@dchall - thank you so much for the thorough response. I was thinking that no one was going to respond and was wondering where else to go for advice. I will follow your advice to the letter to include getting sod from Milburger’s. I’m very glad to hear that getting rid of this horse herb might be relatively easy with the product you recommended. Thanks again - much appreciated!

Glad to help. Apparently Houzz has made the decision that Firefox is not worth keeping up with, so I had to figure out Chrome just to log in.

What part of town do you live in? Maybe I can help you find some nurseries to shop at...besides Milburgers.

Also do you plan to fertilize with chemical fertilizers or organic? I can help with organics, too.

I noticed in your picture, in the lower right corner, there are some vestiges of grass blades. If those are St Augustine, and if you are patient, there might be some hope for the yard without resorting to new sod. If the stolons are still there under the horse herb, it might come back once the canopy of horse herb is gone and the Sun can see it again.

And here I was thinking that whatever that plant is, it looks darn good to me for San Antonio in August! Not being familiar with 'horse herb', I did a bit of research and it seems that this is a rather desirable lawn alternative for many Texas gardeners. It has a lot of attributes for your area so it may be worth considering leaving as is - drought tolerant, mostly evergreen, low maintenance. Seems as it tolerates foot traffic just as well as turf grasses.......And no herbicide usage required.

https://www.gardenstylesanantonio.com/plants/horseherb/

https://txmg.org/hendersonmg/plant-library/horseherb/

That’s horse herb, also known as straggler daisy (Calyptocarpus vialis), a common ground cover in Texas that can often be found in shaded or partially shaded areas. It is quite resilient and can survive in both dry and moist conditions, making it quite pervasive.

If you are looking to replace the horse herb with a traditional grass lawn, you would first need to clear the area. This could be done using a non-selective herbicide to effectively kill the horse herb, ensuring you apply it following the manufacturer’s instructions to avoid affecting other plants. After clearing the area, prepare the soil by tilling and amending it with compost to improve its fertility and structure, which will help the new grass seeds germinate and establish more effectively.

For planting in San Antonio, consider choosing a grass type suited to the hot, often dry climate. Bermuda grass and Zoysia are popular choices as they are drought-tolerant and can handle full sun. After seeding, ensure consistent watering to keep the soil moist until the grass is well-established.

Yes, horse herb is sometimes used as THE ground cover. If you want to play in it, you're going to lose your stuff (whatever you're playing with). It's for looking, not for playing in. But yes, it doesn't need much in the way of maintenance especially if it is in the shade.

The plant is relatively delicate, but it spreads so fast, and reseeds all the time, so you don't have to do anything to repair problem spots.

Zoysia is not a popular choice in SA. Only a few zoysia lawns I've seen have looked good year after year. I'm not sure what variety of zoysia they planted, but I could provide at least one reference house to look at. The problem with zoysia here is that once it becomes damaged, it remains brown throughout the entire growing season until winter gives it new life. That's with the exception of those few zoysia lawns that seem to be resistant to the problems.

The problem with RoundUp type of non-selective herbicides is that it does not kill the seeds. The Atrazine product I listed does kill the seeds. Also it does not kill the St Augustine, centipede, or bermuda grass. It is listed as being harmful to bermuda, but I've tried to get rid of bermuda with it, and the bermuda just laughs...as bermuda does.

The problem with rototilling is you can never hold the rototiller at a constant depth. When it hits a soft spot, wet spot, or sandy spot, the tiller digs down deep. And when it hits a root, rock, or pipe it leaps out of the ground giving a very shallow till. Put all that together and you end up with deep spots and shallow spots with fluffy soil on top. As it settles over the next three years, it settles to match the undulations of the under layer of hard soil that was out of reach of the tiller blades. This means the soil becomes more and more uneven beginning day 1 until day 1,095. It is much better to level the surface using minimal scraping for the high spots and using that soil (or new sand) to fill the low spots.