ground cover
 

Does anyone have any experience with a ground cover that would live in a
very dry, semi-shady area? I'm looking for something that would be very
short and not need mowing. Some of the area gets a fair amount of foot
traffic and a good deal of dog traffic. We presently have stones
covering the dirt, but I don't care too much for them. I've seen some
product called something like step-on or step-it, but it seems like
that's something that's very expensive and I'd prefer to sow from seed.
We're in zone 5, if that helps.