If you have your perennials marked in the beds, you can spread newspapers around the entire bed, except for the areas where your perennials will sprout, leaving plenty of room if they are already mature and established. Wet the newspapers (10 pages thick) and immediately cover them with mulch. This will block out the surrounding weeds, and eventually create a nice compost around the flowers you've kept.

Just make sure to cover the edges of the newspaper well, or it looks kinda funny on the first windy day.

Yeah, some attractive rocks or bricks are crucial....

melanie

Cover the plants you want to keep with paper bags, spray weeds with Roundup. Remove the bags in an hour or so, when the spray is dry.

Seldom damages the plants, saves a lot of time.

I'm not a fan of Roundup or Monsanto, so would recommend against using that particular product. You could try ascetic acid-based weedkillers like Burn Out or Scythe. Lazygardens' plan is very practical. I have also visited her website-lots of good ideas there(if it is still up . . . this was some time ago).

It might be good to dig out the pokeweed's big, deep tap roots as they'll not be bothered by newspaper/mulch and shoots will probably break right thru.

Another method is solarizing the weeds. You would have to first remove the buddelia and place in a holding bed. Then manually remove poke and taproots, mow the area, and cover with black plastic held down by rocks or bricks. Depending on the amount of sunlight, this process can take 6-12 months to kill off all roots and seeds in the soil. Also kills off other soil life so you need to add some manure and compost to get the soil going again after solarization.

As zinnias and cosmos are annuals, I am wondering if your only perennials are the butterfly bushes. If so, this should be a pretty easy job.

Off-topic comments:

Monsanto makes vanillin (the very popular vanilla substitute) from wood waste. I used to work next door to a large Monsanto plant, and the smell vanillin was overpowering most days. Consequently, I can no longer stand the smell or taste of vanillin, and MUST have real vanilla for all my baking.

Real vanilla is made from the seed pods of an orchid that grows in tropical jungles, so when you buy vanilla, you are also helping to preserve the remaining Amazon forests. Also, considering how much work probably goes into harvesting even a small amount of vanilla, it's very reasonably priced!

On-topic comments:

I'm not a fan of Roundup, either. I had a neighbor across a gravel alley who used to use Roundup to kill the weeds around his garage. Within a week, a full foot of my lawn next to the alley was always dead as well -- because the alley had a slight slope in my direction, and even a light rain would wash enough of the Roundup over to my lawn and into the soil.

So, no, I wouldn't cover my nice plants with paper bags and expect that to be enough to preserve them from the harmful effects of Roundup. It definitely does wash down into the root zone, where it kills just as surely as a topical application.

Love,

Claudia

Thanks for the advise --

Round up is something I used last year -- and it works fine with weeds that have emerged ... but it doesn't NOT kill anything that hasn't germinated yet.

The Butterfly bushes are the only thing I care about saving up in this area.

I guess I will just remove the poke weed by hand ...spread 10 inch thick newspaper across the entire area and then add mulch. Let's cross our fingers that this works. For the most part it's a bunch of grasses that grow up there ... but I do have some cosmos and other reseeding flowers. NO big deal to loose these though! =)

It's in a pretty inaccessible area so I want something maintanence free for the most part.

Any other ideas?

If you are only worried about weeds that haven't germinated...don't mind the fact that you WON'T get your sel-sowers this year, and will have to replant them...AND aren't averse to chemicals--this seems like an IDEAL application for Preen. (or some other pre-emergant--that's the name that springs to mind.)

I may resort to preen myself this year--and I generally garden organically. My golden oregano has been invaded by mycrostegia...and even though I've been diligent I can't get rid of it..and i've been fighting this %#@*&^% stilt grass for YEARS. SO--I'm thinking about it. Particularly since I don't COOK with this patch of oregano.

melanie

Um, Shines -- the thickness is ten pages of newspaper, not ten inches.

While I'm sure the extra-thickness would be really effective in killing the weeds, even a news-junkie like me would have a hard time coming up with that much newsprint! ;o)

Elsie

Haha! Yes-- my mistake!

Preen sounds like a good solution as well. I was wondering if such a product would provide the answer I am looking for.

Decisions -- decisions =)

How does Preen work? I have never used it. Is it safe to use around plants already growing?

Thanks.

From the Preen web site FAQ: "Preen prevents new weeds from growing, it does not kill existing weeds. Preen works by creating a chemical barrier in the top 1-2 inches of the soil that prevents cell division in developing weed seeds."

I have a friend who ran her own perrennial nursery--she used Preen on her OWN beds after illness prevented her from keeping her normal weeding schedule for several months. While she likes to keep chemicals to a minimum--she swears the stuff saved her sanity. (By and large, the PLANTS don't care if it gets a little weedy....it's we borderline garden obsessives that get a little out of control. I HATE mycrostegia and chick weed. HATE 'EM!)

good luck!

melanie

Here is a link that might be useful: Preen propaganda

I always spell "microstegium" incorrectly. Don't know WHY I insist on adding a "y"... sorry!

melanie