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Tag Archive for: Bermuda grass

Making Peace With Weeds In My Lawn

Arizona garden, az plant lady family, desert gardening, Southwest garden

Embracing Weeds in Your Lawn: Surprising Results

Do you have a patch of lawn in your garden? It can be a cumbersome task to keep a grassy area green and healthy, not to mention weed-free. To keep it this way often means applications of “weed and feed” fertilizers. They feed the grass while killing the weeds. These are marginally effective. The chemicals contained within aren’t what I want to use in my back garden. Particularly not with my kids and animals using the grassy area. So, I have made peace with the weeds in my lawn with surprising results.

An Arizona lawn

My Lawn Transformation: Weeds and All

Our backyard is relatively large. It is divided into three sections with the largest area taken up with a bermudagrass lawn area where my kids enjoy playing. A pet desert tortoise, Aesop, can often be found munching on the grass throughout the summer months. I like the cooling effect and beauty that the grass adds. I do have plans to replace my lawn in a year or two, but for now, it fills our needs. 

The Key to Weed-Tolerant Lawn Beauty

This lawn is 19 years old, and as a result, there are weeds growing within it. Wind spreads weed seed. If you have a grassy area, it is just a matter of time before you see weeds coming up.

Weeds are all through this lawn and it is beautiful


Now, when I mention having weeds thriving in my grass, I’m not referring to the occasional stray plant here and there. Instead, I’m describing a lawn where an abundance of weeds has become an integral part of the landscape. The weeds are covering almost every inch. These resilient plants have truly made themselves at home in my once-pristine lawn.

Weeds In My Lawn

You have to look very closely to spot any bermudagrass in this area. But you can see it is filled with bright green clover and some nutsedge growing above it. I must admit to being extremely frustrated at the sheer amount of weeds growing in my lawn. But something happened last year, which enabled me to make peace with these unwanted weeds.

Wedding seating in the garden

Stop Worrying About Weeds in Lawn

We hosted a small wedding in our backyard last summer, and a lot of preparation went into having the garden looking its best. While I initially lamented the fact that weeds were growing in the lawn, I was surprised to see how pretty and green it looked. A few weeks after the wedding, as I looked at the wedding photos, I was struck by how healthy and beautiful the lawn looked. 

I realize your focus may be on how pretty the bride is, but look at how good my grass looks ;-)

I realize your focus may be on how pretty the bride is, but look at how good my grass looks 😉

My granddaughter and grandson - I couldn't resist sharing this photo of them!

My granddaughter and grandson – I couldn’t resist sharing this photo of them!

After the wedding was over and I had some time to reflect, I realized that my lawn looked great as it had the most important qualities that I wanted – lush green color, no bare spots, and healthy.

Weeds In My Lawn and you cannot tell

And so, I am now free to enjoy my lawn, and I am no longer upset over the weeds present. The key to keep it looking great and not bring attention to any weeds is to keep it regularly mowed. My teenage son mows ours weekly, and we fertilize it in spring and again in fall. At this point, I don’t know how much longer we will keep our lawn as I have a couple of ideas for this area instead, but in the meantime, I will enjoy the lush green of my backyard grass – weeds and all.

How about you? Have you interested in making peace with the weeds in your lawn?

Design Notes From the Field: A New Build, Metal Art, Weeds, and Shade

https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/bermuda_grass_lawn_Arizona_weeds-002.jpg 800 600 arizonaplantlady@gmail.com https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AZ-Plant-Lady-Logo-small.jpg arizonaplantlady@gmail.com2018-06-17 07:51:392023-10-09 14:51:29Making Peace With Weeds In My Lawn

Meet “Aesop” Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

Arizona garden, Desert Animals

The newest member of our animal family is unique in that he isn’t furry and just happens to carry his house on his back.

Meet "Aesop" Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

Sonoran Desert Tortoise

I’d like to introduce you to “Aesop”.

Aesop is a Sonoran desert tortoise who make their home in the deserts of the Southwest .

You may be wondering why someone would want to adopt a desert tortoise and how the process works.

As for the why, as a child, my best friend’s family had a tortoise who lived in their backyard.  His name was “Lopez”.  I always enjoyed watching him munching on grass as he slowly made his way through the backyard.

Meet "Aesop" Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

Sonoran Desert Tortoise

In my career as a horticulturist who has spent a lot of time in the desert, I’ve come in contact with these special animals including helping one cross a busy road.

Due to loss of habitat in the desert as well captive tortoises breeding, there are many looking for homes.

My husband and I had always liked the idea of getting a tortoise, but with our dogs having free run of our backyard, it wasn’t feasible.

We recently created a dog run along our rather large side yard, so our dogs no longer have access to the backyard.  So, our dream of acquiring a desert tortoise could be fulfilled.

So how do you get a desert tortoise?

First, if you live in Arizona, California, Nevada or New Mexico, you visit your state’s Game & Fish Department’s website, where you learn about desert tortoises and then fill out an application.

