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I've been removing popweed this last couple of weeks. I get it really bad in my hell strip and in the area under my neighbor's Doug fir. Despite the fact that I try to remove every last seedling before they set seed, I must manage to miss one and it shoots ten thousand seeds out when the wind gusts. And then the next year it's back. This last weekend I spent hours and hours carefully pulling up popweed and patting myself on the back for the effort (of course, it was sunny and my daphne is blooming, so I couldn't really complain). Then I moved onto moving all my ferns under the cedar and I happened to look to the left, to where we removed that huge pile of dirt last summer.
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| You're looking at one million popweed seedlings |
Oh holy hell.
This is what happens when you leave disturbed earth bare. We neglected to cover it with mulch or overseed the lawn, so we now have a colony of popweed that is *this close* to releasing seed.
This reminds me that one of the focuses I have in my garden right now is ground covers. I need ground covers to unify, to block weeds, and to look nice. In the area under my neighbor's Doug fir it's dry and sunny. Anybody have a great plant to cover the bare mulch in this area, preferably one that doesn't need supplemental water every day in the summer? I have a variety of sedums there that are spreading at a glacial pace. It might be time for something else.
p.s. THANK YOU to everyone who has voted for me in the JDR blogger contest. Right now I am in the lead! It's such a silly narcissistic thing to ask your friends and family to vote so you can have money, so it got me all misty eyed that people would support it so enthusiastically. Y'all are the best.
As for ground cover recommendations, I have yet to find the perfect one (I love Sedums...but it takes years for they to really fill in a large area). I go back and forth on Rubus pentalobus...sometimes I think it's wonderful and lush, other times, a thickety mess. For this particular area, and I know you were mentioning in a previous post wanting to have bolder plantings in your backyard, what about a mass of a single plant, perhaps Deschampsia? It would also relate to the Deschampsia in your rain garden near the house...
ReplyDeleteBoy, can I ever relate to the popweed problem. Ground covers are problematic: we want them to fill in quickly but not go wild. I have had luck with Hypericum 'Brigadoon' (golden leaves and yellow bottlebrush flowers with a touch of red, about 12-14" high), Cornus canadensis (low growing dogwood), Gaultheria procumbens (dark green, small glossy leaves, red berries) and Acaena inermis 'Purpurea' in the conditions you describe. All of these are available in 4" pots at Freddy's so you can try them out. If they take to you, they will fill in pretty fast.
ReplyDeleteHey, it takes courage to admit you want recognition, which is something we all want. Good for you! It's much worse to deflect the recognition that you secretly want, a bad habit that too many people have.
ReplyDeleteI have been battling the popweed , I noticed white blooms the other day...went into panic mode, dutch hoe for the tiny ones , I know I'll be at it agin with all this sun/rain.
ReplyDeleteI like sedum as ground cover too. easy planting, just throw it down anywhere!
I was excited to see you were ahead back when I voted...I almost emailed you to say "you know you are in the lead!" but then decided that would be dorky and you probably already knew.
ReplyDeleteGroundcover...Grevillea! Either 'low red' (http://plantlust.com/plants/grevillea-juniperina-low-red) or 'molonglo' (http://plantlust.com/plants/grevillea-juniperina-molonglo) really...these are awesome and while not what one thinks as ground coveres they do act as one.
I have the same problem. I need groundcovers, but when I look at those marketed as "spreading", I realize that many of them are in fact, invasive. I will look into the ones other commenters suggested, though. It would be nice not to have so many weeds. Good luck with all your popweed!
ReplyDeleteOh my god, I'm totally intrigued by this idea! You always make me think about plants in a different way.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ricki! I'm going to check these out.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I'll have to check those out. Thank you! Also? Not dorky at all!
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