Despite the original posters overly extensive post, with certain questionable content, the central point is still quite vaild. We as a nation spend more money on grass than on any other crop. That by itself should be reason enough. Read up on the history of lawns and you'll find that they were orginally created as a means of demonstrating wealth (aka, I have this big area and I can afford to do nothing with it except grow grass I can't eat) Regarding the comments of junegem13 and zachslc, you might want to read up on the legal history of this movement. As it turns out, most weed laws (ones based on hight, not on noxious weeds) are unconstitutional. Nonetheless, if you are in a city or subdivision and decide to do a wildflower meadow where there is not an reasonable ordinance, then you should notify your neighbors and the city about why you are doing and the legal preceedants. The EPA has all this information. Regarding property values, that was the original complaint neighbors made against one landowner when she converted her lawn into meadow. When they were unable to demonstrate an actual decrease in property values, the city ordinance was ruled unconstitutional. Afterwards, the neighbors decided if they couldn't beat her that they'd join her and replace their own yards with meadows. Property values in that one neighborhood are now some of the highest in the city (Specific names and places, are available if you want them). Time and time again, lawn alternatives done correctly have shown to raise values, not lower them. In Charlottesville, VA local government is working on an ammendment to exclude native meadows from our weed ordinance. Other cities are doing the same very quicky, especially since the weed ordinance as written by many localites constitutes a legal liability to local governments.

:) I'd totally go with a mix of sedums...they're easy to start from trimming, they take a great deal of abuse, and will survive anything the utilities can hand them. you can buy a single pot of 'autumn joy' at any garden shop, and there will be a dozen or so stems coming off the crown. break half of them off, snap off the leaves from the bottom 1/3 of the stem, and stick the stems in a tray of damp soil. set in the shade for a week, watering lightly if the soil dries out, and they will root. you now have 8 or so plants, plus the 'mother'. around here, you could go door to door, and have people HAND you plants they have come to find invasive- daylilies, artemesias, stachys (lamb's ear) and three or four kinds of low-growing sedums (also called stonecrop) which you could root in that area, and let the best plants win. I'm sure there are similar 'bullies' in your neighbors gardens. the ultimate bully, in my opinion, is a plant called 'yellow archangel' of the false lamium family. it's a pretty plant, invasive and fast spreading- takes sun, takes shade, takes an act of god to kill it, and you can abuse it, taboot. this isn't the time of year to be mailing plants to you- but I'd be more than happy to share some archangel with you once the weather breaks :)

2009 Tomato Season Report The season started off with late frosts and leafhoppers delaying the tomato plant out. May was rainy and cold and by the time the plants were in the ground it was the second week of June. The Sweet 100 plant is the only exception as it was planted around May 15th. June was very wet with a record 8" of rain and no days above 80*. July was still wet and cool with only a handful of days over 85*. August was a little drier but still fairly cool. September was much drier and warmer which got a lot of the tomatoes to flower but it was to late for fruiting. October started off dry and cool but then turned wetter with temps dipping down to 31*. Most of the tomatoes got hit with disease and frost damage after the cold spell. The last part of the month was warmer with temps in the 50's and 60's but several inches of rain brought a bad tomato season to an end well almost anyway. The sweet 100 plant still has a couple more tomatoes ripening on the vine. I had no late blight in my garden a little bit of early blight and at the end of the season septoria leaf spot started showing up. Brandy boy: - potato leaf, medium about 5-ft, average disease tolerance. No ripe fruit but it did eventually flower and produce a couple of tiny green fruit. They both Had severe cracking issues. Crack size: all the way in to the middle of the tomato. The cracking was partly do to uneven moisture but this variety was still very crack prone. Brandywine Sudduth's strain: - potato leaf, medium/tall 5-6-ft, had a several disease problems especially later in the season. No flowers or fruit. Overall very disappointing. Cuostralee: - Regular leaf medium/tall 5-6-ft, Not great disease tolerance but it was able to grow out of the disease. No ripe fruit but it did flower. Japanese Black Trifele: - potato leaf, short 3-4-ft, top of the plant broke in a windstorm. good disease tolerance but not great. first ripe fruit october 30th after ripening indoors for two weeks, 1 ripe fruit. Taste: Gel is sweet with a slight tang to it. The meat is very mild and a little bit bland but it has a faint smoky flavor to it. No problems with cracking. I saved seeds. Marianna's peace: - Potato leaf medium/tall 5-6-ft, good disease tolerance until the end of the season when both plants yellowed. No ripe fruit. both plants flowered . Neves Azorean Red: - regular leaf, medium height 4-5-ft. It did get shaded by the brandywine plant next to it. Average disease tolerance but it would probably do better with more sun. No ripe fruit. the plant didn't even flower probably partly do to the weather and partly do to the shade. Sweet 100: - regular leaf, tall 7-8-ft , average disease tolerance first ripe fruit mid August, ~ 45 ripe fruit. Taste: Sweet with good "tomato" flavor. size small about an inch in diameter. Looks. perfect round bright red tomatoes in clusters of 5-10. Only cracks when ripe fruit are left on the vine during rain. Crack size : Just the skin cracks open not the whole tomato.

Robert I think you're making an issue out of something that perhaps not many of the forum members think is an issue. There have been plenty of correspondants whose writings show that (like me) they enjoy growing exotics as well as natives. It's the "diversity = growing exotics" thing that is the sticking point. Growing exotics so often means just more of the world-wide sameyness of gardens. Like you, I see many interesting and beautiful gardens full of exotics, but I don't think they represent diversity. They look like so many pictures in so many books from so many parts of the world. Wouldn't it be fun to drive into an Australian town, look at the gardens, and say - well, here's a place where the gardens have CHARACTER! And it happens sometimes. For the most part, though, suburban gardens from one end of Australia to the other look much the same. And gardens in most parts of the western world are clearly planted by people who read the same books as we do. How disappointing I found it to walk down a suburban street in Germany and find that exept for their size, any of those gardens could have been in my home town. I saw a new daisy in the markets there, and wondered how long it would be before I began seeing it in Australian Gardens. (It was two months.) At least by growing natives (whether exclusively, or just by growing a few)- we are refusing to take part in the wholesale conversion of our landscape to something that could be anywhere in the world. Australian plants are so hugely diverse (especially if you move beyond the myrtaceae, proteaceae, and mimosaceae family members which are still the overwhelming majority of speces planted)that there is something for every style of gardening. Yes, there is a place for exotics. Surely that goes without saying. But this is a native plants forum, after all. And the introduded weeds issue is not just something for the old crusties. Here in SE Qld, an average of nine plants jump the garden fence and become naturalised every year. It's not just a matter of "what's here now is probably here to stay". It's that as a nation we are still refusing to take responsibility for a galloping environmental problem caused by an industry which refuses to take responsibility for it. And the industry is supported by many, many gardeners who think that "but I like it" is a good enough reason for putting in any plant they happen to take a fancy to. The assumption that anyone who sits up and takes notice of the disappearance of native species is some sort of bigoted "old crusty" who will "put people off" native plants is no help. Yes, there are old crusties in all walks of life, including gardeing, but the idea that the pro-native extremists are the only kind doesn't fit. Why should we be bending over backwards to protect the sensibilities of all those other "old crusties" - the ones who think that if a plant can't be found in a gardening magazine, and bought at a garden centre it must automatically be...