Quick&low growing ground cover for part-shade? (landscape, trees, violet)

[Alltheusernamesaretaken]

Can anyone rec one? I'm in zone 7 but it doesn't have to come back next year, I just need something to choke the weeds out NOW!

I'm thinking of something along the lines of creeping thyme, but can't use that as it's a sun plant.

Any recs? Thanks.

[didee]

How about vinca minor (periwinkle)? Not sure it will grow fast enough to meet your "NOW" requirement though. It's also evergreen. Vinca minor (http://hcs.osu.edu/hcs/tmi/plantlist/vi_minor.html - broken link)

But to get rid of weeds, how about newspaper covered with mulch?

[peppermint]

Well, it will take some time to spread, and then you might have more than "too much" but I like mints. Ours took about a year to start going crazy, but LOOK OUT! Probably not what you're looking for, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Clover works pretty well and has the additional quality of attracting bees, a really good thing if you have a veggie garden.

[Dancingearth]

I love sweet woodruff. Mine gets partial sun and is doing fine and spreading. Under the trees at work they have Variegated Bishop's Weed which is lovely. Look under groundcovers at High Country Gardens for more ideas.

Aegopodium podagraria ‘Variegatum’ (Variegated Bishop’s Weed): Low Water Plants, Eco Friendly Landscapes: High Country Gardens

I love mint too and thought since I live in a desert climate I'd have no problem with the spreading. Wrong. It is under the spigot and gets water. I just planted a barrier between it and my herb garden in hopes of keeping it somewhat contained in its corner. But no nasty weeds grow there.

[Alltheusernamesaretaken]

Thank you all very much!

[kinkytoes]

I know "Thank you very much" may be the "shut up, I have enough info." of the thread world, LOL but I wanted add I am in zone 7, and I yanked up my variegated bishop's weed this summer. It is lovely and supposedly edible, as well. Buuut, it can be a little invasive. Mine was starting to spread all over the place, and I didn't want it to get in the woods. I decided to do a mixed planting as well, and it bullied the other plants.

A sprig sprang up about 20 feet from where it was initially planted and even in the places where I pulled it all up, it's kind of still coming back. I'm trying to kill it completely as I have enough invasives :P Having said that, it does fill in an area completely and is very pretty for 3 seasons. But be warned before you plant it.

An East coast native that I just planted this Spring in a dry-ish fairly shady area is green and gold (chrisogonium?). It is spreading and seems happy. I too have sweet woodruff. I'm afraid to look up whether or not it's invasive, but it has spread in my dryish shade border extremely well.