GRASS LAWN

This is a timely question for me as I have a related concern: We received a bill from our property manager for grass cutting (too rocky for a mower with blades so they do the whole property with weed-wackers). $350 for grass cutting, trimming and cutting down native (some consider nusiance) trees that spring up like weeds. Now.....don't misunderstand.....I'm not saying they didn't earn every penny (see Flamingo Point under Accomodations: Water Island) but, that's a per event cost which started out @ $100 and has risen to $350 in one year time period. We need something to hold the soil and minimize erosion and are looking into ground cover or other low maintenance and drought tolerant alternatives. We've asked that the service provider reduce the area they cut and look into alternatives. But, any ideas given here would be greatly appreciated!

Looking for ground cover? Just get a little kudzu from Georgia, and your ground cover problems will be over!!

Uh huh. And, with the goat population in the islands, (as they've tried the remedy in GA), my property manager can manage the herd to keep the property in pristene conditions - - - though, not sure my guests or my neighbors would appreciate the novelty. Enjoyed the humorous suggestion of alternative.

The grass in my yard is just regular grass... 🙂 whatever that is. One area does have nice lawn grass; pretty sure its Bermuda grass. It is well suited for the hot weather and really doesn’t require much maintenance, which I base on the fact that I don't water any of it. I don't water the trees and flowers either, except the ones in pots, that were just planted or that are looking sad because it is hot or hasn't rained. When it is dry season then I water some of the plants on a regular basis. Keep in mind that many of these plants & trees and even grass are mature, the newly planted ones are watered until they get well rooted.

The aim here is for low maintenance plants, flowers, ground covering & grass.

The grass is cut monthly and sometimes twice a month during rainy season, and it’s with a weed whacker. Fl Barrier Islander, is that $350 a monthly fee for general maintenance of the yard?

For the most part people here don't have grass lawns... or lawns at all; at least not the ones I consider typical of stateside homes. There are exceptions, more so on St. Croix since it’s a bigger island with more flat areas than St. Thomas, Water Island and St. John.

I store the water from doing laundry in a separate tank for use on plants/yard. And also try to reuse other water on plants; for example when cleaning the car I will dump the water on heartier trees, when mopping that water goes on plants to. Sometimes the dish water is used too, mostly this is done when it’s dry - since doing this requires more work to scoop the water out of the sink into a bucket or pan.

Wandering Jew is a nice ground covering, hearty. There is another one but it requires watering; when it doesn’t get enough water – it looks terrible; I can’t think of the name but it’s green and has small yellow flowers.

You can use rock gardens with orchids, asparagus ferns, cactus, aloe, cathedral bells (which is also called air plant because it will grow without soil or water) devil’s backbone and bromeliads – all things that use little water and maintenance. Flowers like hibiscus, bougainvillea and oleander are nice; they do well but do need to be trimmed to keep them looking nice rather then wild. Although for a hillside that you don’t want to do much with lots of bougainvillea in different colors allowed to spread wild is great. For fences/walls use something like allamanda that creeps but has nice flowers; it likes water and requires being guided in terms of where you want it to creep. Or if you want fruits, passionfruit is a creeping vine. Another creeper is Purple Wreath or Queen’s Wreath – it flowers once a year.

Ficus makes for a nice hedge if trimmed often to keep a square or rounded shape; they can grow huge with big roots, so not something you want to plant close to cistern, septic or pipes. In terms of the cistern and septic you can use these areas to plant stuff that like moisture. Particularly the septic. We have our fruit trees close to the septic so they can absorb the moisture from the soil.

Ixora is a nice flowering bush – but I’ve had a lot trouble with it getting diseased and requiring spraying.

Bird of Paradise likes water and good soil, they are attractive plants. If you have a semi-shaded area close to your cistern or septic you can try it there. It requires more attention. Its hearty but won’t flower if ‘stressed’. The leaves look similar to a traveling palm, which is also nice but requires attention. Other palms include fishtail and fan palm – both nice.

