Here is a good weed control groundcover I just read about. Keep the existing plants and plant the Phlox on both sides of the sidewalk. I added brick stepping stones to my curb strip so plants don't get trampled.

https://www.housedigest.com/2189615/ground-cover-not-hostas-woodlander-lilac-phlox-control-weeds/

To kill the creeping charlie --- you can smother it. The best technique is weed barrier covered with mulch. Boring for a year, but effective. Then, you fill the bed, which is small.

Colorful is a mix of perennials. I'd be sure to have some coneflower. The phlox recommended below is a hybrid of a phlox I like to recommend --- creeping phlox. You may need to weed it occasionally, though.

That said, you could do mulched azaleas, keep them dense and mulched and weeds won't be too big a problem. They come in different sizes, colors and bloom times.

I think the azaeleas might suffer in the west exposure though the color would be welcome in spring Getting ahesd of myself, i thought about dirvilla (sp) Dd loved the allium, the echs did great, somehow the veronicas did well even came up and bloomed through the weeds. Most planting from the bed installed two years ago are lost.

It is hot here. Oppessive. Why I never went home to Baltimore in summer.

1. Dig up what you want to keep and place in pots for the summer.

2. Cut the shrubs you want to kill as low as possible and paint with full strength Round Up.

3. Spray the bed with Round up and cover with cardboard. Cover cardboard with pine straw. It won’t wash away like mulch when it rains.

Place pots back in bed, on top of pine straw, maybe with a few other annuals in pots.

4. Replant in fall when cooler.

This will give time to research what to plant and will get rid of the weeds.

Yes, Sherry. i was on my way to your recs but trying to avoid buying roundup which comes in big containers.

thanks for bringing back to cardboard. Didnt wan want buy a lot of black plastic or cloth for so small an area.

good idea- pine straw - nice looking too. just to be sure you mean pine needles?

You can get Round up here in small ready to spray bottles.

Do not use black plastic or landscape cloth. Weeds just go up through and sprout down and make a worse mess.

Yes, pine needles.

An alternative view. Since the bed is small and confined by concrete I'd ignore the Creeping Charlie. Call it a flowering ground cover and plant through it. Leave the healthy hostas, Iteas and day lilies and add more in a balanced arrangement. (This could be done by division). Tidy up the porch. Remove all the plastic bits and pieces. Use a string trimmer to go over the Charlie periodically. Plant spring bulbs.

NB Containers are much more work than in ground plantings as is regular mulching.

I like Floral’s idea of creeping charlie ground cover!

Poke weed is easy to pull when small, after it gets big, just cut down and paint with roundup like a tree or shrub.

Yes, i see the benefits of this idea.

You’ll have to convince me to keep the Itea. Seems to me it will keep sprouting further and further out and someones got to keep cutting it back.

Howevever letting things be would sure make short work of the clean up.

so Im thinking……

please give me an idea of ’balancing it out’ looks like. ( it was more balanced when the ecinacae and annuals were alive a couple of years ago)

Googled, AI overview.

How do you take care of an Itea plant?AI Overview+7Caring for an Itea plant (commonly called Virginia Sweetspire) is generally easy and low-maintenance. These versatile shrubs thrive in moist, well-draining soil and can handle both full sun and heavy shade. The plant requires minimal pruning—only after it blooms—and is rarely bothered by pests or deer. YouTube·HortTube with Jim Putnam +4Caring for an Itea involves a few simple steps:

• Sunlight: Itea adapts to almost any light condition, from full sun to heavy shade. However, for the most prolific blooms and the brightest, deep red fall foliage, plant or place it where it receives 4 to 6 hours of direct sunlight daily. YouTube·HortTube with Jim Putnam +2

• Watering: These plants are famous for their love of moisture and can even tolerate wet, swampy soils. Once established, they can handle dry spells, but they perform best with even, consistent moisture.

  • Pro-Tip: The plant will let you know if it's too dry; interior leaves will turn their vibrant fall colors months ahead of schedule. Proven Winners +2

• Soil & Fertilizer: They prefer rich, humus-heavy, slightly acidic to neutral soil, but they adapt beautifully to heavy clay. Apply a balanced, slow-release fertilizer in early spring, or after it finishes blooming, to promote larger size and heavy flowering. Proven Winners +3

• Pruning: Itea blooms on "old wood" (growth from the previous season). To avoid cutting off the next year's flower buds, only prune or shape the shrub immediately after it finishes flowering in the summer. You can prune up to one-third of the plant's height if you need to control its size. Hawks Landscape, Inc. +2

• Managing Suckers: These plants spread through underground shoots (suckers), which is great if you want to cultivate a naturalized thicket or hedge. If you prefer a tidy, solitary shrub, simply cut away the base suckers with a sharp spade once a year. YouTube·Knox County Master Gardeners +

There is this thing called a lawnmower. Regularly applied, it can take out practically anything, and is easy to use. I HIGHLY recommend it as a quick and practical way of bringing order. Since someone is mowing the hellstrip, it isn't a much bigger job to mow part to all of the front yard. So figure out how much bed is maintainable. Plant that area fairly densely, then get some mulch and edging. Run the lawnmower over the rest.

no one mows the hellstrip. it is beat down by the constant foot traffic of people getting in and out of their cars.

