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thonotorose

Ground cover ID

thonotorose
10 years ago

This is all around my credit union. Growing in full sun, it forms a dense floriferous mat.

It comes in a very pale pink and a bluish white. I did snag some sprigs and thought they had taken in my yard. However, I no longer can see them so perhaps I have lost them.

I would love to find a seed source if you have any ideas.

Comments (13)

  • thonotorose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    closeup

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    10 years ago

    I don't know what it is, either, but it is a weed and very invasive. I don't personally mind because I like it better than St. Augustine (it makes a much prettier lawn and doesn't need mowing), but once you have it, you have it forever and it takes over. It blooms most of the time, but it has dormant periods, too. Around here it's not blooming right now. It's replaced matchweed as the Denizen of the Swales.

    The country club up the street spends a lot of time, effort, and chemical trying to make it go away, without success.

    I asked a plant specialist who should know and he called it what I heard as "Jamaican Ipomoea" but it doesn't look anything like any ipomoea I've ever seen, so I don't think that's right, but I could well have misunderstood what he said.

    I'd like to know, too. In our area I'd never seen it till a year or two ago and now it's everywhere.

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    10 years ago

    Oh, incidentally, if it's on the move in your area all you have to do is wait. It will come to you, sooner or later.

  • zzackey
    10 years ago

    It reminds me of Star of Bethlehem, But I don't think that's what it is. Nicer than grass!

  • nel5397
    10 years ago

    I think that stuff is Richardia Grandiflora.

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    10 years ago

    Bingo! Thanks, nel5397.

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    10 years ago

    Here's a good article (if you ignore the kind of goofy first paragraph) about how it spreads, thonotorose. It confirms what I've observed about it: when it first arrives (or when you planted it) it blooms a bit to get the seed mechanism started, then the rhizomes start moving outward, but low down so that you won't notice them in the grass.

    I doubt yours has given up

    Here is a link that might be useful: dreamy drifts of pink

  • thonotorose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks Block and Nel,

    Since "Fairy Cups" are impossible to get rid of, I shall enjoy my batch thoroughly instead.

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    10 years ago

    So far I don't see any real downside. It's attractive, attracts butterflies and bees, requires almost no maintenance, extremely drought-tolerant, doesn't mind sterile soil, possibly edible, and certainly appreciated by other critters:

    Here is a link that might be useful: flower-powered tortoise

  • writersblock (9b/10a)
    10 years ago

    I should have mentioned that our new HOA board has begun making noises about getting rid of the water-hogging St Augustine here, but I suggested that rather than have that battle they just sit tight and wait, since the Richardia is beginning to show up in the lawn here, too.

  • thonotorose
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Loved the movie. Looks like beach scrub to me. So... salt tolerant, too? What's not to like?

  • shellfreak
    10 years ago

    As a joke, we call it FL snow at my house. My front yard looks white in the fall and winter.

  • PRO
    Yardvaark
    10 years ago

    At another residence, I killed some grass last fall in order to create more garden space, then became too busy and neglected it. Wow ... next thing I know is that this weed moved in big time and took over. I guess if one wanted it and nothing else, it might make one version of a low maintenance "groundcover." Since I like other plants, too, this is too aggressive for me.

    As an alternate, one might consider Arachis glabrata. I became interested in it as a result of another thread in a Landscape Design Forum. Last year, I planted an entire front lawn of it and could not be more happy. 1 gal. pots @ 3' o.c. have completely filled in in one season. I think they could be spaced @ 4'. So far, it is very low and has not needed mowing. I recently tried a newly acquired manual reel push mower on it just to see if it could be clipped that way and the mower cut it easily. But it was already so short, there wasn't really any difference in height. The mower just snipped off leaf tips and the next day it flowered just like it does every day. (In the spring time it's a solid blanket of yellow bloom!) It's still young, but so far much better to walk on than St. Augustine (which I think is like walking on a mattress!) It looks like it may only need routine edging every couple of weeks or so. The most surprising thing is that is has been in constant bloom (though not as heavy as in the Spring.) It is the cheeriest looking lawn ever! Compared to neighboring lawns it is much brighter. It is "grass green" but looks as if the Claritin Shield has been peeled off to expose the intensity. The yellow blooms add zip. Early and late in the day, when the sunlight is coming from the side --THROUGH the leaves -- the lawn glows a brilliant chartreuse apple green. When I was installing it, I also came across Arachis pintoi, which has a prettier color, deep orange/yellow bloom. I was eager to have it and bought all that the nearby Home Depot had. It was a mistake! It grows MUCH taller. It had achieved 12" height when I decided to remove it. (I suspect it would go to 18".) Thank goodness it was only about 200 square feet of it. Arachis glabrata is the one to go with as a lawn substitute. (The flowers are lemon yellow.) I should note that I hand watered all the plants from February until we got into the rainy season. Since then, they have tolerated all the dry spells without the need for additional water. According to everything I've read, the plant is drought tolerant and it appears that it's going to be true.

    (I must add the disclaimer that anyone considering installing a groundcover must resolve any weed problem before and during groundcover establishment ... or they will have an impossible, unending mess on their hands.)

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