Hi Gramma Jan, I'm in zone 5/6 and grow woolly thyme (Thymus pseudolanuginosus) in my rock garden. It is nearly full sun there and quite hot through the summer months and frigid in the winter. My thyme has been here for about 3 years and is seemingly very happy. It is planted in with Tiny Monsters Geranium and they do well together, never a problem with choking out of the geranium. I can say that I've seen about 3-4" of spread per year. It came in a tiny 4" pot when I bought it. Here is a picture of it for you. Don't let the little watering can fool you, it is only about 2" tall. :O)

I don't have experience with it in the shade but do use something called Irish Moss (sagina subulata) in the shade bed. It is a brilliant green with tiny white flowers and has spread a little more quickly than the woolly thyme. I would say approximately 6" each year.

Tracy

Here is a link that might be useful: Irish Moss just in case you want to take a peak

I'm in the Twin Cities and I use Creeping Jenny... I think the variety is Aurea.... it's a gold-ish color and fills in great! Exact same conditions as hosta.
Likes a lot of water to establish, otherwise, it does great on the same water as my hosta take. And also looks great in deep shade.... brightens up the place and will not choke out the hosta.

Tracy that little vignette is so pretty. I have a little 4" pot of that same thyme and I had'nt a clue where to plant it. Now I do.

Lainey

here's some good information on Thymus serpyllum

http://www.humeseeds.com/efcthym.htm

Tracy,
Love the mini geranium too. I bought some variegated thyme
from Bluestoneperennials.com this spring. It's in part sun and seems to be spreading nicely too.
Pam

Stunning thyme scape. Thanks to vine and me for your suggestions. You have not only given me a couple of ideas, but also courage. I had such bad luck with lily-of-the-valley years ago that I became gun shy about ground covers. It lined a very long drive when we moved in. It was less than pretty--such sameness. I dug it all up only to find that every single little piece of root sprouted a new plant the next spring. Early spring, that year I spent on the ground, hand sifting the entire strip garden, removing every bit of the white root. Thankfully, it was white and easily spotted.
Then we moved in here and more LOTV--what's with the love for this stuff in long narrow garden beds? It choked out my gorgeous huge delphinium--thought it might be able to hold its own. I've never been able to grow another like it. Veggie gardener FIL visited and I told him I was going to remove it. The next thing I knew I found him out there, all the LOTV pulled and him just turning the ground. I know he was trying to be helpful, so I just thanked him, but guess what I did as soon as he left--another day on the ground.
I have seen Crown Vetch completely swallow a garden. I've heard horror stories of 'Silver Beacon," golden lysmachia and creeping Jenny. I had golden lysmachia in pots last year and thought I was OK, but my first walk around the garden this spring, here it was already with 5" growth in the ground where the pot had sat. I suspect it touched down and rooted, but I suppose it could have seeded. However, I think I would have seen more in that case. I quickly pulled it and haven't seen it since, unless it is lurking some unknown place (see, I've become absolutely paranoid about groundcovers)--I had it in a lot of pots-it's such a wonderful contrast.
More suggestions and thoughts about groud covers, please.
gramma jan

Well, I have Lysimachia Aurea (Golden Creeping Jenny) in an area that gets very little direct sun.
This section was planted 2 years ago. I put the steppers in about 6 weeks ago and my intent is to keep it fairly localized around the steppers.... I want to get it to fill in to keep the soil from moving around during watering/rain.

When it does creep over the edging and into the beds, I just rip it off at the edging or "redirect" it so that it'll root elsewhere. I find that it doesn't root as easily if there's mulch. But in the bare soil areas, it roots quite well.

Anyway, my point is that I've found it easy to control if I just train it to stay where I want it...every couple weeks during strolls in the garden.

This year, I bought a flat of 18 new plants and have plugged those in at some of the more bare spots... I'll likely do the same next year. I like that this groundcover takes some mild foot traffic too!

