groundcover for between flagstones in sand, moderate shade

We have a walkway made of flagstones set in sand, also using landscape timbers to form borders and steps. The sand washes out too easily in rain, probably because the path runs down a moderate hill (hence a step down every few feet). The area is under a high canopy of trees, although it does get some nice filtered light in late afternoon and about an hour or so of pretty direct sun earlier. Is there a groundcover I might put in by seeding, possibly mixing the seed with new sand and any logical amendment to fill in between the stones? Perhance I ask too late in the season...I'm in Allegan MI, (western mich), zone 5. Could I still seed at this time? Native soil is nearly pure sand, so presumably any cover I find to work between the stones will be happy adjacent, which would work just fine. Many thanks for any suggestions.

autrac, the one that came to mind was Stonecrop Sedum. It only gets about 3 inches tall, grows in poor soil and thrives on neglect. There's a red variety called Dragon's Blood that's pretty. I don't know if they can be started from seed.

I dont know about seed availability but I have good luck with some of the creeping veronicas growing around flagstones in the shade.

Thank you fly girl and fancyvan. I'm researching seed now....

How about moss? I've collected moss from my neighbors' garden (they didn't want it in their garden) and stuck it between the stones on my path. Eventually it takes hold and looks really nice. I use elfin thyme in the sunny areas.

jugglerguy,
I'd like to grow moss in my no-sun area path, but it seems that my attemps end up in faluire.
I tried both moving patches of moss and mixing it in the blender with some cream and spreading the mixture. It seems to get washed off during the rain or something as I have just one tiny patch that started growing.

I thought it was supposed to be mixed with buttermilk, not cream. I saw this on Garden
Web: "The idea is to chop the moss up enough to cover a large area. The buttermilk (or yogurt) and water supply nutrients and moisture to get the moss started. Put chunks of the moss in some water in the blender and chop it up enough you can spread it with a big brush. Mix it with the rest of the water and the buttermilk. Use one cup shredded moss, one quart water and one quart buttermilk. Keep it moist until it starts growing. Works best in late spring or early summer."

Can't speak from experience, though.

Yes, it's supposed to be buttermilk but i don't know if moss would grow well in sand, anyway. I think it likes a very humesy soil. One of the low-growing sedums is your best bet. Or your can try creeping jenny. it's very low to the ground but has nice yellow blooms in the spring. The leaves are always shiny and stay everygreen year round.

My rocks set in sand, but I dug the sand down about an inch (or maybe a little less)inbetween and replaced it with compost. The moss grows on the compost. I haven't tried the blender method, because just sticking it in there works pretty well. It sticks after a few months or even after a year. Even after it sticks, you have to be careful when pulling weeds that you don't pull the moss out because it doesn't really have roots.

Try to gather your moss in a similar environment as your planting site. I have a swamp behind my house that's full of moss, but there's also standing water there most of the year. I intentionally avoided that because my path is much dryer. My neighbors' garden has almost exactly the same amount of shade and moisture as my path, so that's where I got my moss.

I have a flagstone walkway set on some dirt the developer dumped here from some construction site when we weren't looking. Full of sand, rocks and debris. I tried planting thyme between the stones, and that seems to grow fine in that poor soil. It grows fairly rapidly so now is not too late to start. However wild thyme does grow about 4-6 inches high and my wife complains about the bees which like the flowers, so I have been running the lawnmower over the walk, set to about 3 inches. Set the stones 5-6 inches apart to accomodate the spread of the leaves, and plant the thyme halfway between them.

This year I have been searching for a thyme variety which is only 1 or 2 inches high from seed.
Some mother-of-thyme varieties seem to have promise, but I won't know until next year when they have reached their full growth. I just planted some Lemon Thyme, which the distributor said was 2 inches high. I didn't have much success with lemon thyme from another grower, but maybe this one will work out. There are some dwarf hybrids only available as plants, but
they are quite expensive for a large area.