Rewilding My Lot

Last year I bought two Frogfruit (Phyla nodiflora) plants, and judging by how well they have established, I should never need to buy this again. This particular area behind the house came from just one plant, and that is after several previous major cutbacks. (The other plant that I bought is climbing over my wood pile.)

My front lawn was turfed with Bermudagrass by the builder in 2023. Unlike behind the house, I have made no attempt to remove the front yard grass, but neither am I encouraging it in any way. One of the things I do every few weeks is to trim the Frogfruit behind the house and then plant pieces of it in my front lawn. Over time, as more Frogfruit takes hold, this will create a more nature-friendly ground cover and yet still be green and easily mown.

The most successful patch of Frogfruit in the front so far is from one of the plugs that I brought from my previous Houston garden and transplanted in February 2023. It now partly covers an area that is approximately 6ft by 15ft.

I am also inserting Frogfruit pieces near my south-facing fence behind the house where I am growing short native grasses. It is possible that the grasses won’t like the shade close to the fence, so I’m introducing Frogfruit there to give choices to the ground and I’ll let the grasses and Frogfruit sort themselves out.

I usually time Frogfruit trimming sessions to be just after a rain so that the ground is soft and moist. There is so much excess Frogfruit now that I can selectively choose pieces of stem that have already self-rooted. It is then very quick and straightforward to cut a shallow groove in the new location to bury the roots, push them in, and water them. To be honest, I don’t really give them much attention after that. If a few pieces don’t establish, that’s not a problem since I am able to plant so many.

And here is the Frogfruit area after its latest haircut. I have intentionally left it straggly because this is the only host plant for Phaon Crescent butterflies and I know that they are active right now.