There's a bit of a misunderstanding that groundcovers - especially mat-like stepable groundcovers - will do much to suppress weeds. They won't :-) A groundcover really needs to be thick and dense (creeping raspberry, English ivy, St John's wort) to keep many weeds at bay.

With that understanding, rupturewort (Herniaria glabra) or Corsican sandwort (Arenaria balearica) are excellent choices for between pavers or flagstones, as are creeping thymes. But you will still need to weed periodically :-))

Yes, the leptinella could work also.

Anything shorter than something like salal is going to have to be weeded indefinitely. And even that gets infiltrated by alders, blackberries and so forth.

In addition to being generally susceptible to invasion by weeds low growing, fine textured carpeting plants may accumulate large numbers of certain tiny kinds that require countless hours of hand labor to eliminate. Flat mats like creeping thyme may have to be pressed back into place each time the weed is lifted.

Being prickly the creeping Taiwan raspberry poses the additional problem of hurting the fingers when being weeded.

In my case the weeding is not worth it. I spray with glysophate when needed and moss is the result, even in rather open areas.

Each stepping stone or paver is a miniature watershed supplying the cracks with above normal water. Good drainage is preferred.

If you have steps the options open up a lot.

Here's Waldstiena fragaroides (sp?) and Woolly Thyme with a little bit of Ajuga and Snowdrops.

That looks great Mike! Unfortunately my hard is pretty flat, (and small). I don't mind some weeding, but the Scotch and Irish Moss were just so susceptible to invasion I need to try some alternatives. I don't HAVE to plant something super small and flat, but we are trying to go for a vaguely japanese look back there so we'd prefer something tidy. I have so much respect for the folks that do upkeep on Japanese Gardens to keep all those mosses and groundcovers looking great.

I will try to get a good photo of the areas in question during a bright(er) time of day.

The asparagus plants flanking the walk in that last picture make me wonder what climate area the scene shown is located in.

Embothrium, we grow asparagus in Olympia. It doesn't look like the tall spiky plant in the last picture. That looks like asparagus fern to me. I guess it would depend on whether they were using it as an annual or if it's in a more temperate location as a perennial but the dwarf mondo grass has survived here just fine for about 4 winters now.

"They" = not in Olympia? Previously you seemed to be talking about your own planting.

Omigosh, I can see now that I should have clarified that the first pic was what I was going for but didn't have success with anything but dwarf mondo grass, but then tried to show some examples for the op of what mondo grass could look like. I'm sorry for the confusion. Those are NOT my plants...it's too sad to photo right now because the other plants didn't survive. I've got to expand the mondo plantings this spring. My apologies for not making it clear.

There's the black one too, if a body wants really dark leaves.

Good call Mike, Waldsteinia fragarioides works great in our Shoreline garden - part shade and occasional summer water. It has grown in and requires almost no weeding. Spreads but easy to control and gives you lots of starts for new plants especially for visitors who admire the texture and color.

Just don't let Creeping Buttercup (Ranunculus repens) grow with Waldsteinia fragarioides. The leaves are almost identical and the Buttercup is much more aggressive.

Here is another ground cover that is different but quite successful in our garden, Potentilla anserina (Silverweed Cinquefolio) It is a very short easy spreader - almost no weeds and very soft and considered ''walk-able". It is also edible but we don't find any slugs or other critters bother it. It is native Washington. It is also considered an herb with medicinal properties. We have it paired with Black Mondo grass and it is a stunner.

Looks like I will have a lot of options to try out! Unfortunately both my spouse and I are out of work at the moment so we'll be limited to buying a few individual plugs of various ground covers, but that also gives me a growing season to observe before committing to a mass planting!

I'll probably try out:

Dwarf Mondo Grass / Black Mondo Grass

Leptinella

Corsican Sandwort

Thyme

Potentilla

May the best plants win! I've also got some sand strawberry that's done quite well as a groundcover.

Pac.... - email me - I have lots of ground covers to share. email me at outreach@ophoenix.org. I am in Shoreline.

sorry, please use this email outreach@accessiblegardens.org

Ajuga comes in various colors and is tough. It can be mowed, or left to it's own devices.