It will be tough to establish a ground cover like Sweet Woodruff in a sunny spot. I think you will always have lots of grass and weeds growing up through the ground cover. The best you can expect is to establish a ground cover mixed in with the grass. Ground covers are capable of keeping other plants at bay only in shady locations.

Maybe a Rose Verbena(Vervain) [Verbena canadensis] would make a nice native groundcover, and I believe it does fine in full sun. It should compliment any other natives you plant. It blooms from early spring till front, and it attracts butterflies. Once it's in, it's in though.

thanks... i was actually given some Vervain seeds. I'll do some more research on them.

This is going to be a project to take years, but I'd like to get a good jump on it this year.

Are there any good vines out there that will climb on there own, not needing any support? (like an Ivy would do)

I think that will fill the wall in nicely

I wouldn't plant English Ivy, as it's a foreign invasive plant. Native Sandvine Milkweed (Cynanchum laeve) would climb it, I'm sure. It's invasive also, but you will get butterflies(tons) when it's in bloom, and it's native. The monarch butterfly prefers this as a host plant over butterfly milkweed.
I have some seeds from it if you want to trade, or if you don't have any to trade, I can just send you some.
Email me about it.

I've had sweet woodruff under my buddleia for years, and it does very well - there's just enough shade for it no to blanch. And it's a surprisingly good weed suppressant. Forget-me-nots are a winner, too, cos they're short, tough and self seed in droves. They both have pretty flowersÂ.a dark red variety of bugle (Ajuga reptans) would also be very vigorous and provide some colour out of season.

I take it that the land beyond the fence is State public land, not owned by you. First of all, you should not be planting anything there without permission from the State. You may find that the local county or state conversvation authority or forest management authority has native plants that they will give you or sell to you very inexpensively if you want to plant on their land.

Secondly, since it is a natural area, you should plant things native to the area and avoid invasives; butterfly bush, rose of sharon, roses, sweet woodruff, english ivy, forget me nots, and sedum are not native. If lawn or pasture grasses like red fescue or timothy are present you will have difficulty growing flowers. These grasses are very competitive and exude chemicals from their roots which suppress other plants. To establish meadow will require killing the grass either by smothering for a season or with Round Up.

The Chicago area had some tall grass prairie and Oak savanna before European settlement, you might want to research for plants native to those ecosystems. Below is a link to Native Plant Nurseries in Michigan, contact any of them for suggested plant lists.

Here is a link that might be useful: Michigan Native Plants

OOOPs

Had a brain fart. Chicago is in Illinois, not Michigan, so here is a link to Illinois info:

http://www.epa.gov/greenacres/nativeplants/factsht.html#Native%20Plant

and another link below to even more links.

Here is a link that might be useful: llinois Native Plant links

-- geeze, i thought i replied to this this morning.

anyways -- judy_b, thanks for your input. We did contact the state on purchasing the land, but they are not selling -- but also told us we could use the land as long as we don't build/put a permanent structure. (he told us of cases where in ground pools were built)

on another venture, i was actually on the "greenacres" web site last night - researching native plants for our prairie wet lands.

I am doing a lot of native/prairie plants and wild flowers.

I have learned a lot since starting this thread back in early Feb.

Thanks again for your input.

Terese