My nasties are already burning up in the heat. I'm not sure anything could block my weeds. I am also on old, sandy pasture.

There is a geranium that will smother weeds. I can't think of the name, hopefully someone else can tell you. It can probably be a problem itself. Where I'm growing it I just pull it from around the base of roses and I'm glad to have it. A friend with a terrible weed problem told me it even smothered Fireweed.

I have a Cambridge geranium (lavender blue) that really smothers weeds and spreads effectively but not unmanageably. Lovely flowers in May-June to complement the roses, nice foliage over a very long season, and fall color too. It stays about 9" high and will drape over raised beds.

I've tried everything. I do have to get new mulch. Most of ours was swept away in the flash floods a few weeks ago. Of course the weeds are doing great this year with all the rain.......

Creeping time works well, too, but I spend some time keeping it clipped back from the roses. It looks a tangle in the winter, but you have to plant it only once.

I completely understand! Where my current house was built in 2001, it was also hay hayfields and cattle ground. I have a terrible time with weeds every year, but this year has been the worst due to the wet winter and spring. I know when we move to the new house, its going to start all over again, since that ground was also hay and cattle fields. Its just a cycle that doesn't end.

Tammy

Sometimes I've put down cardboard and a thick coat of mulch to try to kill weeds. If I kept up the mulch eventually it seemed to kill the weeds, unless it was bermuda grass. Then forget it.

This post was edited by harborrose on Sun, Jun 16, 13 at 21:22

Nepeta does a great job of weed smothering around here. I love that stuff.
Susan

I remember reading years ago that the average cubic yard of soil in SoCal contains over thirty-thousand weed seeds naturally. Some require a fire to germinate. Some require as little light as that which would be received should you pull up a weed on a full moonlit night. Many require virtually no water to germinate.

I've also read where man made, hybrid Bermuda grass seed has been collected from the Jet Stream over the Pacific. Not naturally occurring Bermuda seed, but man created hybrid seed. They blow in on the wind; drop in via bird poop; are dropped by visiting wildlife; come in on the fur of visiting animals and your clothes as well as falling off the bottoms of your shoes after you've visited somewhere else where they grew. If you have a lawn service, they haul in thousands of weed and grass seeds on their shoes, equipment and the bottoms of their mowers.

Here, the only way to stay on top of them is to bury them under thick, frequently replenished mulch. I grind and shred every limb I cut of everything (other than the few remaining oleanders, the peppers and Ca. Black Walnut). Fortunately, I have the world's supply of bougainvillea and a nice stand of Golden Bamboo, both of which make great mulch. I've just about finished removing decades of Banksiae out front which had grown up over the garage roof. Per the recent interaction with the LAFD, next year that Banksiae on the roof will be outlawed, so I got a jump on it. Banksiae also shreds nicely, making a wonderful, lasting mulch due to how woody the canes are. Kim

We are getting a rain shower now so I have been steeling minutes poking around the website you shared.
Monet has been a love of mine for many decades.
Thank you.
Jeannie

We are getting a rain shower now so I have been steeling minutes poking around the website you shared.
Monet has been a love of mine for many decades.
Thank you.
Jeannie

In regards to Pamela's comment...Geranium oxonianum smothers everything in it's path but is dangerous. I started with one plant and now have it everywhere and it's very tenacious although drought tolerant and a pretty flower.

Diane

I've read that black nightshade seed can remain viable in the soil for up to 10 years. Shudder. We are not the rulers of the planet!

Ann

Great idea borrowing a little French wisdom! My aunt planted "nasty urchins" for both color and weed control. She was an art teacher, so perhaps in her studies she was exposed to photos of the Giverny walkways. I love it that the rambling nasturtiums were Monet's happy accident!

My biggest smothering covers include Veronica 'Georgia Blue,' Viola 'Queen Charlotte,' those aforementioned hardy geraniums, culinary sage, sweet woodruff, and lady's mantle. Euonymous 'Emerald Gaiety' is also effective.

Carol