Well well, I think this topic is very interesting. First comment: "cultivated" plants? Hmm, does this mean that our trend to planting NATIVE PLANTS is in for troubles? Or do we have to "poodle-ize" them to keep them in urban yards? If you were asked to have your garden/property on a garden tour, do you still have the letter or request available? Is there an environmental judge in Bham? There is one in Mobile. I think you could present a good case. I have been on the Keep Mobile Beautiful Commission as an appointee for the 4th district, and will in fact resign tomorrow to devote more time to my Katrina-damaged property. But two years ago I went through this same problem with the City department enforcing such laws here. Someone had turned me and another environmental activist in to them. In my case, I had things piled on my carport and lawn ready to have a yard sale that weekend. They didn't mention the Lady Banks and passion flower covering my carport, or the Carolina jessamine on the front fence. In my friend's case, the inspector had to drive down a 400 foot long driveway to see anything at all. Nothing ever came of the two warnings, by the way. I expect the police assigned to this have no gardening experience at all. You might inquire of the personnel board, which hired and assigned them, what the job description is for holding their job. What kind of training are they given after being hired. Perhaps they are not really "police" but are "armed officers." In Mobile they do carry guns, but are part of Urban Development. One thing possible is to involve the newspaper. Write a letter to the editor or ask the gardening editor if they've encountered any complaints about this new division of the government. Ask if the gardening editor would be interested in devoting a week or so to explaining how to avoid citations. In our work with Keep Mobile Beautiful, some of our projects run amuck when folks fear that plantings darken walkways, and will allow criminals to hide in the bushes. But on private property I submit that a land owner has a right to define beauty and select plants s/he likes unless prohibited by deed or association laws. The English cottage garden does not have much real LAWN space, so what about them?.... What is going on in Bham these days? Will it become the next STEPFORD?

The closer to the urban areas you get the more regulations there are. A mile from my house are some environmentally protected lands with houses on them. Construction permits and the like have to pass one more hurdle before approval. No doubt felling a hill full of trees is supposed to require a permit. ***************** Certain lands in my county are zoned for residential, and commercial use. I believe commercial farming is another zoning option. It's my belief the amount of plant and insect killing chemicals farmers use forces this as well as assuring SOME land remains for farming not commercial, industrial, or residential. To change the way water flows around my yard also is regulated by the county. Some jerk in the past obviously directed his drainpipes towards his neighbors lol. More seriously, I can't direct drainage into my neighbor's yards and the like. So probably for the best the county would want to know about it if I intended to plant an acre of roundup ready corn and spray enough roundup to control the weeds then enough bug spray to control whatever bugs eat corn, then stop my drainage from entering Watkins creek so I could irrigate the corn over the summer w/o running my water constantly (boy would that stuff flood my neighbor out in the spring if I'm not good!), and they'd no doubt complain if my fertilizers of choice cause an algae bloom and fish kill in that before mentioned creek not to mention the water treatment plant. So yeah, governments regulate modern farming.

I think cardboard and or newspaper, then peastraw, then bark mulch like pine it naturally suppresses weeds, also this mainly suppresses the old weeds, some will naturally pop up in the mulch as it breaks down from any seeds or new running weeds from lawns or fence lines etc. I'm creating a brand new cutting flower bed in our orchard, trying to spray the woody weeds (different ones here in our country) and then a general spray possibly a few times a few weeks apart, then layering cardboard on the stubborn areas, thick newspaper on the others, then using some cut up branches from tree pruning, then peastraw, then compost, then rinsed off fresh kelp seaweed from our local beach, then bark mulch, leave it to break down over our mostly wet winter here. Then come spring after the last frost I'll begin planting out seedling started in trays. I'll have to maintain the weeding as we get a lot of wind, may try spot treatment dab on weed killers but see how we go. Because of our compacted clay soil the lasagne gardening style seems to work well. One think I found was running weeds tried to creep into the mulch so wil try to cut out large gutters and weed spray these. Then mostly I just dig blood and bone into the planting holes. Using leaf mulch around plant bases can work too. Lots of different methods I think it can depend on what you need. I found the weed suppressant mat wasn't permeable enough for water, in a heavy rain the mulch washed off areas since the water wasn't absorbed fast enough into the soil, and then weeds actually grew on top of it anyway from seed so a waste of money in my opinion. Try libraries for newspaper, and maybe a big white ware or electronics store for cardboard.

No point in having a conversation with someone who has an agenda which obviates any need to consider facts. Since you so obviously know so much about the state of Eucalytptus species infestation in the USA, which is in your view reason enough to avoid planting any Australian plant elsewhere than Australia because of the grave impacts on our local ecology, I will defer to your expertise and greater wisdom. Oh, by the way, did you neglect to register that I did mention the very species of Eucalyptus, both E. camaldulensis and E. globulus as being amongst the few that have weedy potential here in California? As to any Eucalyptus species ever having a chance in hell of becoming an escaped weed in someplace like Ohio, what is your supporting evidence beyond a Wikipedia citation? As to presuming that I have no experience with conserving native habitats or the issue of escaped exotics in the wild, you form this conclusion on the basis of what, exactly? Yet you continue to sidestep the very real issue of potential issue of gene pool pollution by mixing of selected "native" cultivars amongst local gene pools, and act as if this is a non-issue to consider. If you are going to walk the walk instead of just talk the talk, then "native" species should only be collected within their naturally occurring habitat for revegetation purposes, rather than planting out man selected cultivars from other parts of the plant's range, and often selected for their ornamental characteristics rather than those qualities that make them a good fit for their particular geographic range. As well, you failed to address the point I made about how planting out natives in already urbanized settings can not begin to replicate a fully functioning natural environment, the closest you can come is a facsimile, the original diversity of species is impossible to fully replicate. Therefore, as I stated before, it is more important, as well as more useful for the conservation of species diversity, to place more emphasis on preserving intact environments that remain, rather than play at recreating what was, in urban settings which have changed the hydrology, soil structures, sun and shade, etc, etc. Certainly no harm in promoting "native" plants for use in gardens, but to insist that only natives should be used is no more or less valid than other approaches. The only way you would actually convince me otherwise is if you did your homework, got off your soapbox, and addressed the points I raised in a logical manner, rather than resorting to bullying and name calling. I suppose that we also differ philosophically on the point of gardening and cultivating plants in general. I see landscape design as encompassing various methods with varied purposes. To the point that use of exotics does no harm to the surrounding "wild" landscape, what is wrong with appreciating plants much as an artist uses various paint colors, having a diverse palette to create beautiful effects. If...