Maybe something low maintenance with rocks and potted plants. Your clover and step stone idea is pretty but I would be worried about snakes in there. Do you have to pull the trash cans down that path?

I don't think it will be easy to get anything to grow in that narrow space. It's not pretty and garbage cans are never scenic. Although I'm no fan of gravel, that's what I'd do in that space.

Hostas or groundcover like Pachysandra

The location needs a low light plant that gets minimal water.

This is our front of house that leads to side. We then have small rocked along the side but it’s not really a travelled area.

Any kind of planting, stepping stones or gravel would make it difficult to wheel anything down the side of the house. If you think you'll ever need to do that I'd just do a well laid concrete or paver path.

It’s not hard to wheel on stepping stones or close together. Our side yard is like this and it’s a breeze getting wheelbarrow up and down etc