I'm hoping someone can help...I have a wild flower plot in my yard, about 800 sq ft, The other wildflowers are coming along nicely. But the crab grass and bermuda is now growing in from the sides. We are just about to mow for the 2nd time this year. Does anyone have any info on what to do about the unwanted grasses in our wildflower plot?

That's a tough problem to solve. As you probably know, Bermuda grass is very invasive. Crab grass can be killed with specific herbicides and Bermuda grass can be killed with grass/weed killer, but your wildflowers will be killed as well. Hand-pulling is about the only other way to (sort of) control those beasts. Unfortunately the Bermuda grass can put out deep runners and come back from those underground runners. You can trench around the whole plot, digging perhaps 6" deep, and then bury a plastic or metal edging around the entire plot. That is what I do around all my flower beds/landscape beds (I probably have 300-400 linear feet of metal edging, but it involves and lot of time/work and can get pretty expensive. Even then you will get some Bermuda tunneling under the strip, but the invasive process is at least greatly slowed down. I use edging because I have built-up beds and the edging also helps keep the mulch in place. You can also just cut that trench using a flat/square blade shovel and leave the trench in place. A narrow bladed hoe can maintain the trench.

I got rid of all our St. Augustine in the back yard and replaced it with dwarf Monkey Grass. Or so I thought. I still find it in flower beds and here and there. I pull them out by hand. It has slowed it down but every once in awhile I will find a 12" length of it hiding among the lirope. I don't think I will ever be rid of it.

Actually, you probably will, Cheryl. St. Augustine is much less invasive and tends to have runners closer to the soil surface. Hand pulling will eventually be successful.

Good news to me, Doc!

Hi, Katherine. to ATP.

We have a couple of wildflower meadows here that look good mixed with native grasses. Granted, our grass is different than yours; perhaps not as invasive in nature, but I think mowing actually helps grasses grow better in this situation. They regrow faster than most wildflowers and will get more light if other plants are cut away. Mowing the meadow once after plants go dormant might be beneficial, but hand-pulling unwanted plants would probably be best during the growing season. Toss in some seeds of plants you want in that spot after you do some pulling and those plants may fill the space, leaving less room for further intrusion.

Wildflower meadows are rarely grass-free however, so set a reasonable goal each season and in the meantime don't forget to set aside some time to just enjoy your blooms.