backyard disaster advice

When we moved into our home 2 years ago, the backyard was nothing but a vast expanse of hardwood mulch, with a couple of very sick trees that had to be removed. The next summer a few weeds appeared among the mulch, which we were able to pull while we thought and dreamed about what to plant. Last fall we planted a dogwood, then early this spring we planted some small shrubs (Virginia sweetspire, fothergilla) and some Virginia native wildflowers. In April, the violets started to sprout. By May, they had covered every square inch, along with a huge variety of strange and persistent weeds, including wisteria. The violets look they are on steroids. They're about a foot tall. There are millions of them. The yard looks like a disaster area. We don't want grass for environmental reasons (it has to be mowed, watered, etc.). I planted some Virginia green 'n gold and some golden ragwort, but the violets are even crowding them out. I'm just not sure what to do. We like a natural look in a yard, but this doesn't look natural somehow. It just looks like an abandoned lot with some random plants and tons of spiky, scary-looking weeds.

Does anyone have any advice or recommendations? I should add that I'm not an experienced gardener.

Thanks.

I think some photographs would help to give us an idea of the size and scope of everything.

I have read about new 'age' grass - stays low and needs little water.

I guess those weeds hitched a ride on your mulch. Only solution is to try to kill (pesticides may not be something you want to do) or remove the mulch and try again with another more aggressive and more to your liking ground cover.

Here's a photo of the back yard. I'm estimating that it's about 1200 square feet, maybe more. Sorry that it's hard to tell much from this photo. It's difficult to capture the whole space. It gets quite a bit of sun, especially morning and late afternoon.

Aww - it doesn't look that bad (at least not in the photo) a little more of that stuff and you will have a ground cover doing a pretty good job.

Hmmm,
Have you seen no-grass yards in your area? What have they used? If you are a pioneer in this area, you may try to do a section at a time. It can be difficult to make it look "natural."
Here is a cool house in my brother's neighborhood.

One more view of the house and yard. They have used "empty spaces/ paths" around the perennials and sculptures.

Looks like you need a total overhaul. Till it, rake it, kill it
This is what I would do.
Till the entire thing, throw out all the weeds clumps, spray weed killer(not necessarily a chemical) you can use horticulture vinegar and then do some lasagna gardening http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1030412/

there is a thing called Eraser sold at co-op or farm supply stores . HOWEVER

Once violets take hold it's a real project getting rid of them. They spread like wildfire. When I find one in my yard, it's a goner. Flowerjen is right, start from scratch.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll check out the gardening link. Once we till it, rake it, and kill the weeds maybe it'll be easier to see what to do with it. Right now it's overwhelming.

Eraser will get rid of any thing

The first thing to do is to mow the lawn. Then get some weed killer. Kill a 9 by l2 section of lawn, that is next to the back door. Set up some pavers for your patio. Keep the rest, mowed. Spray weed killer on another section of yard. Cover with black plastic, & fill with pea gravel. Keep doing sections, & create flower beds. Add some fruit trees.

No matter what you do it will probably have to be done in stages and weed killer will kill what you've already planted and you don't want that. And since you're enviornmentally conscientous you wouldn't want that anyways. So, what I would do is start pulling up by the roots a section at a time starting around the plants you put in yourself so they won't be overtaken. Put some wet newspaper (stays in place better when wet) layers around them and then mulch on top of that to help discourage weeds. Flowerjen gave you the link to lasagna gardening and believe me, it works. The only place I got weeds was where I didn't make sure the newspaper overlapped. Compost if possible, aged manure....this will all help prepare it to plant native grasses or help prepare perennial beds, whatever else you decide to put in. If you don't want it all beds, you could do pea gravel for walkways or flagstone with moss or ground covers between. Your yard has lots of possibilities, especially since it's basically full sun. You might want to go for native plants for your area, wildflowers and such. Just some ideas. Cute pics JulieQ, really whimsical! The picture here is the lasagna gardening we're doing on our front bank to get rid of weeds and prepare it for plants this fall and in the spring.

Looking good