Hi Bruce, thank you for your interest in planting flowers! Do you have shade in this area from neighboring trees?  Is it dry soil, clay, loamy?  What zone in Ohio?

Plants I wouldn't plant are English ivy, periwinkle (Vinca minor) or wintercreeper (Euonymous fortunei) or Bugleweed (Ajuga reptans).  They are very invasive and hard to remove.  Ice Plant didn't grow for me in my south bed.  

Creeping phlox are nice in the spring for their beautiful blooms.  Sedum varieties that are low growing bloom at various times.   Aurinia saxatilis is easy to grow in a south bed.  Foliage is gray green, yellow flowers in the spring.  Creeping thyme may be another good choice.

Taller plants would be coreopsis.  Day lilies spread and become a ground cover too.  Liriope are another choice.  

What you would like, tall and short varieties you can mix.  Some sedum and some coreopsis for example would grow well together.  Or daylilies with sedum or thyme.  

Happy planting!  I love flowers and helping the bees and butterflies!

10 Best Ground Covers for Full Sun (thespruce.com)

10 Sedum (Stonecrop) Varieties to Plant as Ground Cover (thespruce.com)

Invasive Wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei) | Ohio Environmental Council (theoec.org)

5 Invasive Ground Covers to Avoid (thespruce.com)

14 Beautiful Perennials that Make Striking Ground Cover (tipsbulletin.com)

Aurinia saxatilis - Plant Finder (missouribotanicalgarden.org)

Hi Bruce,

I would probably still recommend full sun plants, like sedum, mint, coreopsis. Another choice I didn't mention earlier is lamium.  Many cultivars of lamium grow in full sun and they bloom often. I have part shade lamium and have enjoyed them for years.  Also It will depend on the height you want, color of blooms, bloom time, and what maintenance you want to do.  Have things been planted here before?  Do you need to amend the soil first?  Adding compost, composted manure, leaf mulch, grass clippings, and peat moss help the soil to drain better and plants grow better in a clay based soil.  Work the organic matter into the top 7 inches of soil.  

If your soil drains well, lavender may work for you as a taller groundcover.  Day lilies are being breed to have shorter height and be reblooming, with yellow, purple, and pinkish red blooms. It depends on what height of plant you want, how much time you are willing to spend maintaining it, and your overall look you want to achieve.  There are lots of choices but I would not plant anything considered invasive or aggressive in growth.  Those plants may grow easier, but when it comes time to plant something else, they are very labor intensive to remove and spread to places you don't want them.

I try to find a few articles which are university or research based.  I tried to give you a variety of articles.  Prepare the soil and plant your choices!  After about 3 years or sooner, they should grow in and be the groundcover.  

There's no break for people who garden in clay | OSU Extension Service (oregonstate.edu)

Choosing a Soil Amendment - 7.235 - Extension (colostate.edu)

16 Invasive Plants to Avoid (thespruce.com)

Where & How to Plant Lavender as a Ground Cover (sfgate.com)

7 Stunning Daylilies that Bloom Over and Over (tipsbulletin.com)

Lamium Groundcover Plants and Flowers (bluestoneperennials.com)