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thumbgardener
- Newly Registered
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:56 pm
- Location: Michigan
Need suggestions for low maintenance perennials
This fall I completed the Michigan Master Gardener program and as my volunteer project, I have started a perennial garden at the city fitness path. This fall I planted iris, sedum, purple coneflowers, ajuga, and black eyed susans. Any other ideas of low maintenance plants that can withstand the activities of a public park?
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opp2
- Senior Member
- Posts: 137
- Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 7:47 am
- Location: Greater Toronto Area-zone 4-5
By activities do you mean like....cycling over leaves, treading over them, or footballs landing in them...orthumbgardener wrote:This fall I completed the Michigan Master Gardener program and as my volunteer project, I have started a perennial garden at the city fitness path. This fall I planted iris, sedum, purple coneflowers, ajuga, and black eyed susans. Any other ideas of low maintenance plants that can withstand the activities of a public park?
low maintenance as in can survive not being watered every week etc?
For hardiness, I tend to choose wildflower types. Verbena (the homestead purple, and then the tall sage variety) does a great job of blooming all season and then some, and stays green (at least here) all winter. I also like batchelor's buttons... and while some call it a weed, Queen Anne's Lace is still a wonderful, tall, hardy plant.
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opabinia51
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 4659
- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
Kanickanick is a low maintenance ground cover that is meant to just weedeat over. I always get down and get dirty pulling the weeds out though. Juniper is relatively low maintenace but, rather painful to "play in."
Rhodos are another low maintenance shrub and are very long lived. Depending on the variety you buy, they can get huge or stay small.
Rhodos are another low maintenance shrub and are very long lived. Depending on the variety you buy, they can get huge or stay small.
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opabinia51
- Super Green Thumb
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- Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
- Location: Victoria, BC
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NewjerseyTea
- Senior Member
- Posts: 143
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:14 am
- Location: Piedmont Area, Northern NJ
I saw where you were suggesting thyme lawns. When I was researching what to put in the pathway of my small herb garden I came across a suggestion for oregano lawns. www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/oraganolawn.htm
What do you think? I know oregano can really spread. Do you think it would be invasive as a lawn?
What do you think? I know oregano can really spread. Do you think it would be invasive as a lawn?
Which Thyme?
https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=THYMU
I don't know that any of them would be invasive per se but quite a few of them have the potential to become a problem child for you and your neigbhors. The most popular has the common name of Creeping Thyme and it creeps, that's for sure.
Here's one that is frequently overlooked as a lawn substitute for the Northeast- Bouteloua dactyloides
This is the grass I've been going with. Low growing, little need for water once established, plays nice with other plants, and only has to be mowed a couple times a year or can be left un-mowed for a soft natural look as it only grows to about 8-10".
https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=THYMU
I don't know that any of them would be invasive per se but quite a few of them have the potential to become a problem child for you and your neigbhors. The most popular has the common name of Creeping Thyme and it creeps, that's for sure.
Here's one that is frequently overlooked as a lawn substitute for the Northeast- Bouteloua dactyloides
This is the grass I've been going with. Low growing, little need for water once established, plays nice with other plants, and only has to be mowed a couple times a year or can be left un-mowed for a soft natural look as it only grows to about 8-10".
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bewildered_nmsu
- Senior Member
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- Joined: Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:39 am
- Location: Las Cruces, NM
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NewjerseyTea
- Senior Member
- Posts: 143
- Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:14 am
- Location: Piedmont Area, Northern NJ
By me, B. dactyloides goes brown with the first few frosts. I've never been a fan of Cynodon spp. for the US and even less of a fan of C. dactylon or C. dactylon x transvaalensis which would be what most people seem to plant so it's really great you're thinking of doing away with it. The problem I have is that I haven't a clue how the Buffalo Grass will fair where your home is. Has anyone else used it in your subdivision? It would be considerably less of a water hog than what you and me currently have. Can you call a local extension office and ask them what they think? If you go this route, maybe best not to order your seed online as most seems to come from my region. There are actually northern and southern races of this plant and you wouldn't want seed from my area. It's native to NM so you've probably got a source somewhere local and don't know it. The local genotype would perform much better for you than a genotype from the Midwest.
