"Oh, and thyme should do well for you but my area is just a little too humid for it, I think. It tends to get rot and seems to be short lived."
I live in a hot and very dry climate out west with awful soil and have found that wooly thyme is my best ground cover, but I do have to make sure that I pull it away from the crowns of other plants so that they can breath because it does create a very thick matt.
(note: in the photo above, both the rose and thyme have just come through more than a week of triple digit temps. The rose is shutting down for summer dormancy. The thyme is just chugging along.
It is not short lived for me. The patch around that rose has been there for more than 5 years.
However, some, but not all weeds will growth through them. I think the thick matt discourages a lot of weed seed.
I have excellent drainage in my garden and since it does so well, I am thinking thyme needs very good drainage to thrive.
Since I am a certifiable klutz, I do step on it when working on the roses and it seems to tolerate that quite well, too.
Sedums have been good ground covers for areas where I don't walk. They cannot take any foot traffic.
I've heard about a red creeping thyme that I may try in other areas of the garden for some contrast and plan to add some creeping phlox, too. I've been told that creeping jenny can act like kudzu when it is happy.
Just some thoughts from someone gardening in a very different climate.
Smiles,
Lyn
