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I got 12 bare root flowering trees (crabapple, redbud, dogwood, hawthorn and crepe Myrtle) from Arborday.org for a $20 donation because I thought they’d be good for my bees without fully thinking it through. I have clay soil that stays waterlogged (6-10 inches below the surface Feb.-May). I’m planning on planting my fruit trees and berry bushes on mounds. Can I plant these trees on mounds too? We have a stand of pine/hickory on the edge of our property that I can get some good topsoil from. What should I mix with it for the mounds? Our property was part an old cattle field we think. We have 4 landed acres with a couple of pine, 2 maple, 8 oak, a sweet gum or 2 and a couple of other trees all mature. Our property backs up to a 3 acre old growth pond so a lot of water drains through our property. We planted a couple of oaks straight into the ground but they ended up dying.

I’m losing the fight against Bermuda grass on my lawn. It’s too much and too well rooted to pull up by myself, so I’ve been trying to plant various native flowers (and aesthetically pleasing, flowering weeds) to try to overtake or shade out the Bermuda grass. However, I haven’t had much luck.

Does anyone have experience chaos gardening in a field of Bermuda grass or another invasive rhizome-spreading grass? What seeds just take anywhere and might have success germinating in a dry field of dense weeds?

*So far, I’ve gotten geraniums, mallows, lantanas, and wood sorrel to live but not spread.