Point taken, though. The back yard is mostly dirt and mud (dog, kids, hoses, mudpies) so I dont lnow where they use the mower or even if it works.

That's why I suggested a strimmer. Much easier to get in amongst the plants and light to carry out to the front of the house.

I saw one …. ill see if it works. Never used one; never too late to learn.

What about lantana? I like the pink and yellow one. They are a tender perennial, treated as an annual here. Butterflies love them.

Wear goggles and good footwear. Easy to operate.

I prefer my hand grass clippers for a small area.

4.5-in Forged steel Grass Shears https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fiskars-4-5-in-Forged-Steel-Grass-Shears/1001459966

Yes, shears would work fine too if OP is ok with crouching and working at ground level. A strimmer just lets you do the job standing up.

How about a completely different option for a busy single Mom who doesn't have time to maintain a garden...dig out or kill EVERYTHING. Lay down some pavers, get a very large pot and fill with easy annuals for seasonal color. All she would need to do is throw a jug of water on the pot every day or two, and she could use her artistic brain to decorate the rest of the space. (Like, lawn chair with the skeleton perched on it next to the pot, with a bottle of beer or whatever )

You nailed it! Ill show her your suggestion. when it was suggested she get rid of plastic bits, i thought it was unrealistic. She has a a eight and six year old; plastic bits are the foundation of life.

The (plastic)skeleton was previously adorned with gardening gloves & holding a gardening fork until I needed the gloves. ( BTW a Christmas present not intended for the skeleton’s use)

Referring to the skeleton, “that’ll be the day I want to weed a garden”

No pavers. She'll just have to strim those, so it's easier to just skip that part.

when I forwarded that idea, I added ” you still need to weed the cracks”

A 10 x 7 piece of land is massive for someone who doens't like to garden and is a single mom. I feel her pain.

- Plant massive rhodadendron in back that take up at least 1/3 of the space. They should be evergreen in Lancaster, though ask around.

- Plant some pee wee hydrangea in front of them that take up another third.

- Then in the final 1/3 put down some large schist pavers that will kill anything beneath them. Some kind of big stone pieces native to PA. I be she could get some salvaged ones. If she or the kids ever feel the urge to plant, they can put some pots on the pavers with annuals.

kendrah, I appreciate your understanding the situation. The last thing I want to do is make more work for her. The next to last thing is leave something ugly for her to look at. She already feels bad that the garden we made 3 years ago is gone (“I had no idea it could happen so fast”)

Aint that the truth? Haven’t we all had the experience of a very short period of neglect growing an astonishing amount of weeds?

Not very different than neglecting housework. Still Id rather be weeding than cleaning.

I bought a lovely pair of Japanese grass shears years ago, before RA, swollen knuckles and sore shoulders. I should display them. Too sharp for a paperweight.

Trying to put down pavers is just more weeding in the cracks. Something that is neat, attractive and no care. Something that is aggressive would compete with any weed trying to establish itself. Vinca is a great choice there because it would be surrounded on all sides by concrete and a building. Small spring bulbs, like crocus, snow drops, dwarf daffs, would grow up through it but the dying foliage would be minimal. Epimedium will grow up through the vinca and if you get those that are runners they can compete with the vinca. I have a whole bed under a Maple with this combo and I never touch it except water. Established it's pretty tolerant of minimal water. You could also throw a few Ghost or Japanese Painted Fern along the porch edge.

And it's a simple plan. Cut back everything close to the ground, round up and replant. Add enough mulch to wait out the vinca filling the bed. Even if there is a little stump from an Itea, the vinca will cover it up. And if you plant enough of the vinca and the epimedium it won't take long to fill in. I have never used RoundUp, so I don't know how effective it is. Wondering if you could just hire someone to dig everything out? Wouldn't take long.

Alternatively you could plant one tree and add cardboard and mulch, maybe with some kind of raised edging to hold it in place and keep it off the walkways. Not a lot of work to add two bags of mulch once a year. Pressure wash the steps and walkway and you're all set. I might even just take a brush and dish soap to the steps and then just hose it down.

I made a quick look for a good photo of that bed and I have a few but I couldn't find them. I found a couple but they don't show it at it's best.

This is only two epimedium coming up through the Vinca. I want to add more, just haven't had the time. And this comes back every year and blooms without attention.

The Dark foliage epimedium turning red in Fall.

Just an example of some that have pretty foliage.

I have other photos with the bulbs coming up in spring. If I find any I'll post.

Thanks, PM, for the time you took to write this. If i could figure out how to get them here, i personally have enough vinca, epimedium, and geranium macrorizzom to carpet a stadium.

It's worth noting hostas will smother most weeds and they are thugs that will survive with little watering. And they are fairly cheap. You could do a mixed hosta bed and probably that would do the trick. They come in different sizes, shapes and shades of green and white.

