If we were having coffee, I would tell you that my demolition activities have now extended from do-it-yourself house projects to the great outdoors. Since realizing that the majority of my yard consists of plants that are designated as weeds and invasive plant species in my county and state, I’ve decided to take on the challenge of converting my lawn into – well, something other than lawn.
Granted, the plan is a bit vague at this point, but I bought a book , Lawn Gone! Low-Maintenance, Sustainable, Attractive Alternatives for Your Yard by Pam Penick, that may or may not be helpful (I haven’t gotten very far into reading it yet; I’ll let you know), but the title is promising.
I’m going to demolish my lawn and, as time, money, weather, health and personal inclination allow, turn it into something that doesn’t bring the term “noxious” into play.
So far, using photos from online publications, I think I’ve identified the following “weeds” in my yard: thistle (multiple varieties), Japanese knotweed, blackberry, St. John’s wort, sticky weed (catch weed), groundsel, dandelion, deadnettle, English ivy, London rocket, roberts geranium, wild carrot, prostrate knotweed, fox tail, cheat grass, and morning glory.
Obviously, there’s little room left for regular ol’ grass.
My goal is to use only organic methods of plant control, and try to use primarily materials and plant species native to my region to replace the lawn. I’m pretty sure that AstroTurf is native to this area. Or not…
If we were having coffee, I’d note that now I have dallied here so long, it’s too hot to go out and work on my grand landscaping project. Maybe I’ll just sit in the cool and read about how to get my lawn gone.
Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to pull some weeds on your way out. Bonus points for the “invasive” species.
Thanks to Diana at PartTimeMonsterBlog.com for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare.
What Rhymes with Stanza? 
“…Japanese knotweed, blackberry, St. John’s wort, sticky weed (catch weed), groundsel, dandelion, deadnettle, English ivy, London rocket, roberts geranium, wild carrot, prostrate knotweed, fox tail, cheat grass, and morning glory.” Such lovely, extraordinary names for simple weeds.
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Some of them are quite beautiful, also.
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And, of course, crazy hardy. 😀
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Weeds and cockroaches… soon to take over the planet.
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I was going to note the same thing. I hope your native species have names as interesting as these.
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Well, glancing through my native plant book I see nodding onion, hairy manzanita, Scotch bluebell, wild hyacinth, mountain balm, Oregon ash… definitely looks promising.
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Your yard oes have a lot of invasive plants. I don’t envy you and getting rid of tem as seed can lay dormat for yoears. You turned over the ground anthee is a new crop o seeds. Talkwit you coi ty extnson if you have one. Theweed oad is anoher surce of help. Good Luck
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Thank you. I can use all the help I can get. What is the second source you mention?
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Most communities that list noxious weed have a board of concern citizens who determine what is noxious weed. You might find someone who would have a good suggestion on the best environment solution
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Oh, good idea. I will look for that. Thank you!
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St. John’s Wort is used for depression, anxiety, insomnia and several other things. It’s a very useful plant. So, all the plants aren’t bad.
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And it’s quite pretty, as are many “weeds.” I won’t be uprooting my St. John’s Wort. It’s actually spreading into a nice ground cover of sorts along an unsightly terrace wall.
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