mleblanca wrote [in part]:

I used to have the Persicaria, but it became a thug.

Yes, it can be quite agressive. It was planted by the lanscaper I
hired to redo my backyard three years ago. In the more sunny
areas, the Potentilla (cinquefoil) is just as bad. It was
accidentally introduced many years ago, in a load of soil
amendment.

I'm trying to take advantage of both in my front yard, where shade
and roots from various trees make turf difficult and dichondra (my
preference) impossible. I'm using cuttings taken from the back
yard.

In the main lawn area, I have set Persicaria cuttings. These seem
to be thiving, but they're not spreading as fast as they did in
back. I don't care if they are invasive there because I only have
shrubs, trees, and Hahn's ivy.

In the parkway, I have set Potentilla cuttings. I chose this
because it stays lower to the ground and does better in full sun
than the Persicaria. It survives but doesn't seem to be
spreading. Indeed, near my mailbox, I still have more dichondra
than cinquefoil. In the back, before I had it redone, the
cinquefoil had crowded out most of the dichondra. It also survived
the renovation of my back yard landscape.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/