Grass growing in Creeping Phlox

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hobieh Spring Valley, IL Apr 05, 2011

The mounds of phlox are now about 2 feet in diameter. They are full of grass. How do I get the grass out and keep it out?

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Lupala Victoria, BC(Zone 8b) Apr 06, 2011

You can see how well rooted the phlox is - if not very rooted other than center can sort of pull it up off the soil (gently) and weed from under then put a layer of cardboard, newspaper or groundcloth and just weed center regularly.

Can also try round up applied with paintbrush onto grass, or horticultural vinagar applies the same way.

Can be a real pain (been there)

May end up having to 'dig up' the phlox, weed and replant it. May have to cut it into sections if well rooted all along.

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Apr 06, 2011

If you want to spray something, I'd suggest getting a grass killer. The grass killers (Ortho Grass B Gon is one example) won't kill other non-grassy plants, so as long as you don't have any ornamental grasses in the bed that would definitely be a better option than Roundup since you don't have to be so careful how you spray it. The caveat with the grass killers is that they take a while before they start to work--in my experience it's often 10 days or so after you apply it before you start to see any effect from it (first time I used it, I had just about given up and decided it didn't work, and then all of a sudden the grass started to die).

As far as keeping it out, it depends on where it's coming from. If it's seeds blown into your yard, you can put down pre-emergent herbicide to prevent new seeds from germinating. But if it's creeping in from your lawn then that won't help--putting in a barrier between the lawn and the garden bed could help, but you'll still have to keep after it a bit.

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