Those flowers are so pretty in the spring, but extremely aggressive. I have not had them growing in my St. Augustine lawn, but had them in the garden once. I pulled them out because they were really getting out of hand. If the St. Augustine grows into a nice thick lawn, it will probably choke them out, but it would be best to try to pull as many as you can.

What if you just mowed them after they stop blooming?

Yes, that's what we did last year (mowed them). In the summer I tried pulling out as many as possible b/c it didn't seem like they were going away and they seemed to be crowding out grass (but our grass wasn't too healthy last year; we only gave fertilizing one feeble attempt). They seem to spred under the surface, which makes them very hard to pull. :( I'm torn, because I love the blooms. I just don't think they are going to be good for my grass as time goes on.

Denise, do you have any tips on getting them up successfully? Each time I've tried pulling one, I've usually broken it off at the roots. I guess now that we've gotten a lot of rain it would be easier since the ground is wet.

Why don't you just focus on your grass, since that sounds like what you want to really shine, and if the blooms can find a spot then fine. If not, well you have the lawn you wanted. I bet the primrose will hang on around the edges and sneak up on you when you don't expect it.

We have the exact same problem, lindseyrose, and the same dilemma. I am obsessive about playing in the dirt, so DW takes advantage of that and "sics" me outside, like an attack dog, to go after pests like primrose and nutsedge. Our only difference in this is that our EP colony is only in our backyard. I would use Roundup and a rototiller if that stuff ever invaded our front yard.

We have no excuses; we have been lazy about controlling our primroses - and, like the lovers of wildflowers we generally are, we have been paralyzed into inaction for too long when not lazy, mesmerized by the flowers. So the grass has declined for several years, while the EP has gobbled up more and more of the yard.

I'll probably just try digging up the primrose a little patch at a time, a day at a time. It would be no great loss to the lawn - at least, not to the ever-diminishing part we want to keep in St. Augustine. That's because the turf is so weak in the spots where the primrose is growing, we may as well start over anyway.

If I were you lindseyrose, I would not count on a healthy St. Augustine turf to crowd-out your primroses.

:*( This is what I need to hear, stitches. When you say, "we have been paralyzed into inaction for too long when not lazy, mesmerized by the flowers" that describes me exactly. Well, I'm going to have to get out there soon and start knocking them out systematically. I think it will mean lots and lots of hands and knees weed-pulling...

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Want to hear something really,really sad? I'm TRYING to get Evening Primrose to take over my lawn/hell strip and it wont! Darn stubborn flowers just wont cooperate!PJ

pj--I wish I could give you mine. I feel sad at the thought of trashing all of them but it looks like I have no choice. I wish they were isolated in my hell strip, but there are none there. :( I don't think they transplant so I doubt I will try that.

Anything that takes over grass and is native is fine by me, but Primrose takes over everything. I yank as much of it out as I can each year, cause it want's to hide my lower growing perennials, but I still have enough to enjoy while it's blooming. It goes dormant in the summer, but comes back each spring.

PJ, maybe you don't abuse your's enough.

Sally

Here's a more recent picture...the flowers seem to spread by the day. The bottom of the photo is where the sidewalk edge hits the lawn, and the top of the photo is just below the walkway up to my door. I'm overwhelmed by them. I cannot possibly pull them as they are now, so I'm going to try some type of broadleaf weed treatment the next chance I get (it's always about juggling child care). Suggestions, welcome, especially product names.

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OK! That's just not fair!!!! Yeah they're aggressive and I'd keep them away from the beds but I've got a ton of open space still. Look at those gorgeous pink flowers instead of a green square! I know...I'm weird. I abuse the heck outta my grass. I scalp it,don't water it and never have fertilized or anything. All I get are dandelions and sow thistle for my trouble. (whine!)PJ

When they quit blooming, just mow them down. Some sort of tiny black beetle always chews mine up.
They are soooo aggressive. I have them in the vegetable garden area that are about two feet tall. I am "skeered" to walk through them.
My yard man beings me other folks' bags of leaves and I will cover them with paper and a thick layer of leaves.

ntvtexn--that's weird that yours are so tall and mine are very low to the ground. The don't stand up 6 inches, even.

