I have no idea why the pic posted 3 times - sorry.

We have Creeping Charlie in the lawns around here. You do not want it as a ground cover. It goes everywhere so even spraying RU or Weed-B-Gon will not get rid of all of it. Make sure what you have growing isn't going to take over.

I have ajuga in my flower beds, and am hoping it will colonise the 'lawn', but it doesn't even seem to want to grow where it is!

Trish

Get rid of it ASAP! It is very invasive and will choke out anything in it's path. It actually choked out my violets, if you can believe it. I hate it just as much as the wild morning glories!

It looks like vinca minor to me. AKA creeping myrtle or periwinkle. When you pull up a piece does it take a long vine with it?

No, it is not vinca - we have that elsewhere. Seil - I love heritage morning glories - I have one which blooms in 5 different colors at once. Again, what is invasive in one place may not be in another - you cannot make blanket statements for all climates and conditions.

Jackie

It might be self-heal? I have that (and many other things) growing in my "lawn". Bees like it :)

Jackie, I think Ajuga is a wonderful lawn "weed". Its manageability really must depend on where you are, or maybe even the size of your garden.
I don't currently have any lawn but growing up in the south of Germany, my parents always had a lawn full of weeds (I thought of them more as wild-flowers). Keeping them out of the flowerbeds was never a problem and the lawn looked gorgeous and colourful in spring. Lovely to look at and the bees loved it too. Especially the Ajuga!

In recent years, they've taken to mowing around the patches of Ajuga in spring which makes for an even better display.

Thanks hoverfly! So glad to hear that you agree and have a similar experience to mine. My DH does the mowing, and is loathe to leave anything, but in the Spring my weedy lawn has lots of little flowers, and I can get him to delay it sometimes. In addition to the purple of the ajuga, there is clover, and some others that bloom at about 4-5 inches. I can usually talk him out of mowing for a while so I can enjoy them. The ajuga in the lawn is so short, it blooms at about 2 inches!

Jackie

Mackie, I also have white clover in the lawn which the bees love, as well as Bellis perenis, aka English lawn daisy, which is my fave. It has tiny little white daisy flowers for much of the year. I bought some more Bellis perenis seeds this year for the lawn to add more weeds, hahaha. And I planted some crocus bulbs in the lawn too. Drives my husband crazy bu I like my little weed meadow.

Errr, I mean Jackie. Damn autocorrect!

I have three different types of small leaved ajuga in my rockeries. They form a nice impenetrable mat which deters a lot of weeds but doesn't seem to bother the spring bulbs or the aquilegias, geraniums, asters or roses. They don't need watering or feeding and they never get diseases and they shrug off shade and being stepped on. The bees love them, the different vaieties extend their flowering and they make a nice year round patch of colour. They do like to spread, but by runners rather than seed, so twice a year I dig up any that are adventuring over the rockery edges and relocate them.

I really like the way the different varieties ebb and flow throughout the year, like a small eddy of water as one shade or other do better or worse with the seasons.

Yes! I have a little lawn daisy too - I had forgotten to mention that. It is so cute.

fduk_gw - in two other beds (each is about 40 ft by 8 ft) I have competing ground covers (one is vinca minor, and the other one is some sort of yellow So African daisy) - just exactly for the reason you mention. They ebb back and forth depending on the season, and who likes the amount of sun & water they are getting at that point. The good thing is, they prevent any weeds coming up at all (except for the occasional black walnut tree from our street trees, but those are few and easy to spot), and they always cover the ground! They don't bother the roses, and the bulbs come up from under them just fine. It is nice to find folks who are like me, and don't insist on everything being perfect and plants "staying where they put them" (like the Entwives did).

Jackie

Who are these Entwives? They sound hilarious!

They're in 'The Lord of the Rings'.

Look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ent#Entwives