In trouble with the law - help!

We are responsible or the 3' wide swath of ugly, invasive, unruly and apparently (gasp!) illegal weeds between our back fence and the alley. I need to get rid of the mess, but just pulling the weeds out will only leave a 3' swath of bare dirt that is probably holding pounds of dormant ugly, invasive, unruly and illegal seeds. I need your help.

The City of Carrollton has granted me an extension, so I can just mow it low for now, if I promise to take care of it in the Spring. I am Winter Sowing this year, so if I am going to start seeds for replacement plants, I'll need to get them going in the near future.

I would love your ideas for something to plant that will fill at least a few of these requirements, in order of importance:

- Stays under 1', but I'd like even lower if possible, like grass level
- non-invasive so it'll stay on its side of the fence
- preferably native so it won't require much care
- something that will cover the whole area in hopes that it will smother the weed seeds hiding under the soil
- something nice-looking, if possible

Thanks!
-GreenerBeaner

If you want short, easy, and boring, dwarf mondo grass (http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/50006/) would probably do for you. It spreads very very slowly, so it is unlikely to cause any trouble on your side of the fence. On the other hand, you would need a lot of it to fill the space in quickly. You can walk on it, the dog can do its business on it, it doesn't care how much sun - or lack thereof there is. It's great for xeriscaping, and some people put it in their aquariums as a water plant. It's not pretty, but it's sure handy!

I have the solution for you Texas Frogfruit, Phyla nodiflora, it can do all you need and more, plus it is a host plant for butterflies; Scroll all the way to the bottom of the link page;
http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PHNO2
Josephine.

That's a great idea, Frostweed! Those are cute little plants, and I've seen them before and not known what they were. I was thinking about some of the native prairie grasses that would have grown in your area. I'm more familiar with gulf coast grasses, such as Mexican Feather grass or Gulf Muhly grass which is really beautiful pink in the fall, but there might be some more suited to your north Texas location. You wouldn't have to mow those, either. Restoring native habitat will bring lots of interesting bugs, birds, and butterflies to your yard.

Oooo... those are pretty, Josephine! ^_^

I really love Frogfruit. However, you'd probably have to do something to keep it from crossing to the other side of the fence. I have to be vigilant to keep some of it on the other side of my fence. The frogfruit growing outside of my fence keeps trying to get across the fence to my flowerbed on the other side. It does seem to prefer my raised bed, which I water, instead of staying in the drier caliche soil on the other side.

Oh well, nothing is perfect, I am glad you guys like it, I think it is really neat and you can walk on it.

This message was edited Jan 22, 2009 4:11 PM

Hey I collected seed from my Texas frogfruit last fall. I can send some if you like; alot of chaff though and I gave up going through with the microscope to separate out. Excellent groundcover and the bees and butterflies love it.

Thanks, Marylyn and Josephine! I think the mondo grass might be a little bit more my style, but after 30 min of googling, I couldn't find any seeds.

The frog fruit looks fabulous! But our fence is glorified chicken-wire, so it's almost too cute - it would compete with the border on the inside of the fence. (Not that the weeds aren't doing this anyway....)

This is a great start! Any other ideas?

I only have a little mondo grass... not enough to help you. If you want a somewhat larger version of the same thing, I'd be VERY happy to send you some monkey grass (http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/57616/). It's the mondo grass' big brother - it gets about 8 inches high, spreads very vigorously (but it has shallow roots and is easy to pull up if it gets in a place you don't want it.) I didn't know about the "spreads very vigorously" part, and I planted it in a thin fringe around one of my raised beds. That was 5 years ago and I have to pull wheelbarrows of it out of the bed every year. It works great in the backyard, though, under trees where no grass will grow and around the play fort so my dh doesn't need to mow/edge so closely around it.

So... don't plant this stuff in your garden!! But it does great in trouble spots if you want an easy/fast/no work groundcover. You can mow it, after it becomes established, and it will look like very dark green grass. You can walk on it, etc... If you want any/some/lots, I'll be thrilled to send you a bunch. Just tell me how big of a box you want me to fill. LOL

Marylyn, I thought you were the one who had so much monkey grass. That would be an excellent idea for her area. Nothing kills it and it's kinda pretty depending on one's idea of pretty and it's so useful. Since you have lots of it it's really a good deal for both of you. I was going to suggest that she grow something like morning glories, moon flower or a more permanent vine on the fence and then if they come and tell her that that strip is ugly or whatever she can say "What strip? I don't see a strip."

Ann

Have you thought of using Buffalo grass? The seed is easy to get or can be obtained as plugs. The seed would produce a denser turf. Doesn't need much work or mowing, is drought tolerant once established, is a clump type native grass and stays about 6" - 8" tall. Easy to remove from flowerbeds. Doesn't need much fertilizer.

I noticed today that the highway department is planting what looks like one of those three clumping grasses (buffalo, gulf muhly, or Mexican feather) on the strips beside I-59 South toward Sugarland, and 610 Loop. I think it's great - plant natives and quit mowing!

Whatever you do, you might put down some pre-emergent as a weed preventer. This late in the game though, you're too late for winter weeds like rye grass, etc. Definitely put something down for the spring and summer though.

Is it sunny or shady?