One thing I've been doing around here to reduce my existing turf is to smother it. It cooks well and dies peacefully by being solarized or smothered if I leave the tarps and throw away carpets in place long enough. Isn't the prettiest sight but it's effective. Once I clear an area, I can re-plant with the B. dactyloides. Problem is I've got so much to kill because the builder was sod happy that I can only do a little bit each year. I'd like to have all of my existing lawn gone. My husband spends an inordinate amount of time on a riding lawn mower every weekend and then he has to come back with a push mower and a weed wacker and I bet he spends at least 2-3 hours a week which is time I'd like to reclaim for him. We have to start cutting the turf sometimes by the end of April but definitely by May and he cuts it pretty much weekly through to October but frequently into November. We used to water it weekly to keep it looking pristine but stopped that waste of water because we're all on wells around here plus there was the time element of setting up sprinklers. Now it's brown throughout summer and we don't care as we know we're replacing it. Turf is very labor intensive and costly with gas prices as they are lately. I want ours all gone as of yesterday but that's a pipe dream. Forgot to mention most who have Buffalo Grass around here only cut it once or twice a season if that. Many are simply leaving it attain its natural height and its never watered once it is established. It's going to work for us but I don't know that it will work for you. Would love to know what you learn about it.
One thing I've been doing around here to reduce my existing turf is to smother it. It cooks well and dies peacefully by being solarized or smothered if I leave the tarps and throw away carpets in place long enough. Isn't the prettiest sight but it's effective. Once I clear an area, I can re-plant with the B. dactyloides. Problem is I've got so much to kill because the builder was sod happy that I can only do a little bit each year. I'd like to have all of my existing lawn gone. My husband spends an inordinate amount of time on a riding lawn mower every weekend and then he has to come back with a push mower and a weed wacker and I bet he spends at least 2-3 hours a week which is time I'd like to reclaim for him. We have to start cutting the turf sometimes by the end of April but definitely by May and he cuts it pretty much weekly through to October but frequently into November. We used to water it weekly to keep it looking pristine but stopped that waste of water because we're all on wells around here plus there was the time element of setting up sprinklers. Now it's brown throughout summer and we don't care as we know we're replacing it. Turf is very labor intensive and costly with gas prices as they are lately. I want ours all gone as of yesterday but that's a pipe dream. Forgot to mention most who have Buffalo Grass around here only cut it once or twice a season if that. Many are simply leaving it attain its natural height and its never watered once it is established. It's going to work for us but I don't know that it will work for you. Would love to know what you learn about it.
Lamium is kinda weedy, might not be a good choice for a park where there will be lots of people running around which would spread the plant further-
https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LAMIU
Sorry NJT, must have started typing then walked away before posting and missed your question. William Cullina is real sharp and that book might have hit the press before the name was changed. Taxonomists and dna! They keep us hopping don't they! Buchloe dactyloides is synonymous with Bouteloua dactyloides. Took me a while to get used to Bouteloua because it's not as easy to type as Buchloe.
https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LAMIU
Sorry NJT, must have started typing then walked away before posting and missed your question. William Cullina is real sharp and that book might have hit the press before the name was changed. Taxonomists and dna! They keep us hopping don't they! Buchloe dactyloides is synonymous with Bouteloua dactyloides. Took me a while to get used to Bouteloua because it's not as easy to type as Buchloe.
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JPlovesflowers
- Senior Member
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2008 10:36 pm
- Location: Northwest Arkansas
Probably too late for this forum, but I think you would really do well with Stella d'oro daylilies. I'm not sure how you can hurt them and they bloom profusely throughout the summer. There are also several new varieties that rebloom all summer that you can find with a little research through bulb catalogs. Sounds like a fun project, congratulations on your master gardener program! 