You could try creeping thyme. I once had the stepping stone look with dichondra. It took a lot of shearing to keep it from growing over the top of the stones as well as occasional mowing to keep it tight. I like gardening, so I didn't mind. There is something called Blue Star Creeper that looks good to me but I have never tried it.

This gets filed under what sounds good on the chalk board and reality don't match as my father would often say. Ground covers aren't meant to be walked on. Did you ever have a neighbor that sat on his porch yelling at the kids who dared to walk on the grass??? it wasn't because he hated kids. Walking on plants too much...kills them, yes even grass. The stones will be a place for weeds to grow...so probably also not what you want. Your best bet is going to a nursery or landscape company in your area and having a frank discussion. You need something native to your zone for best results. You need honesty about change of seasons and how much walking on it can handle.

You could treat the broken concrete like flagstone and jigsaw style put your pieces closer together up against your house. This would leave you with a more stable surface for your chairs and pots in the shade and a sunny planting area between patio and path for planting.

IMO the stones are too far aprt for proper stepping so explain why you do not just make a nice patio with much tighter stone layout. I have tyyme fo ground cover it is great but not in a spot where I have stepping stones it is on a space by my pond where it is mostly just an area I did like a woodland. The river rock will need to be somehow stabalized or you will just have rocks all over . My advice make a proper patio in that area and forget the ground cover and have anice enjoyable space .

@emmarene9 i read up in star creeper and that might be an option. i have a type of creeping tyme in the front yard that looks straggly a lot and gets tall. but i believe there are different types that i neednto look into.

@Patricia Colwell Consulting So, we had our whole front yard professionally landscaped a few years ago. They are the ones who did the patio like that. I figured they laid them so far apart so the ground cover had room to grow in between. The patio gets hardly used, I only walk on it to water my plants. But I might reach out to them and see if they could do that. The concrete is really in the ground good, so I dont think ill be able to do it myself.

@mojavemaria Thanks for the idea. We had a company who redid the landscaping for our front yard and this is wht they did. Ill probably reach out to them and see if they could do it. I think thaat could work.

@arcy_gw I think youre right. Ill probably have to go to my local garden centers and see what they have to say/recommend. But the ground cover doesnt really get walked on. The patio never gets used unless im watering the potted plants. So that could help what goes in there. But we shall see.

Check out stepables.com many hardy ground cover type plants and mostly drought resistant.

We also live in SoCal, but have not experienced the types of problems you have described with Dymondia, with the exception of the deep shade. We have some in shade, where it grows a bit spindly, but none in deep shade. It has wide water tolerance for us--some of it even gets watered with the small lawn, with no problems.

We removed the thyme that was among the patio stones because it never filled in as full as desired even after years of effort and replaced it with Dymondia. The replacement has performed so well that we have transplanted many sprigs to other areas of the garden. None of it has died out even though it gets foot traffic and regularly rolled over with the green waste bins.

Have you fertilized it? I find ours really puts out some strong growth after being fed. Nothing fancy, just some water-soluble Miracle Gro about 3-4x/year. Our soil is sandy and nutrient poor, so just about everything in our garden benefits from being given fertilizer. The difference it makes is very noticeable.

Irish moss or Elfin thyme offer alternatives to grass that thrive in shaded conditions and require minimal maintenance.

@Gyr Wow that is great that its doing so well for you! I remember when we first planted it, it took off and did amazing adound October. So lush and green. When we had a weirdly wet winter the following year, I started dealing with bad mildew/fungus. Thats when i knew it was going to be a problem lol. Its also strange that a few people have it around our neighborhood and it doesnt look like its doing well for anyone. Maybe its our very specific area, who knows. But ill try giving it some Miracle Gro, which I already have, and see how that goes.

Just an FYI but Irish moss is not a moss at all and neither it nor Elfin thyme will thrive in much shade. Also, various groundcovers have various abilities to withstand foot traffic.........some will take quite a lot!

But I do think your best bet is to relay the pavers with a much tighter spacing.

Thanks everyone for the feedback!! I think im going to reach out to our landscaper and see how big of a deal it would be move the pavers back and closer together. I hope it wont be too much of a problem. Then leave a bit of space at the very front for full sun plants and flowers. Creating a little border that will swoop with/against the walkway. I found some pretty white and jade colored rocks to go in between. We have some young trees, that when finally big enough, will give the patio more shade from the afternoon sun. Hopefully giving me more options for ground cover types in the future. But if anyone has any other ideas im still open to hearing them!

Kind of a little border like this in the front.