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Dannyv
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Username: Dannyv

Post Number: 32
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 - 9:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Not the prairie that occupies too many of the vacant and abandoned lots where the city has gone back to nature.
I'd like to take up my grass lawn and put in perennial flowering plants and ornamental grasses. Conditions are full sun. Plants must be drought and cold resistant/tolerant and evergreen. I have a stand of Munstead lavender up now and some pachysandra around a tree. Any ideas, suggestions, experience doing something similar???
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Gnome
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Username: Gnome

Post Number: 267
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 8:30 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://www.nativeplant.com/mnp pa.html

groundcover like english ivy is tough to keep weed free in full sun, as you know pachysandra does well in shade.

the above link is for small indepenant growers that specialize in native plants ... english ivy ain't native BTW
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Charlottepaul
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Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 1873
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 10:29 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"I'd like to take up my grass lawn and put in perennial flowering plants and ornamental grasses."

Does the city not have some sort of policy on doing this sort of landscaping?
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Dannyv
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Username: Dannyv

Post Number: 33
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 11:11 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thanks Gnome, That's just what I'm looking for, species native to our area. And they're available at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market.
CP, I suppose there might be restrictions on what you can do regarding landscaping. I'm thinking it would be in regards to supplying habitat for vermin, but I don't know for sure. I once visited a home in an Ann Arbor suburb which had a small patch of lawn grown with an ornamental grass that dwarfed me. The walk to the front door was like passing thru a tunnel of grass. I don't want that, just something that doesn't need so much cutting, fertilizing and watering.
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Charlottepaul
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Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 1877
Registered: 10-2006
Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 11:25 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Good point. I hope that the city does allow you to do what you want. Seems as though they would be concentrating on more pressing issues, even if they did not allow certain plants.
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Rrl
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Username: Rrl

Post Number: 920
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 11:38 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm actually thinking of doing the same at my place in the Cabbage Patch of GPP.
The yard is postage-stamp sized anyway, and I have two fairly large sidewalk easement trees and a nice birch tree on the lawn, so its too shady to keep grass growing.
Was thinking of converting it to an all plant and ground-cover yard.
Besides, I loathe mowing the lawn, and would like to minimize my watering bills as well.
I've been looking for good books on non-lawn gardens, but am now leaning towards seeking the help of a professional designer; so the final garden looks good with solid plant stock that will come back year after year.
Best of luck to you DV.
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Johnlodge
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Username: Johnlodge

Post Number: 3279
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 11:41 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Some neighbors of mine did something like this. I had to walk into the street at their house while walking on the sidewalk because I didn't want to walk through the cloud of bees. I think the city made them tear it up because its all gone now.

Please don't plant a bunch of aromatic flowers all around the sidewalk. :-) It smells nice, but the bees think so too.
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Dannyv
Member
Username: Dannyv

Post Number: 34
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 3:21 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

JL, I'm in Westland and a council member lives across the street. He's a great guy, down-to-earth, and he has a flower bed under his mailbox on the street boulevard. I'll make sure to keep the sidewalk area free of bee attracting flowers.
Rrl, An article in this week's Grosse Pointe News put me on to using ornamental grass for landscaping. I took a landscaping class this past winter from a professional degreed (MSU) designer and I did my backyard this year. He has a web site at www.merrittscape.com if you'd like to check out his work. If you do it yourself, you might want to check out http://landscaping.about.com/o d/flowersherbsgroundcover1/u/l andscape_plants.htm for a start.
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Bulletmagnet
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Username: Bulletmagnet

Post Number: 905
Registered: 01-2007
Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2007 - 2:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hey Dannyv, I'm kind of fond of the prairie look. Here are a few I like:
http://i148.photobucket.com/al bums/s22/bulletmagnet69/100_83 39.jpg?t=1193595374
http://i148.photobucket.com/al bums/s22/bulletmagnet69/100_83 38.jpg?t=1193595403
http://i148.photobucket.com/al bums/s22/bulletmagnet69/101_79 66.jpg?t=1193595484
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Dannyv
Member
Username: Dannyv

Post Number: 37
Registered: 08-2007
Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2007 - 11:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

BM, Those photos need a soundtrack. How about the theme song from Mayberry RFD? When I tell people about the stretches of inner city lots with waist high grass they don't believe me. Hey, isn't there some copper in those wires?

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