Periwinkles are short, ground plants. They come in different colors and don’t need much fuss. Another ground plant is Moses in the Bulrushes, it has green and purple leaves. It likes some shade and moisture. Spider Lily – they grow well with lots of sun and low maintenance, they flower yearly and sometimes twice a year. There is another lily, it has orange flowers and I think it’s called an Easter Lily. St. Josephs (not positive that’s the correct name) also are good short, ground plants. They need to be trimmed as they grow quickly and get skinny looking if not maintained. The pieces will grow easily if placed in water to root.

To add a nice fragrance flower to the yard try jasmine. Frangipani is also nice, however they attract butterflies… well the caterpillars and they will eat all the leaves annually and leave a stick of a tree – which does get back its leaves and flowers again despite looking dead for a bit.

I haven’t had one in a long time but the local poinsettia (may not be the correct name), it has small white flowers, is really beautiful when it flowers during winter months – it looks like it is covered in fresh fallen snow (well from the perspective of someone that didn't grow up with snow - LOL). It is also low maintenance, only blooms once a year otherwise is a green bush.

Some fruit trees you could try are soursop, sugarapple, lime, mango, guava. The fruit trees require some care, particularly when bearing fruit. If the fruits aren’t picked or if left to rot on the ground you’ll have lots of happy birds, bats, insects, iguanas and rats/mice feasting. Some of those might be welcomed more than others.

Of course I say low maintenance in the sense that you don’t need to replant these plants every year or every season, or fuss much with them – but to have a nice yard it does require some level of grooming, trimming etc. When it rains a lot the plants grow rapidly and need trimming… and when it’s dry they need some added attention. Overall folks here try for the hearty, low maintenance yard if they do anything with the green space/land around their house at all, not everyone does.

(tu) (thats my green thumb) 😀

--Islander

That's $350 for one time grass cutting. There are times, when there's a lot of rain - like lately - that grass cutting involves weed wacking knee high grass. Then, times when there's not a lot of rain, the "grass" doesn't need cutting. We've been advised that it might be more cost effective to get on the monthly maintenance plan. We're considering it. Though, I'm thinking "shopping around" and getting competitive bids is a good idea.

FL Barrier Islander,

We have some friends on Water Island who told us about a guy who does yard work there. They intimated that he had a chokehold on the island 😉 Not sure if it's the same person, but that seems like a heck of a lot of $$ to pay! I think they might know of someone else. PM me if you'd like to talk more.

Best,

LR

A shortage of water on STX? Must be talking about the east end.... Life is different out west!

I've spoken with some of the people at the National Park Service. They are very helpful with what natives work well for what. They are a resource that I would check out if I were you. They can direct you to where to get the seedlings/plants that you decide on.

My husband is a professional gardener on STT and charges $500-$1200 a month for weekly service visits, depending on how many people are working in his crew. Sounds like you should go the montly route to keep your costs down.

Surprised that nobody mentioned Zoysia grass for a "lawn." Zoysia grass is a natural for tropical regions. It grows very close to the ground, is very soft but resilient to drought and very easy to maintain.

Years ago I had it in my yard at my rental home at the time on St. Thomas and purchased the "plugs" from a well-known stateside nursery (whose name of course escapes me right at this senior moment!) who shipped it down to me.

I have some kind of derivative of it right now in parts of my present St Thomas business location and it's so easy to maintain - unlike what I call the "PIG F***" crabby masty stuff which is wiry and horrible and which I either have to dig up or kill with RoundUp ad nauseum as it persists in coming back up like Elm Street's Freddy.

I see that Plant Depot on St. Thomas now has Zoysia for $1.50/plug. You could probaby ckeck some of the STX nurseries to see if they either have it or can get it for you. Otherwise, do a google and see who has it stateside and can ship it to you. I would firmly recommend it for anyone looking for a low-maintenance lawn effect which is just SO comfortable to step on.

I'm curious... how much coverage do you get per "plug" of zoysia? How quickly does it spread out and fill in?

Dear Alexandra.

You plant the plugs one foot apart and from, what I remember, it grew very fast. Check out www.zoysiafarm.com for lots of info.