Guidelines on creating a tortoise shelter is found on the website, which must be completed before you till out the application.

The application itself is fairly simple.  You need to take photographs of your backyard space and tortoise shelter, which you submit along with the application.

Once you are approved, you are invited to pick up your new tortoise.  

desert tortoise adoption facility

My husband, daughter and I headed out to the nearest desert tortoise adoption facility, which for us was at the Arizona Game & Fish Department’s facility off of Carefree Highway in Phoenix.

*There are several other adoption facilities throughout other areas in Arizona and other Southwestern states. 

desert tortoise adoption facility

We arrived on an adoption day where they were trying to have 50 desert tortoises adopted.

We showed them our application, gave a donation and went inside the gates.  

adult tortoises

There were several adult tortoises, sitting in boxes just waiting for someone to pick them and take them home.

But, we passed them by so that we could see the baby tortoises.  

several young tortoises

There were several young tortoises walking around in a plastic swimming pool

Meet "Aesop" Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

The smaller tortoises in this photo were about 3-years old.

Meet "Aesop" Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

This tiny tortoise was the size of a cookie and was 1-year old.

We weren’t in the market for a baby tortoise, since our new home for our tortoise was not enclosed and we were afraid that they would get lost.

It was fun to see them though and get a better understanding on how slowly these reptiles grow.

 adult tortoises inside.

We walked back to the row of boxes to examine the adult tortoises inside.

Meet "Aesop" Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

There were a few young females, which we decided against since they can carry sperm for up to 4 years and we didn’t want the chance of having baby tortoises.

Meet "Aesop" Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

And another tortoise who had three legs.  He got along fairly well on his three limbs and we asked whether he was a male or female.

Meet "Aesop" Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

At that time, we were given a lesson on how to tell the difference between males and females.

Meet "Aesop" Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

The underside of males are slightly concave while females had a flat underside. This tortoise was a male.

While we liked this one very much, we were worried that the may have trouble navigating the concrete curbing around our lawn, filled with Bermuda grass, which is a favorite food of desert tortoises.

Meet "Aesop" Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

As we moved down the row of tortoises, we finally found one that was perfect.

male tortoise

This male tortoise was a good size and was very active…for a tortoise 😉

desert tortoise
desert tortoise

We took our tortoise and loaded him up in the car.

I don’t know who was more excited, my husband or my daughter, Gracie.

When you adopt a desert tortoise, you don’t ‘own’ them.  You are caretakers and aren’t allowed to take them outside of the state where you adopted them from.

Tortoises live up to 100 years, so people often hand them down to friends of family members.  Of course, you can always take them back to the facility where you adopted them from.

Aesop his new home

Once we arrived home, we showed Aesop his new home.

We created it out of an old plant container that we cut in half and buried with several inches of soil, which helps to insulate it against extreme cold and heat.

Aesop his new home

Aesop was curious about his new home.

Aesop his new home

We decided to name him “Aesop” in a nod to Aesop’s fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare.”

Aesop his new home

After a minute of looking in his shelter, Aesop headed out to explore his new habitat and then wWe stood and watched him slowly walk around.

Aesop his new home

He nibbled on a few red bird-of-paradise leaves as he walked by.

walk on our lawn

Grass is a favorite food of tortoises and he was happy to walk on our lawn.

**The unevenness of our lawn is a rather recent development since our 13-year old son is learning how to mow.  As you can see, he has a bit more practicing to do before he gets it right.

Sonoran Desert Tortoise

Sonoran Desert Tortoise

Exploring the areas against our block wall, Aesop soon found my globe mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), which is found on lists of plants that they like.  Our desert willow will also provide him with some of his favorite flowers too.

In the 3 days since we adopted him, he had spent a lot of time exploring the entire backyard including the patio and the areas underneath our shrubs and vines.

In the morning and late afternoon, we see him grazing on our lawn, taking a stroll on the patio before heading to his favorite spot…

Sonoran Desert Tortoise

Underneath our purple lilac vines, where he likes to spend the night.

We have fun walking outdoors and looking for him to see where he is.

In October, Aesop will hibernate until spring, but in the meantime, we will enjoy the privilege of hosting one of these desert animals.

**For more information on desert tortoise care and how to adopt them, click here.**

Have you ever seen a desert tortoise or know someone who has one?

https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Sonoran_Desert_Tortoise_Adoption_AZ_plant_lady-039.jpg 447 640 arizonaplantlady@gmail.com https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AZ-Plant-Lady-Logo-small.jpg arizonaplantlady@gmail.com2015-09-09 13:29:002021-03-16 20:37:45Meet “Aesop” Our Sonoran Desert Tortoise

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noelle-johnson-az-plant-ladyNoelle Johnson: AZ PLANT LADY®

Author, Horticulturist, Landscape Consultant & Lover of Blue Pots

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