Georgian revival · More Info

Vinca is invasive in Pennsylvania.

Invasive Plant Fact Sheets | Department of Conservation and Natural Resources| Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

This morning, I spent an hour walking around the neighborhood looking at the gardens. I think Ill dig up and relocate what is worth saving. Kill the rest. cardboard, mulch. find a big inexpensive pot or two and plant that with colorful plants she likes. Clean the edges, and

when i get home, ill grow on divisions of sun tolerant hostas I have.

I am going to check into this.

https://www.arbico-organics.com/product/weedguardplus-weed-inhibitor/natural-organic-weed-control

You could start by dividing the very healthy hosta which is already there.

Yes of course

they are huge. Too bad the west sun is harsh. i have some fine blues that would not miss a few eyes. Or enjoy them for a few months intl the melt to green .

oncape

you sre so right that edging distracts from a multitude of shortcomings. i can hear my landscaping teacher saying ”clean up the edges.!”

we found some good looking pots at Ollies, a huge version of Ocean State Job Lot. Cheap stuff. I give them 2 seasons which is enough time for the gardener to adjust her attitude to plant care. She may decide concrete with urns is her style.

Roundup is coming in the morning. we have pots, almost enough cardboard, almost enough mulch, we.ll use the hosta s we have, and pick some goodlooking tough annuals. Petersons soluable, shoot i forgot the spring rake.

thank you everyone for helping us get started on this project. I needed the knowledgeable companionship. I did not need to be the guru who strives for perfectionI; just needed to get a job done and we are on the way.

it is a work in progress so if you have more ideas please send them on.

marie

oncape - I love your ideas! And all the photos are inspiring as well. I would highly recommend Pennisetum 'Hamelin' as a very well mannered grass. And I love the idea of Hostas in large containers. But don't they have to be more cold hardy to winter over in them?

Hamlin is , i agree , a ptetty grass.

nhowever , it is not very high, is it? i saw some miscanthis in gardens near here’ way too big and a lot to cut back, prone to flopping, Im partial to Karll Forster but it was not hardy i 6a or there was some other problem.

i have to educate myself about plants that are hardy here. Im still ignorant.

A well chosen ground cover would solve all the problems. For years I've used and given people starts of either Geranium maccrorrhizum (for shade) or the slightly lower G. 'Karmina' or G. Biokovo' for sun. Tough plants that are semi evergreen, easy to grow even in very poor soil, need virtually no care, as weed suppressing as it gets, highly deer resistant, attractive and flowering now, and spread but not aggessively and are easy to control.

Perfect groundcover for someone with little time or interest in gardening. And very attractive.

Yes, Marie, 'Hamelin' is about a foot high. No, it might not be as tall as other grasses, and you'd probably want a variety of grasses, some taller, I just suggest 'Hamelin' be one of them because of the consistency of it's attractiveness and the ease of care. I've tried other grasses and found them messier or harder to care for. Grow too big and harder to dig out, etc. Hamelin is very manageable.

I also have G. Karmina and Bokovo and love them. They also bloom together and complement each other pale and bright colors. The foliage also turns red in fall sometimes. I agree with everything laceyvail said. :-)

My thoughts had moved away from groundcovers but i know perennial geraiums very well. i used ” Spessart” and a magenta one to cover an entire hill side. I think Kamina and Bivoko are lovely but dont spread sny where near as fast.

I wanted to come back to the idea of pavers, which some folks commented as a maintenance headache. Below is a pic of a portion of my 14 yo DIY paver patio. It has NEVER needed strimming or roundup or any other weedkiller. What it does need is a proper base, and polymeric sand to lock down the joints. Every few years I need to power wash and reapply polymeric sand. This was our first paver project, it is 12 x 24 in total. There were some mistakes made but still it is wearing well and I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you want fewer joints use larger stones. Nothing wrong with trying to make it a garden, I just wanted to give another idea as I stated in my first post.

(And yes, I need to power wash this year 😉)

ok the skeleton with a beer might be my fav garden idea ever lol

we did basically the same thing on a lil bed at our place once we gave up fighting it. cut everything down, cardboard, mulch and that was it. honestly the cardboard worked way better then i expected, smothered most of the junk and bought us time to figure out what we actually wanted there.

for a busy single mom i really think the big pot is the move. a whole bed is just a guilt machine when your working two jobs but one pot you can keep up with, just throw some water at it and let her swap stuff out seasonally. her artsy side will prob have fun with that too

anyway sounds like you got a solid plan going, shes lucky to have you out there elbow deep in pokeweed for her

The skeleton appeared yet again! Not my idea of garden art but they gey a kick out of it, so who am i to say? my private counsel to self: shut up, say notjing, ask permissiom to give opinions. DD has never said exactly that, but the same message. So i just love that skeleton.

Her9 year old son asked where the trees went when we cut back the clethra to the ground.?

DD now has a tree on her mind. We can still do pots but off on a whole new search.