This discussion is very pertinent to me right now. I have a brand new bed
(my 80 year old neighbor didn't recognize the difference between roundup and
something specific for dandelions and killed off most of my parking
strip.....LOL). So in the dead sod I planted giant grasses last fall, and
bulbs, and early this spring planted (by seed) rows of tall and short
wildflowers (tall in the center, short at the edges) Things like nemophila,
linaria, poppies, california poppies, flax, bachelor buttons, dame's rocket,
annual phlox, lupines, larkspur, foam flower, sweet alyssum, etc.
Unfortunately, the only ones I recognize for sure, having grown them before,
are poppies, california poppies, alyssum, and linaria.For a long time, I
thought I would let everything grow and sort it all out later, but of course
there's lots of grass coming up, as well as dandelions, and some other
familar weeds of this area. (Most of the wildflower seeds also sprouted). My
worst mistake was thinking that a certain spade-shaped leaf was something
precious, but this past week, it has started to resemble something I
recognized very well - BINDWEED!. Fortunately, all in the seedling stage, so
easy to remove. I will report on it as an experiment, in the middle and at
the end of the summer. It occured to me that most of these things will be
bloomed out at the end of July, so I have planted some four-oclocks, cosmos,
and lavatera to take over at the end of the summer.
I'm sure my neighbors think I'm nuts as I stand on the street or
sidewalk looking into this bed of what looks like a derelict waste garden
intently, then reach down and pluck out a single plant here or there. I'm
hoping that in 2 or 3 weeks, they will understand better what I was up to.