HI! I am by no means, an expert in this area! I am wondering if there is anyone out there that may have a suggestion for my unsightly "park" next door that the city refuses to touch. Though they are calling it a "park", it is weed-ridden and will never be maintained nor developed into anything. We live in a lovely area and the yards are all quite well manicured so it seems a shame to leave it as such. Because our homes look directly onto it, a few of us in the neighborhood are wanting to spruce it up for a moderate cost and preferrably low maintenance. It is situated on 2 city lots adjacent to our yard and backing on a greenbelt of blackberry bushes and those little deciduous trees that shoot up everywhere. This area is sloping downward toward the back of the park allowing for well-drained soil at the front but it gets pretty soggy near the back around those blackberries. The land has never been tilled or anything. Last summer a few neighbors got together and planted some cedar trees that were going to be thrown out. They seem to have wintered quite well and are now doing fine on their own. But... the space would be so much more pretty with some type of resilient ground cover to choke out those weeds. Does anyone know of such a hardy, quick-spreading plant that would get no more than about 2 feet tall and require no annual maintenance? Flowers would be pretty but not necessary. As well, it'd be nice to keep this ground cover "thorny" or dense to prevent intruders in our back yard and to prevent trampling of the plants. Of course anything that would choke out weeds is always a plus too as they are fast encroaching upon our yards! (Forgive my ignorance in this department!) Looking forward to any replies/ suggestions you might have for us!
Yep - first find out why the city is managing it in the way they are. It could be that there is an endangered native plant there that they are retaining the right habitat for. Or the right nesting conditions for birds. 'Beautifying' it could potentially destroy it.
Thanks for your interest ... We have approached the city regarding this matter and they have told us to go ahead and do whatever we like as they have no budget for such a project. There are no endangered plants here either - just aggressive weeds and blackberry bushes which are native/abundant throughout our region; dandelions, thistle, horsetails, and a mixture of tall grasses. Houses cannot be built on this site as the slope doesn't warrant it. Believe me - this "park" is nothing special!
I think anything aggressive enough to outcompete those undesirable plants will quickly become undesirable itself. Any thoughts on transforming this into an opportunity to create a shared greenspace?
(I appreciate your reply ...) Although we have approached all of the nearby neighbors and they all want to fix up the park, it seems that we are own as far as fixing it up. However, they might be willing to pitch in financially. We visited the local garden centre and are even more discouraged now! It's going to be very expensive and a lot of hard work. I think that for starters perhaps we should kill the weeds,till, and rake it level. Our latest thought was to plant a sort of island of larger growing trees and bushes and surround it with a rye grass. (The person at the garden centre recommended rye grass as it doesn't need to be maintained as often). I am concerned that it won't choke out the thistle or other weeds though and it'll all be for nothing. Any thoughts or suggestions? This plan isn't written in stone. Personally, I'd like to have a more uniform look to the park than this "island" idea.
First thing is to get all of the plants there identified. Eradicate any that are listed as invasive aliens (which includes ryegrass!), and think about retaining native species.
We are currently "reviving" our Nature Area. The public for the longest time actually did not want the parks department to touch it since it should be a left a "natural" area. Unfortunately, this was more harmful than good for the park. It is completely carpeted with non-native invasives like Japanese honeysuckle and Chinese privet which is crowding out any small tree saplings, flowers, or other native plants from having a chance. It is a huge undertaking of trying to restore it to a native setting without harming the desireable native plants. Our local birders were very cautious to let us do anything, but I think they finally understood that bringing the native plants back will be better for the birds. They said they do not want it to look like a freshly mowed park, which it won't. There are many great sources like the Audubon Society and the Nature Conservancy that helped us form a plan of action that was good for the whole. We held several public meetings for input so if there was anyone who had suggestions or concerns we were able to address them. I say all of this as a word of caution. There might be some wildlife or plant life that if altered, you might have some organizations that might frown? I think it is great you and your neighbors are ambitious about the restoration. Just make sure to look at the whole situation other than just for aesthetic reasons. Maybe consult with your local wildlife officer to see if they find anything or any reason you might have some backlash. Good Luck!
Hi Parker, is there a chance that using a lawn weed spray to kill all the horsetail, thistle, dandelions, and braodleaf weeds in that area? This will allow all the grasses to stay green and survive and not make it look so much like it was just nuked. Then run a lawn mower over it and you may end up with a nice lawn. A quick easy cut might fit into there budget down the road. Hard to say without seeing it, but I may be able to help you out with a quick spray come late spring when I am set up for this. Any chance of a picture of the area? Jim.
