Mine faces west so it gets PM sun after ~3pm I think. I like it a great deal--the flower is very yellow which creates a marked contrast to the green. Geranium maculatum is hands down my favorite spreading ground cover. It flowers for a long time, the leaves are interestingly shaped, scented and the bees love the flowers. It's easy to "steer" where you want it to go and it comes in different colors though I'm partial to the pink varieties (just bought a purple-ish color). I have the geranium in the same location as green and gold as well as in "bright shade." It does great in both locations.

My shade garden contains mertensia virginica, aster divaricata (white wood aster), phlox divaricata, alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle) {I love when morning dew forms drops along the leaf edges causing the plant to glisten like jewels]. I have other plants but they're taller.

The phlox and the mertensia are transient. The aster is actually a scrambler for me, it's not upright but I LOVE how it clambers through the other plants. In that garden I would consider the geranium and the lady's mantle to be the ground covers. I can post pictures if you like.

Thanks for the info! Funny, I was just reading about how fantastic Geranium maculatum is - I think it was on the Prairie Moon website. I'm going to a native plant sale soon and am developing my shopping list - just finally got my rotting fence replaced so I can start planting. I think for sure I will try both the green and gold and the Geranium maculatum. I have already got white Iris cristata all over the place, which is adorable, but seems like it only blooms for about five minutes.

For me Green & Gold multiplies much more than the Geranium. I keep finding many new plants in paths and have to move them, plus the other ones are filling in. There is a cultivar (spider something) that runs and completely covers any somewhat shady location. I just dug many of those from the grassy areas where it had spread and moved to a location in which there is very little ground cover. Both types bloom well for me.

I have a spreading chrysogonum that is doing very well in a part (bright) shade location that is more sun than shade in the summer. It's forming an attractive mat on a bare area and is thick enough that it keeps the weeds away. I just started another patch in a more shady area, so I'll see how the bloom compares between the two spaces. I like it a lot.

I got Geranium maculatum from Prairie Moon's sale last year. Mistreated it, couldn't plant it immediately. The batch I stored in pots and then planted in part sun is just coming up now. No sign of the batch I stored in the fridge and planted in full shade. Very attractive foliage.