The truth is, for sun it is hard to beat grass. It fits all the requirement except the last, and that works if you throw some white clover into the mix.

If you don't mind a burst of color - I'd say creeping thyme. It can handle drought, it blooms, it smells good. Throw some clover in their for n-fixing after transplanting a mix of Mother-of-thyme with woolly thyme (extended bloom). Some people say it's hard to start from seed, I've never had problems, but who knows.

how big an area ...

do bees bother you???

clover... ???

surely it wants to take over my former horse pasture ... lol ..

pure sand.. no water .. EVER ... and you cant kill it for driving a cement truck over it ...

plus.. add a hive.. and make clover honey ... lol ..

whats the need for the nitro fixing... presuming its there to stay?????

ken

I have found that thyme, as pretty as it is, has not always worked for me. I have loamy clay soil and I believe it likes a lighter soil. Some thymes are less fussy, but I find those to be the taller ones. I've tried a number of thymes here for stepping stone paths and some did not survive winters either because of the cold or too much moisture in the soil over winter? Not sure why. Unless you already know thyme enjoys your conditions, it might be a lot of effort and experimenting and perhaps cost, to try to establish thyme to replace a lawn.

Since I have no experience with replacing lawn with a ground cover, I don't have any more suggestions. Sorry.

In Colorado we do a lot of xeriscape. I find that when I try to pack in a lot of plants in one spot, they drink each others water, and they don't make it.
I will use an ornamental plant, like 3ft tall grass, and lay down a weed barrier and put wood much, or stone much around that plant. then plant another plant about 3 ft away.

Wood much or even better hay, around a plant will keep it warm in the winter and help soak in and keep the water that the plant dose get, and keep it form evaporating away in the summer.
Lavender will take some abuse, but it likes alkaline soils.

equisetum horsetail, is easy to grow, likes water. could be invasive. I would only use it in a small area, strong border.

Soils here run fairly acidic. 5.7 - 6.2 pH. Not sure if lavender would like that.

When you say lawn alternative do you mean that it will get walked on? If not, there are many low horizontal growing shrubs.

If you're not going to walk on it and it's full sun, Geranium 'Biokovo' or 'Karmina' work very well, can handle any kind of soil and considerable drought. If it's shade, at least afternoon shade, their slightly bigger relative, G. macrorhizum--bigroot Geranium--is also terrific.

For walking on some, look at the groundcover thymes offered by High Country Gardens. I find the really flat ones work best and handle cold wet winters just fine. You can't walk on them constantly, however.

If you're not going to walk on it and it's full sun, Geranium 'Biokovo' or 'Karmina' work very well, can handle any kind of soil and considerable drought. If it's shade, at least afternoon shade, their slightly bigger relative, G. macrorhizum--bigroot Geranium--is also terrific.

For walking on some, look at the groundcover thymes offered by High Country Gardens. I find the really flat ones work best and handle cold wet winters just fine. You can't walk on them constantly, however.

Also a great groundcover for sun to shade but not to walk on is leadwort--Ceratostigma plumbaginoides. It's also great to plant early bulbs in.

If you have a lawn of some size, this could get very expensive! Mondo grass is very popular here, and you could plant tiny spring bulbs in it. Glechoma is taking over my yard, as is lamiastrum and vinca major. Sedums would be nice, but all but the mondo look bad in winter. Weed control could be a headache. Check out the Stepables website. Nothing will be drought tolerant while getting established. I can't grow thyme or lavender to save my soul.

Hi,

Ageratum might be a good fit for you, especially the dwarf varieties. It flowers, is a perennial in zones 3 through 11 (most of them), never grows taller than 12", is very adaptable to various soils; it has average water needs and enjoys full sun. You can mix these too to have various foliage and blossom colors.
Most people grow this as an annual and as a filler in pots, but I think you'll find it will work for you as a perennial.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ageratum