Gardengal, thank you for that list - I will research your suggestions! To give you a better idea of the sun situation in the area, we have a couple of euonymus shrubs next to the house (in addition to the path, there's a bed about 2.5' deep next to the house) that seem to be doing fine - they are full and not leggy, but they don't grow quickly at all - I don't think we've even trimmed them since we moved in two years ago. There were also some hostas in the bed, but they did TOO well - they were a variety that was much too large for the space so I had to rip them out. The neighbor has a row of boxwoods on their side of the chain link fence, but these are very scraggly and don't look happy at all. Weeds thrive, though! Given that info, would you consider this area bright shade? If so perhaps we'll get lucky with one of your suggestions. I've also read about Corsican mint doing well in shade, so that might be a possibility? Kitasei, luckily the path is large stepping stones with just small cracks between, so I'm not too worried about the slippery aspect. I really just want something that will not require any mowing/trimming and keep the weeds out. If there is a moss that will do that I'm all ears!

In Arizona you will need to water the plants. Those plants that can survive with no supplemental water aren't very decorative, and aren't the right size to plant between stepping stones.

This is on the website Trash Nothing. don't know if you'll be able to see it if you aren't signed up, but you can try. https://trashnothing.com/post/26366459/rocks-stepping-stones-north-east?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digest&utm_source=0&utm_content=20180417

Thank you Yardvaark and Revolutionary Gardens for the feedback! So I went to the supplier and found out the product is black basalt 24"x36" x 3/4" thick, thermal face and sawn edges...not manufactured stone as I had previously thought. Yes I used the big wet sploot method Revolutionary Gardens mentions, and did not use a mold but sculpted up edges of the concrete around the sides of the stones to retain them as best I could. The mixture was roughly 1 part cement/5 parts sand/5 parts water but I was mostly eyeballing it to get the consistency I thought I needed. The small cracks I believe are actually not cracks but a function of the natural stone having veins that are visible when wet, as I havent sealed the stone yet and its absorbing water. My next task is to clean off the dried cement stains from the top face of each stone and will be applying Aqua Mix enhancer (I realize now I should have used some kind of sealant beforehand to make easier work of cleaning off the cement residue....). I also bought a replacement stone at $72 to replace the one that cracked through, and will use the cracked one to test how the enhancer affects the stone before using on the others...good times! Thanks again for the input