Re: while we're on the subject....
Gary Matson wrote:
>
> K1MIZE@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > In a message dated 1/25/99 4:58:34 PM EST, K1MIZE writes:
> >
> > << Can we move one now?
> > >>
> >
> > I'm not suggesting we move any "yellow-flowered" Oxalis plants. I meant to
> > say, "Can we move ON now!" But not before I get the answers to my questions
> > on the pink-flowered mystery Oxalis, please. I have both forms of Oxalis
> > corniculata in my lawn. I tried battling them with chemicals, but ended up
> > doing my lawn (and health) more harm than good. Since then, I find that if I
> > keep my grass healthy, it competes well with the Oxalis. For a while there,
> > though, it looked as if I were going to have an Oxalis lawn! I do like the
> > idea of having a diversity of species in a lawn. My former home in Santa Rosa
> > had English daisies (Bellis perennis, for you purists) in the front lawn, and
> > I always thought they were charming. I'd like to hear about other flowering
> > plants that can be grown successfully in a lawn, one that is mown quite
> > closely and regularly. Any suggestions?
> >
> > Kurt
>
> Kurt, If you are willing to compromise on the closeness of your mowing
> (probably a good idea now that you are in the Central Valley instead of
> the gentle Santa Rosa climate), there are lots of other plants that can
> coexist with the grass for what I think is a nice effect. Prunella
> vulgaris (self-heal?) will creep around and bloom if you cut 2 1/2 to 3
> inches. The small form of Trifolium fragiferum (Strawberry clover)
> sometimes called O'Connors legume has little pink balls and stays low.
> Regular white clover is beautiful in lawns. And around here, Oxalis
> rubra makes nice little tufts in lawns and will bloom quickly between
> mowings if left a little space under the blades. The much maligned
> dandelion (Taraxacum) puts on a great show. (We've had spectacular
> single plants by religious deadheading.) One last plant that blooms only
> in spring, but wends its way well among the grass blades is Glechoma
> hederacea (Gill-over-the-ground??--common names can be quite picturesque
> and fun).
>
> My impression is that dandelion, Oxalis corniculata, and other little
> weedy things mainly come up in lawns because there are spots of soil
> open to the sky. (They almost all require light to germinate) The common
> use of turf-type fescue in California is leading to a lot more of this
> situation, and therefore a lot more use of chemical treatments. The
> fescues commonly used are dwarf forms of bunch-type grasses, and do not
> fill in with rhizomes. As individual grass plants die, there are spaces
> that the weedy things are only too happy to colonize. Mowing regularly
> is of course preventing the grass from seed production. The obvious
> remedy is regular overseeding at the appropriate time of year for that
> species. Nurseries tend to recommend 'weed and feed' and other broadleaf
> herbicides instead of simple reseeding. Mainly, I think, because the
> problem is identified as being the weed rather than the conditions that
> encouraged the weed.
>
> I'd love to hear of other attractive invasive things that can hold their
> own in a lawn-type situation.
Hi Gary and Kurt
I am using your exchange as a basis for several comments on different
threads which have been running through the list recently.
First on preventing unwanted weeds developing in turf - As you correctly
state Gary much of the problem with weed in lawns is due to the spaces
which develop between the grass clumps. I used to have trouble with this
in my garden until I adopted some useful organic practices. The first
was to feed the lawn solely with compost. This should be applied at
least once a year about an inch thick. The best time to put it on is
when rain is expected. This will mean the compost works its way quickly
into the turf without drying out (which would reduce its effectiveness).
The effect of such treatment can be quite spectacular. I have a fairly
rough lawn on a dry sun-facing slope. Before I began to feed it properly
the grass clumps were pretty widely separated and near the top of the
slope the interstices were largely filled with Oxalis corniculata. The
most noticeable effect of using compost has been the clumps of grass
growing in vigour and spreading out. After four years of treatment the
oxalis seems to have been crowded out. (I just went out to check and
couldn't find any of it).
The other thing which has helped is the recommendation from one of your
Universities (sorry, memory no good these days!) that grass should be
cut higher, thus giving it enough leaf area to encourage a deeper and
more extensive root system. Apparently the ideal would be a "shag-pile"
at least three inches long, but this might look a bit on the rough side.
