The regular blue grama forms a 6" tall to 12" wide tight tuft. The stems are very thin and stiff with those little eyelashes on top, a see through deal. They go dormant if it gets dry in summer but then green up if it rains. I sort of like the wheat color myself though as a color and mine are usually a mix of wheat and green in summer. Its short enough to be used as a lawn with no mowing unless you want to cut off the seeds for a lawn look. 'Blonde Ambition' is one I haven't tried but wantanamara said it blooms heavily all summer for her, she's got harsher, more challenging soil conditions than me. I especially like blue grama here and there on the borders but honestly, I don't have a problem with grasses spilling over onto the edge of the sidewalk and I think yours look good in spite of being a bit soggy in that photo. Lucky people are getting rain, we are still in the 80's and bone dry here. wah. I have lots of plants that spill over and onto the sidewalk somewhat and I like the ones that come up in the cracks too. Each year I intentionally put seeds in the cracks, it makes a natural more wild prairie look which is what I am wanting. I did have to take out 2 sideoats grama on the slope that goes downhill toward the sidewalk. It stands straight up but as the plant increases in diameter by year 3 they tend to lean downhill on the side toward the sidewalk, its so tall its a bit much and I didn't like the way it looked. I replaced them with 'Blue Heaven' bluestem and massed a couple areas elsewhere. They don't do this when growing on the flat ground, there they stand straight up. I love those. They are the fastest to reach mature size of all the native grasses I've planted. Thats a blue grama in the corner and a smaller volunteer close by. I don't get lots of volunteers, just a few. This is good because its not a long lived grass and it replaces itself nicely.

lol... the "seeds in my compost are sprouting" reminded me. The first year I started composting, I already had a garden full of tomatoes. And the ones that the birds pecked, or went bad before the wife and I could eat (or give away)... well... I just couldn't let them go to waste, could I? So I diligently threw them into the compost piles. Fast forward to November or so. I was so happy to spread my first layer of yummy compost on the garden, and we had a nice week of temps in the upper 50s, lower 60's. One morning I looked out on the garden and thought I saw "peach fuzz"... turns out it was hundreds or thousands of tomato seeds sprouting. Of course, a killing frost a week or so later took care of them... but I had a moment of terror! :-) Oh right... that has nothing to do with this thread... I do what the others have said. Lots of newspaper w/ lots of bark on top works (fairly) well for me. :-)

We've had so much rain that I haven't been able to do much gardening until Friday and Saturday. Late last week we got a break -- three full days without rain. We've been averaging about an inch a day since we arrived in early July. Even after three days without rain, the ground was still saturated, and we got another half-inch this afternoon. However (and it's a big HOWEVER), we made full use of the sunshine and were grateful for it. I had contacted Sue Sill, the executive director of the La Cruz Habitat Protection Project, and she brought me some trees -- three Oyamel firs, the trees that the Monarchs roost in all winter -- and seven native pines. We got them all in the ground Friday and Saturday. They are tiny, but eventually they will provide some shade and high roosts for butterflies and birds. After planting the last four pines on Saturday morning, we took a hike up the ridge behind the house. I had intended to take only the camera, but Larry suggested taking along some collecting bags and a trowel. It was a great suggestion, because I found four types of flowering plants that I wanted to bring back for the butterfly garden. The only one I could identify was a begonia. All of the flowers were growing in profusion alongside a cow path, so I don't think I committed a crime against the environment by moving them a few hundred meters into my yard and away from danger of being trampled. Even better than the flowers today were the butterflies. Mexican Fritillaries and Texan Crescents danced from flower to flower just beyond the fence; three or four different species of Sulphurs attacked red tube-shaped flowers growing at one end of a mountaintop cornfield; a Gulf Fritillary floated over to investigate; and a Monarch (a big surprise this time of year) went by just above eye level, just passing through. The gigantic Tiger Swallowtails have been a little friendlier lately, but apparently I don't have any flowers yet that interest them. They come into the yard and wander around, but they don't stop. A pretty little hummingbird that has claimed possession of my lantana, but he's way too fast for me to get a picture. Mexican Fritillary Texan Crescent I have not identified the Sulphurs yet. They really like these red flowers. I dug up six. The flower is hard to see. The 2-foot flower spike grows out of a cluster of broad leaves like a tulip or a hyacinth. The flowers are pale yellow and shaped like 6-pointed stars. Only two or three flowers are open at a time. The seedpods and the leaves make me think this is a lily. A few ferns came up with the begonias, and I was happy to have them. The begonias I found are pale pink. About 10 days ago, we planted a pomegrante tree. I've been watching this bloom open. Spiderwort began blooming this week. It blooms in March or April in Alabama and is tall and rather leggy. Here, the plant is much more compact and robust. My prize find -- I noticed seedpods sticking straight up out of the top of what I was sure was a milkweed plant along the highway to Patzcuaro, and for two weeks I worried about how I was going to get my hands on them. In late July I saw the first fluff as we were driving by. Larry didn't hesitate or complain -- he just turned the car around and found a wide place on the shoulder to stop. I ran across the highway and found not one plant but three with mature seeds and I collected them all. The only thing I had to wrap them in was my checklist of stuff to bring to Mexico. I don't know the species of Asclepias, but maybe I can identify it once the seeds some up. geni

Thanks all. Jungle87, I have a better idea, why don't you come pull them and take all you want? Actually I've pulled most of the larger weeds, removed the top 1/2 to inch of soil (with the hope of removing more of the dratted feather grass seeds) and will now lay down landscape cloth (easier to get in quantity than newspaper - although I would prefer newspaper because it breaks down and adds something to the soil) and then lay 3-4 inches of shredded hemlock bark on top. That, I hope, will do the trick. Cheers!