Anything but Crabgrass

There is one plant that I seem to be quite proficient in growing.   If we have a very rainy season, it thrives.  If there's a drought, it thrives.   If I try to pull it up, it still thrives.  I wish I were talking about clematis or foxgloves or something even remotely pretty...

The dreaded Crabgrass. 

Here you can the crabgrass taking over what is supposed to be the mulched area of my backyard.

Last week Mr. Red House and the kids went and got me a cute little red-topped bird feeder to put in the back yard.  It has been a lot of fun watching the birds, but all that crabgrass kept staring back at me.

It was time to do something about it!  

However, I noticed that all the little ground feeding birds seemed to love the crabgrass.  

 

I had to put in some plants to replace the crabgrass so the birds will keep hanging around the yard, some ornamental grass perhaps! There was really no option but to go buy more plants.  

(Hey, that's the story I told to Mr. Red House, and I'm sticking to it!)

So I took a trip to the plant store. 

 

Much better than crabgrass!

Mums, Salvia 'Sensation White', and variegated Liriope make up most of the bed next to the preexisting Buddleia 'Santana'.  I bought some sort of native grass for the other end of the bed.  It was the only one of its kind at the store and, sadly, unlabeled.

If anyone knows what kind it is, please let me know!  It has a few purplish tufted blooms on it.

Now I can enjoy the non-crabgrass section by the bird feeder, and the birds (and butterflies!) can enjoy the little garden too.

Though those sparrows and other little feeder birds do still seem to be drawn to the unweeded sections of crabgrass in the yard... enjoying the crabgrass seeds, no doubt.

And I still see a lot of crabgrass... 

Maybe I need to buy more plants?  Some more ornamental grasses?
For the birds, of course!

Happy Bloomin' Tuesday!