We have compromised by raising our cut from 1" to 2" and are delighted
with the improvement in the grass and especially its lessened weediness
and its ability to withstand drought. Once the new height is established
it needs the same regular cutting as it always did, but it sure grows
thicker and stays green longer. I look on my mixed turf as an "eco-lawn"
- an integral part of my soil care as it provides me with a nourishing
and protective mulch in the form of grassclippings. Both the clover and
yarrow it contains are important in making the mulch a better food
source, the clover because it is rich in nitrogen and the yarrow as a
good general provider of minerals.
We used to get a great quantity of flatweeds mostly Hawkweeds
(Hieracium) and plantains (Plantago) and these are now distinctly few
and far between. However, the the compost seems to actively encourge two
of my favourite non-grass lawn inhabitants - clover( which you already
mentioned) and yarrow (Achillea). Most people are familiar with white
clover, but yarrow may not be so well known. It has fine feathery
leaves which blend well with grass and are particularly successful at
filling spaces where the underlying ground is mostly stones. As it has
tall flower stems it cannot flower in a mowed lawn. However I do have
one real winner of a flowering plant which came into my lawn with no
help from me. It is a tiny Sisyrinchium (I think Americans call this
Blue-eyed grass). It has a fine clump of leaves, not very different from
a small grass and when growing in turf flowers no more than one and a
half to two inches above ground level. During the summer the whole lawn
is frequently spangled with tiny blue-mauve stars - very fetching- and
when it is out of flower it blends in seamlessly with the grass.
Two broad-leaved plants, which also decorate my turf here and there, are
Oxalis rosea (Large bright pink flowers from a short scaley rhizome) and
Viola tricolor (Which I know as Heartsease and most Americans I believe
call Johnny-jump-up).
And that brings me to another subject I wanted to touch on, why it is a
good idea to learn the scientific names. The fact is that common names
do vary, not only from country to country, but even within a country.
When I was a student I was given several weeds to study and one of the
things I had to list were their common names in Britain. Some had not
just one or two, but ten or twenty. Admittedly some of thse were rare or
archaic, but at least a few plants seemed to change their name depending
on the district. As the different names of Viola tricolor show, common
names can certainly vary from country to country. In addition a single
name may have different meanings in different places. One that springs
to mind is Black-eyed Susan. In East Africa this is the familiar term
for Thunbergia alata, but I believe in America it belongs to an
entirely different plant, I think a Rudbekia (Please correct me if I am
wrong).
There is a further problem with common names. Some non-botanists seem to
divide almost all herbaceous flowering plants, apart from grasses, into
only two categories (daisies and lilies). A strange example of the
latter in NZ is the Mount Cook Lily, which is actually not even a
lily-like plant but actually a giant white buttercup!! (Ranunculus, not
lilium).
For non-botanists who feel they could never learn scientific names I
suggest you must be unaware how many garden plants for instance just
don't have common names, and are normally known by their proper
scientific ones -for instance Rhododendron, Camellia, Delphineum,
Cyclamen, Geranium, Salvia, Verbena. I am sure they are no more
difficult to pronounce and remember than snapdragon, daisy and so on. I
think what daunts many people is the regular use by botanists of a
plant's full two-word name. You can think of this like a _person's_
full name. We tend to put our given name first and our surname last, but
people like the Chinese regularly put surnames first, which is closely
equivalent to the naming of plants and animals, where the genus, which
is always given first, corresponds to the surname and the second
(species) name is in effect the individual organism's personal name.
If you are discussing a whole lot of closely related plants which share
the same generic name (such as several Salvias, for instance) thee only
satisfactory way to be sure which one you are talking about is to give
the specific name as well. (Just as you might be trying to distinguish
between two different brothers or sisters in one family). However, if
only a single plant is concerned, it is often enough just to give the
genus, so other list members can be sure what _kind_ of plant is being
talked about. If there is a well-known common name, it would then be OK
just to use the latter.
And where can one find the scientific names anyway? Well, many gardening
books, catalogues and lists of plants do give both scientific names and
common equivalents, so one can often look it up and once one has done so
it may be at least possible to remember the genus, if not the species
name of the plant you are interested in. I learnt almost of the ones I
know by always repeating both names together eg Lawn daisy (Bellis
perennis).
And when you get to my age and your "built-in computer" is not so quick
as it once was at processing requests for information, you may find that
you can still come up with eith one or other of the names, so at least
you can look up the missing one!!! <Grin>
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
