the right spot.

I'd like to see a moss that keeps weeds out - I spend a lot of time weeding mossy areas, and I can tell you from experience that it's much more difficult than weeding a mulched area.

I have some violets, but they travel a lot more than I'd like; I really don't like them in the lawn, which is already full of dandelions, and I think a plant that spreads that widely is more of a pest than it's worth.

Vinca definitely does not keep out grass - or maple seedlings. Furthermore, it climbs up shrubs, which looks really messy. I'm an informal gardener, and tend to let things grow "naturally" and have found vinca in mixed beds (i.e. shrubs, trees, and perennials) is a mistake, at least for my style of gardening. Maybe someone who LIKES to weed and trim would enjoy it more... the flowers are nice, the foliage is pretty, but I'll take European ginger or hellebores, any day of the week instead.

Groundcovers are good. They're not a panacea, though, and we should be honest about their shortcomings. Too many magazines gloss over the problems and make promises that are simply not realistic - maybe we're so used to seeing that kind of "plant promotion" in print that we tend to do it ourselves; let's not.

Lamiums are really good spreaders for me and make a handsome 3 season blanket, particularly useful in dry shade.(My fav. is the silv and green variegated leaf w/ light yellow flowers.) Epimediums are also tremendous in dry shade.Veronica repens Georgia Blue has sweet dainty foliage though a thick mass, and the cobalt blue flowers are just wonderful.I use all of these throughout my gardens and do not see weeds sprouting in them.
lovesummer, Sweet Woodruff was very life-sucking when in my shade beds; I have attempted to remove all of it.

btw, this year many of our beds are overrun w/ a ground-level groundcover weed with shiny dark green round overlapping leaves and yellow daisy like flowers(maybe a ___wort?). does anyone know if this is a life-sucker ?

best,
mindy

I would second Tiarella - I have two varieties and they do spread a bit. Such sweet foliage and flowers. It seems to be picking up in popularity.. I don't remember seeing it around much but I saw some at HD in Bellingham, MA so it must be. Also the European ginger, I was told it is a slow grower, but it seems to be massing nicely where I put it (both at the edge of shrubs and trees.) Gorgeous glossy green foliage.

Mindy, it sounds like leopard's bane, Doronicum caucasicum. The seedlings look quite nice, more like euro-ginger than the photos I see on a google image search. Not sure of its life-sucking characteristics yet. I have a bit of it, which blew in from my neighbor's garden along with many other invasives (orange poppy, spirea, lunaria... long list)

I like doronicum a lot, but it has never struck me as a groundcover. Just the idea of something that big, flashy and early is very appealing.

Common names may be tripping me up; my neighbor identified the plant as leopard's bane, and I got the latin name based on that. Mine is pretty short, although I think I have only first-year plants since I rip it out when I see it. The leaves are very glossy, like euro ginger, and the flowers are sort of like dandelions (but no fuzzy aftermath).

Is that leopard's bane?

It might be a different species. D. caucasicum starts with scalloped, heart shaped leaves that aren't at all glossy. The flowers are 3" solid yellow daisies. While it's an annoying prolific reseeder in its general area, I haven't had seeds travel to other gardens.

'lower celandine' i was told today. see my new post.
mindy