Just in case you have missed my first post this year or weren't around long long ago, I hope you all don't mind, but I love to play with words. One way I do that is to look at your forum names and try to make something else out of them
tan, good luck.
dio, thanks for the link, It answers all my questions except one I didn't ask. Is it easy to pull if it spreads where I don't want it? I love that it grows in shade to sun. Isn't that a hosta grower to put them backwards?
rush, thanks for the encouragement
dear me, love your garden shot. When your hostas grow some, I am sorry to tell you, you won't have to buy more unless you have an acreage to spread them out. Unfortunately, I am the same way and running out of space even with the plants still young. What to do? Lucklly DD loves hostas and she has a huge lot, so I s'pose some will move. Thanks for letting me know "goldie" is easily ripped out.
I am thinking of using thyme in the whole open area--around stones and hostas, since it bears light foot traffic too. I may put the gold one in some contained spots or just continue to pot it. Guess I'm lazy, but trimming every couple of weeks, well.....I'm not getting younger and this is a project to save more work down the road.
gramma jan

Gramma Jan, I think you will be happy with whichever thyme you choose. The Woolly Thyme certainly does bear foot traffic well, we have a sidewalk right in front of mine and the kids run over it with their bikes when it gets too long. It never looks trampled on even with tire treads. lol. When it gets too long, I just grab the scissors and give it a trimming up.

I remember when we bought our first house, there was a strip of dirt along the side of the driveway and the house that was packed full of the favorite groundcover in our parts. Pachysandra! It was miserable to remove.

Lainey thank you for your nice comments and glad to help with some planting ideas. You made me smile.

Pam, I love the Tiny Monsters. It gets a bit lanky but cuts back very nicely and sends out new blooms pretty quickly too. I love bluestone perennials, they have a great assortment of groundcovers and great prices. Love those 3 pack deals. :O) I have to go look at their variegated thyme now. You're such an enabler.

Melissa, I love your hosta beds and the path that you've made through them. I think your Creeping Jenny will be a brilliant contrast to your stones and the hosta when they reach the border. Please share pictures as they grow. Simply beautiful.

Tracy

jan... it is very easy to pull up and contain... we have fought the battles with many of the ground covers you mentioned... actually planted a pound of crownvetch seed in our younger days! We have some of the creeping jenny (and creeping charlie thanks to our neighbors unattended backyard) and Kalimeris Shogun and wild phlox and the very tricky Artemesia Limelight, which sends its runners deep underground and comes up where it is unwanted... even our ostrich ferns are invasive.

and don't get me started on the Penguin to my Batman, Snow-on-the-mountain... my Roundup routine hasn't been able to eradicate that experiment.

Thyme is easy. Easy to plant, unfussy, easy to pull... we grow a cut little one call Pink Chintz

http://www.perennialresource.com/encyclopedia/view/?plant=825

we actually have some in a raised bed just for interesting contrast... not in bloom, but the pics give you a sense of its character...

Are any of you familiar with sowing any of these groundcovers with seed? I thought that might be an easy way of covering a lot of ground (no pun intended) in a short time. I found a couple of sellers on ebay that have seed for creeping thyme, and for about $3.00, I'm tempted to try it. But as a college student, $3.00 is closer to $30.00 in value to me, so I want to give it the best possible chance I can.

Gramma Jan, I took some rectangular (tall) plastic oil containers that my nephew brought home from his job at a restaurant & his mom wanted them OUT of the house. I cut the top & bottom off of some, & opposite sides off of some others (to make it a larger, but then it was not as deep), sunk them into the ground and planted my LOV in those. I adore the smell of the plant, and think it's beautiful with hosta in a shade garden. Plus, I got some pink LOV in a trade this year, so I'm looking forward to seeing that next year. Hopefully, it will keep the plants from spreading out of control & just add a touch to the areas I want.

I put 5 raspberry runners in some of the containers that were cut so that they were taller, and planted them in my perennial beds. I sincerely hope the experiment works out! I'm loving the idea of mixing edibles with ornamentals.

ptilda....
A few weeks ago, I looked for creepy jenny seeds and could not find them. That'd be much easier on MY wallet too!