I took pictures but they're way overexposed - will try again. We have two sod cutters - Ryan and Jason. They're amazing - when they get their teeth into a project. Almost comatose when they don't. Bahia, you've expressed my concerns but I still couldn't see any alternative. What we have now is low mounds of flipped over overlapping sods arranged toward the back of the bed, among the shrubs there. We'll round out the mounds with topsoil, and then place among them the largest rocks the boys can move, and plant woodland groundcovers - we have a pretty generous budget for plants. Also try to establish some moss. The way I see it, grass is a perennial pest anyway (although no worries here about invasive species like Bermuda). So we'll deal with it as it rears its head - which it will do more than if we'd turned all the sod, but that seemed too daunting a task to tackle manually. The lawn that's left we'll try smothering under fine sawdust topped with eelgrass - a good natural lawn-killer. One of my favourite books is Landscaping with Nature by Jeff Cox (Rodale Books). He reinforces this idea with his description of Rock and Berm Designs p. 32 It is a fun project, Wellspring. Really a dream job.

You mentioned that the garden has landscape cloth right now. It is possible that the cloth may have killed off the weeds that were growing there prior to it being placed. You may have some seeds in the soil still that could germinate, but it shouldn't be that big of an issue. I'd just go ahead and plant a quality seed mix if you're looking to go cheap and have limited time. Any weeds that pop up shouldn't be a problem to pull in the first growing season with it being such a small area. If you do want to invest in quality plants that will establish quickly and give you blooms quicker you can buy plants that are already growing in pots. If you space them correctly you should be able to do this for a little over $100. It can be a major time saver and you will be able to identify which plant is which right off the bat. Many native plants are simple to divide too and you can fill in any spots that look bare the following year with the plants you've selected. Also, planting seed mixes that contain grasses during the Spring will lead to the area being dominated by grasses. If you are set on planting seeds, make sure that you don't a ton of grass seed in the mix. If you were to plant it in Fall it wouldn't be that much of an issue. If I were you I would leave all grass seed out and only use nursery grown or wild-collected grasses. This will allow you to control where and how much grass develops in the area. Big Bluestem and Indiangrass look great in small areas if there are only a few plants. Too much of them and in 4-5 years it will be all that youll have growing in there unless you use control measures on a regular basis.

This thread was 'shared' with the Cottage Garden, and is wonderful. First of all, Pondlily and daughter - congrats!!! What I wanted to share with you was a tradition I remember from somewhere, that the flowers of the Mother's garden were used in the Bride's tussy mussy - her bouquet. They were then rooted to grow in the new Bride's home...hope you don't mind the interruption~~ Nancy. Here is a link that might be useful: Tussy Mussy's

Thank you for all of the suggestions! I'm located in the far southwest corner of Ohio; west of Cincinnati. Since the area has been clear-cut and re-vegetated numerous times, it was hard to gather information on what is actually "native" vs. what grows in nearby regions. Pre-European settlement, the area was a beech-maple forest and according to stories, had some of the last giant beech trees before being logged for timber. Not that I'm going to make any meaningful impact on my 0.14 acre plot; but the romanticized idea of restoring a small portion of the area to its former glory is too nagging to pass on. I don't have room to plant a beech tree, but I have a hickory and a serviceberry and would like to restore some of the historic understory offerings to birds and pollinators. PS - I did move my Joe Pye weed to occupy a small portion of the spot in question. This post was edited by NKUSigEp on Wed, Oct 9, 13 at 16:35