I have been keeping my eye out for these primroses/pink ladies/buttercups growing wild in ditches and fields, just out of curiosity. I haven't seen a colony as big as mine since they started blooming this year. I guess my lawn is the perfect environment in some way for them. LOL I hate that they seem to encourage other weed growth like thistles, clover, that sticky stuff, false strawberry, etc. It just looks like an unkempt pasture. It's embarassing because everyone seems to be chemically fertilizing their lawns. Suddenly everyone's lawn looks like an emerald carpet. I'm green with evny, even though I want to stay organic!! I wish there was a way to have both the beautiful flowers and a healthy lawn. I know what those of you turf-haters mean, though. My friend down the street has put in a TON of work and put in a lot of gorgeous beds and a deck out back and consequently removed most of her turf. But I can't snap my fingers and have that. It takes years, and money. Hopefully I will be able to do little by little to make things better...but it seems sometimes like little by little isn't enough for crazy Texas weeds! They're taking over!! (doesn't help that the yard next door is completely neglected).

It really doesn't take long or cost much to convert from grass to garden beds. Especially using the lasagne method.

1998
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I had sod installed April 2004.

First the paper and mulch.
March 2005

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Spring 2005 You can see the "new" fence and rocks up by the porch, under the trees.

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Spring 2006

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Two weeks ago.

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Last week

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Are you going to plant in that area? How long does it take for the roofing material to break down? BTW, your flowerbeds are beautiful and your dogs are just toooo cute!

As far as the Evening Primrose ... I have a thick and healthy St Aug front lawn, and the EP still made themselves right to home. They do go dormant when the heat comes, though, so I try my best to enjoy their beauty and ignore their scraggly "weedy" look.

Carla in Rowlett

Yes, I am planning on planting there. I will cut through the paper to plant. It takes 6 months to a year for the paper to break down. It depends on the amount of rain and water.
I can't imagine life with out flowers and dogs. A friend used to say if dogs aren't allowed in heaven, I am not going. We buried her dogs ashes with her.

This is the first March in my place. I have a few EP under a tree. Wow! I didn't know what they were, but I love them. Now that I know they are so aggressive, I still love 'em. Hoping they will choke out some of the dang grass burrs. I really don't care if I have any "lawn."

I feel your pain, lindseyrose. Our patch of EPs last year looked almost identical to yours. (Nice photo.) And there's the rub: we like how they look, but in our hearts, we want a LAWN where they are. Our EPs are just beginning their show. Ours would have bloomed sooner but I mowed low a week or so ago. Time to mow again.

It's getting hot, to where I really don't want to have to dig up the EPs, not even a little patch at a time. Meanwhile onward they spread. What little St. Augustine we want to keep is getting overrun. Our only consolation is that our nutsedge infestation is as bad or worse than the EPs: all the foliage, and no flowers!

I guess a few of us are just "desperado gardeners" (from an old song by the Eagles) - the only (yard) beauty we want is the kind that we can't get. The EP grows best where we most desire for it not to, & never grows where we want it to. That's reason to call EP a WILDflower.

The lasagna idea might work if you want to go that way. We set up some great flower beds with the lasagna technique. Good luck with your primroses!

Gorgeous Natvtxn! I really like your helpers! PJ

Sooo the lasagne method is what??

I've updated, with photos, here:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/txgard/gal031453078547.html

I still have thousands in the yard, but I have pulled a few hundred or so. I'm going to keep trying to get as many out by the root as possible.

Here Michelle
jolana

Here is a link that might be useful: lasagne gardening

Thank you Jolana, that makes much more sense now!

Regarding the lasagne method, what I wonder is how it would change the flow of water and drainage on my lot. We are in a subdivison with close lots and already the drainage in my back yard is bad. It is supposed to all flow toward the street and out into the ditch but it slows down and stands in my side yards. i can't see how building up the grade of my front yard dramatically (from what I can tell at the link, we are talking about many inches in height) would help my drainage issues. Secondly, I've read again and again not to build raised beds around the base of trees. Still, all my neighbors do it. But I don't want to, because I don't want to risk harming the trees.

I did do some layered-bed building today in a small spot of my yard--I put in a banana tree by the side fence. If we get the thunderstorms as predicted tomorrow, we will see how it does. Today when I watered it after planting, the composted humus I spread over the newspaper turned into soggy mush.