landscaping islands at church

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cathy4 St. Louis County, MO(Zone 5a) Jul 08, 2007

Hello, I've "accidentally" become in charge of overhauling the islands in the church parking lot. They are heavily overgrown with mostly orange daylillies. They are full sun and hot most of the year, we have to drag hoses to water as it is a large lot. In the past, the beds were one time bloomers of old fashion flowers. I'd like to add small trees for some height, and flowers that either bloom longer, or several plants for different seasons of bloom. Weeding is taking hours. I hate to use chemicals, but I feel I may have to use weed killers. Is mulching with newspapers under the bark mulch doable on a large scale? (I use this at home.) Any help is greatly appreciated!

Cathy in St. Louis

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Jul 08, 2007

I hate chemicals too, but I had an out of control weed situation, so I pulled what I could and painted Roundup onto broken stems to ensure that weeds that I didn't get all the way out wouldn't come back. The other thing you could try if you're getting rid of everything in the bed anyway would be to take a brush mower or weed-whacker and cut everything down, then put down a thick layer of newspaper and mulch over the top and leave it for a few months. I don't see why doing the newspapers on a large area wouldn't work as long as you have enough people collecting newspapers for you!

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wanderinggarden Bellevue, NE(Zone 4b) Jul 10, 2007

Get the teens (and/or kids) from your church to come out and help as a service project. It wil be good for them and save you some backbreaking labor. Plus they may get the gardening bug themselves.

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momo125 Windsor, ON(Zone 6a) Jul 11, 2007

I agree with putting the teens to work. Tell them that you will give a reference letter for a resume and make sure they know it is VOLUNTARY. As for plants, Kwanzan cherries, Korean lilac standards, Bradford pears (although the flowers stink in the pears) are good small trees, Potentilla fruticosa shrub comes in yellow, orange, pink, or white and flowers all summer. They stay abt. 2-3 feet tall.

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cathy4 St. Louis County, MO(Zone 5a) Jul 19, 2007

Thank you all for your responses!

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