Baby sun rose or aptenia cordifolia is a versatile possibility. I'm in Central Florida and have seen both the red flowered and the yellow flowered versions growing and thriving in both sun and shade in my community. It's a low growing succulent with 1/2" heart shaped apple green leaves and the red or yellow flowers. It's easily rooted from cuttings and seems to be a passalong plant in our garden club. The red flowered one is also known as Red Apple. Here is a link that might be useful: Baby sun rose

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I added some leaf mulch today just to see how it would look and it actually looks really great. I guess in my effort to mulch, I just mimicked how nature would fill in the bare ground of a real woodland! No wonder the leaf mulch seems to look "right." I'm sure the plants will like it too. It's interesting that you mentioned the Dicentra eximia/Fringed Bleeding heart because I was looking at the Bleeding Heart today and thought its leaves looked unusual. The nursery tag says Dicentra spectabilis but the leaves look more like a Dicentra eximia. It's possible the nursery put a spectabilis tag on an eximia I suppose. I didn't know that Dicentra eximia doesn't go dormant in the summer -- thanks for the info! We have a pink Dicentra spectabilis that goes dormant in the summer but the "Alba" is new, so we haven't seen it through a summer yet. Maybe we're in luck and the new "Alba" spectabilis is actually an eximia. I was planning on planting some ferns around it so that when it goes dormant the ferns will cover the fading foliage, but maybe now I won't need to. Wow, Cardinal plant--it must be beautiful. We have violets popping up all over now too (in our lawn), so I'm transplanting some of them to the mini "woodland". Thanks again for everyone's help!

"I don't see us regularly fertilizing or doing daily watering, which is one reason I was looking into groundcovers." In most cases a mowed lawn is going to be the lowest maintenance way to cover an area IF there is sufficient sun to grow grass, and IF the ground is level & smooth enough to mow. Groundcovers are best used in sloped areas where it is difficult or impossible to mow, in shady areas where grass won't grow, or where there are innumerable obstacles -- like rocks -- that can't be removed. Where there are lots of trees/woods, it's generally a good idea to "collect" their trunks into the groundcover area so as to avoid having to mow around each individual trunk. This makes sense especially because that's where the too-much-shade-to-grow-grass is located. Where surface rocks can be cleaned out of the area, where there is sun and where it is level, that usually warrants lawn if one wishes or needs to use the area for walking or activities. While you might not wish to fertilize regularly, if you want plants that look good -- whether groundcover or lawn -- you must give them what they want. Usually, after plants have become established, they need less fertilizer and water. In the beginning, you must provide it if you want plants to become established. Otherwise, they may fail and the not-so-handsome look will continue as it is. After seeing the pictures, I would suggest that you make a distinct division between the lawn and groundcover areas, by creating a "bed line" between the two. Since there are woods, they warrant having groundcover. Since there is sunny, flat land, it warrants having turf (after being cleaned of surface debris.) It does not look good to place the bed line such that trees are on or near the line. It looks much better to place them fairly well into the groundcover area, as in the example. However, you'd want to create the line with the whole yard area in mind, so that it is fluid and makes artistic and practical sense. I'm only showing an example based on a piece of the yard. Since you ALREADY HAVE ferns growing at the woods edge, it is the OBVIOUS choice for what you would use as groundcover. (If you added a different groundcover, the look would be messier.) You KNOW fern grows well there, you already HAVE IT (a source) and it LOOKS GOOD. There is no reason to look any further. All you need to do is create the line, kill weeds in the groundcover area, mulch it, and over a period of time, transplant starts of fern in the groundcover/mulch area ... and then keep the area weeded while the ferns are getting going. If you start (exclusive of soil preparation) the lawn in the early fall, you'll have an easier time of getting it going, since nature will do much of the care.

I've seen the groundhog nibbling through the pachysandra.. Could be a deer.. The yard is fenced but they do jump. The soil is dense. Closer to silt than clay. I did plant vinca in a heavy shade area five years ago but it struggles. It was suggested to extend the concrete pavers that you see in the photos but I still need to fill in the sparse grass. i feel like I'm missing the obvious (other than clover and violet) What else is low growing and can be mowed?