The upside of drought

When the soil is as dry as ours was for more than eight months, there are far fewer weeds to pull!  As much as I yearn for rain, it does generate a plethora of weeds.  Try as I can to keep weeds under control, I usually focus on the areas I see at the front of my beds.  The areas tucked behind the plants up front often get ignored.  When I spotted two brightly colored blooms and moved into a bed in my front garden to check them out, I discovered gobs of weeds I hadn't anticipated.

Helleborus 'Anna's Red' and the first Freesia stood out among all the green around them

Here's what I saw once I moved beyond the plants at the front of the bed:

I removed a large but floundering Centaurea 'Silver Feather' shrub in front of that tall sprinkler, revealing Shasta daisy foliage (Leucanthemum x superbum) behind it.  I found a lot of crab grass (Digitaria sanguinalis) hiding among the Freesia foliage - making its removal more difficult - but overall at first glance it wasn't too bad.

Things looked a lot worse as I moved further into the bed, where the crab grass mingled with the foliage of Santa Barbara daisy (Erigeron karvinskianus), alyssum (Lobularia maritima), and clover (Trifolium repens).  The latter 3 are attractive plants with weedy tendencies.

Pulling the weeds without dislodging Freesia bulbs was a challenge

I'd cleared most of this area a month ago so it wasn't looking too bad, although it could use mulching to suppress new weeds

I spent a few hours weeding the front border, cutting back some larger plants in the process.  It's not perfect by any means but I think it looks better.

This is an "after" shot.  In addition to pulling weeds, I cut the ornamental feather grass (Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum) to the ground, thinned the other ornamental grasses (Festuca californica), and trimmed back the other Centaurea 'Silver Feather'.

Another after shot

I can't claim all the weeds are gone - I pulled only some of the Santa Barbara daisy and alyssum foliage - but it looks much cleaner

Not all grass seedlings create a problem.  I've been encouraging the growth of Lagurus ovatus, also known as bunny tail grass.

I didn't deliberately sow bunny tail grass seed along the front walkway but I'm leaving it alone there for the time being.  The dry arrangement sitting next to the front door let loose the Lagurus seed.  I've actively promoted this grass in 2 other areas as I enjoy the plant's flowers.  Hopefully, I won't regret letting it do its thing.

Now that I've made a dent in the most problematic section of the front garden, it's time to tackle parts of the back garden; however, that's a job for later this week.  The soil there needs to dry out further - or that's my story any way.

The back garden border is an even bigger mess than the front garden.  That dark stem in the middle of the photo belongs to a spent wild carrot (Daucus carota 'Dara')) I failed to pull late last summer.  There are already wild carrot seedlings popping up among the other weeds!

Because this area is full of prickly plants like aloes, agaves and yucca, pulling weeds without getting stabbed is a dicey proposition

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party