You could cover with black plastic for a couple of weeks.

You don’t need the round up. Just smother the grass with layers of newspaper (better than cardboard), wet it, and top with wood chips, which can easily be obtained for free from tree companies. The grass roots will continue to hold the soil. In spring plant your new groundcover through the paper. Hand remove the occasional weed that will pop up in the mulch. It has worked easily for me on large steep slopes.

We have a weekend country property on some land. The lawn near the road has a sudden drop about 1’-1.5’, can’t mow there. Using Round Up is an easy way out. I have tried newspapers plus straw in my new rose garden there, was trying to go organic way, the grass and groundcover somehow got through the layers, they’re all over the place.....,have to look into free wood chips from tree companies. It might work in my rose gardens.......

To me this use of roundup is malpractice. The only defensible use is surgical application to individual plants or - as a last resort- a one time application to rid an area with persistent weeds in preparation for planting. You need to plant a groundcover you can live with.

I guess everyone has a different view in Roundup. Not against yours, but it works for me in my case. :-)

Hey Kitasei, by any chance do you know how to kill this groundcover? It’s all over one of my rose gardens, I have tried roundup ( brush on the leaves). It worked for a short while on a few I tested on, and then came back. May be I should try it again during the winter months while the roses are bare.

We don't want to hijack Jennifer's post, but to answer your question, Summer, I can't see the weed in your picture. Take a close up and post it on Name this Plant and you'll get a fast, accurate answer. And the answer is what you need before choosing an eradication strategy. I wonder if I understood how you were using roundup above. I though you were routinely eliminating a strip of grass with roundup but you are talking about weeding around roses? Either way, there is a better way. Let us help!