Chocolate Chip is a miniature ajuga with narrow, chocolate-bronze leaves that knit into a dense mat only a few inches tall. In spring it sends up short spikes of violet-blue flowers that draw bees and the occasional hummingbird. It is a groundcover for the spots grass will not take: along paths, under shrubs, between steppers.

It spreads by runners at a steady, manageable pace in part shade to shade. Give it moist, well-drained soil; decent drainage in winter keeps the crowns healthy. Deer and rabbits pass it by, and it handles a bit of foot traffic.