how about a pic or two for inspiration ???

omg.. one of my best garden buds lived in avon ... GRHS ..... sorry to hear about that nasty OH clay and drainage issues ... ill pray for you.. because thats about all you can do about it.. lol ... not really.. but you know ...

love the previous administration comment.. lol ...

ken

Don't know much about dealing with clay, but what about thyme? I find thyme makes a nice layer while still being easy to yank out where unwanted. I used to have a wonderful thyme in what was in a herb bed; it was vigorous and spread happily, but I'd just grab and yank where I didn't want it. (So sad when it vanished - really bad winter did it in.) The oregano was the one survivor of that bed (well, the blackberries, but they're pretty much weeds); it's somewhat escaped, but I don't mind oregano in the path; oregano can be a bit scraggly, though, so not as tidy as thymes.

I also have a wooly thyme that has been slowly growing. It's pretty new (year or two old), but it's nice looking, dense, but not weedy and doesn't seem like it wants to take over the world.

I recommend you pick up a copy of the book the Know Maintenance Perennial Garden by Roy Diblik. He's got lots of thoughts about the method you're after (less mulch, more plants in natural communities naturally keeping each other in check).

Lamium is not agressive. Perhaps you actually have Lamiastrum, a different plant entirely. A great groundcover for sunny areas is Geranium 'Biokovo' or 'Karmina'. For more shade, G. macrorrhizum, Bigroot geranium.

water....while establishing for sure, during heatwave especially first season,.

mulch mulch mulch

newspaper water mulch will reduce hand watering needs greatly

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I will definitely check out the book suggestion, and I had actually been thinking about hardy geraniums or Speedwell/Veronica.

@laceyvail 6A, WV Perhaps I was generalizing too much about Lamium. It's definitely Lamium purpureum (Red dead nettle), but it does seem to be staying away in the spots I pulled it from provided I got the roots. I think I was just frustrated from seeing my back lawn full of it and from pulling seedlings last fall and this spring. I will go ahead and give some varieties a fair look.

@ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5 It's tricky for sure! Honestly, what bums me out more is the high alkalinity. I keep falling in love with shrubs that like acidic soil. It seems like plants that can handle the clay have the potential to really thrive from what I have seen of weeds and tomatoes.

Lamium purpureum is an annual weed, not an intentionally cultivated plant. If left in place, it can flower, seed and germinate at just about any time of year and therefore appear perennial. Lamium maculatum is typically the well-behaved, shady garden groundcover. IME over many gardening years, it stays nicely put.

Not all groundcovers are aggressive spreaders and many make excellent, ground hugging space fillers. You just need to pick the right one for the right spot.

I'm in Maine, zone 5a, with very claybound soil (where it isn't clay it's sand, yay!) -- I've found perennial Plumbago (ceratostigma plumbaginoides) to work very well for me for slower-growing but good ground coverage. It's got brilliant pure blue flowers and turns dark red in the late summer/fall, really a gorgeous little plant. Its one drawback is that it dies back completely and is very slow to emerge in the spring.

I had nasty clay soil in PA. I suggest amending with peat moss and topsoil and a lot of compost. I heavily dug and amended my beds during a re-landscape, before planting. A lot of work at first, but I NEVER regretted it! Was always so thankful afterwards I took the time to do it. And of course cover cropping as you are planning, and consistent mulching with something that breaks down well, like compost or leaf mulch.

Plumbago in MI is very invasive. Not so much into the wild, but really takes over the garden and is a b-you-know-what to pull out. It does look lovely when in bloom and doesn't peter out once it gets going . . . It is wet tolerant too. But large expanses of it will be "meh" when not in bloom. Hard to get other stuff to grow in with it. Not impossible though . . . I'd seriously consider it.