Just bought a house in SW Austin & I want to rehab the yard to only have native plants. Right now it's quite a mix but definitely dominated by two things: Bermuda grass (I think? I'm assuming) & the native plant flathead rabbit tobacco.
I want to get rid of the Bermuda grass, manage or remove most the rabbit tobacco, & remove other non-natives without killing the wildflowers–of which there are many sprinkled around such as bluebonnets, Barbara's buttons, Blackfoot daisies, lots of others!
I know the scope of this project is huge lol but I'm working on researching now so any input is appreciated!
Is my best bet to tackle this manually, ripping out the Bermuda grass? I fear the cardboard cover will method kill the good stuff.
The pics are on a side where more water collects, I plan on doing a rain garden here. But the yard stretches far to the other side & is dryer/rockier, but still sooo much non-native grass that's been there awhile!
by fernsnapp
7 Comments
Your options for Bermuda are glyphosate, solarization, sod cutter or most likely a combination of those.
The flowers will be collateral damage unless you transplant to pots in the winter.
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Any kind of ground cover will kill the good stuff along with the bad, but you can always reseed/replant.
I’d skip the cardboard, do a 5-6 inch layer of arbor chips (not bagged mulch, fresh chips). That will kill everything underneath it and help control weed growth in the future, as well as improve moisture retention in the dry spots. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC7GQHp9-8Q) is an interesting, though fairly long interview with a horticulturist explaining the process.
For buying new native seeds, I get mine from [https://seedsource.com/](https://seedsource.com/) and have had good luck with their mixes, far better results than just buying random stuff at home depot or lowe’s. They have different blends for different soil compositions, as well as native turf grass and some other stuff. Also, check out Austin’s free tree program. You can get drought tolerant natives and non-invasive introduced species delivered, two per year. I just planted a pomegranate from them, and my brother planted a pomegranate he got a few years back and it’s doing great, lots of fruit set this year and growing steadily.
Good Luck, that’s a great area and you can definitely get some cool stuff growing there.
A tip for transplanting wildflowers is to dig around the plant, be sure you dig deep enough for the tap root, dig up plenty of the soil they are already in.
So you dig deep enough and wide enough to gather as much soil as possible to put in a pot or in a new place in your garden.
Wilting will happen but water carefully and baby them a little and they should survive.
I go around to many construction sites before they raze the ground and have built up my garden in this way.
You can get rid of all life on that tract of land any number of ways, but unless you purge your neighbor yards as well, the Bermuda will be back.
I’d skip that tragedy, focus on standing up garden beds everywhere you want one then rehab whatever lawn is left from there
Here for the adorable rabbit tobacco.
Native flower so you just have to maintain what you need best decision ever and so many butterflies, dragonflies, bees, birds, etc..