Ground Cover - (Phyla/Lippia) Nodiflora
by Little Guy 
, Saturday, April 25, 2026, 11:24 (12 hours, 35 minutes ago)
Does anyone know a confirmed, or likely, source for flats of planting plugs of this ground cover?
I’ve been driving myself batty for weeks trying to find a source for this plant. I had originally tried for a cultivar of it named Kurapia, but that is only available in the US.
Lippia nodiflora, aka phyla nodiflora, is native to Mexico. (Some readings say these are the same plant; others distinguish between them.)
According to a Mexican government agency its distribution is wide…
Distribución en México
Aguascalientes, Baja California Norte, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Distrito Federal, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México, Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luís Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatán y Zacatecas
http://www.conabio.gob.mx/malezasdemexico/verbenaceae/phyla-nodiflora/fichas/ficha.htm
But the guy who is supposed to be installing my automatic watering system, says he cannot find it anywhere. I believe that seeds might be available on Mercado Libre, but my readings suggest that the germination rate for seeds is only around 5%.
(My yard guy has been hand-watering, but it is pretty haphazard and im not convinced that it is either effective or water-efficient. I am prepared to spend the money on automatic watering system to reduce our water consumption. The nodiflora is not as “foot friendly” as grass, but it can survive on far less water. Some sources say that after it is established, watering can be between once a week and once a month. And if it goes brown, it will green up with rain or watering.)
Ground Cover - (Phyla/Lippia) Nodiflora
by Talley Ho , Playa la Ropa, Saturday, April 25, 2026, 13:43 (10 hours, 16 minutes ago) @ Little Guy
It is amazing how a so called "common" native can be impossible to find.
We don't know the plant, and we are plant people. The nursery on la ropa is run by Martina. Her brother has the main nursery somewhere south of here, Antonio, and he is formally educated in plants. He knows his stuff and would be our first try. She will call him as soon as you ask about the plant. Second try would be with photos and names to the last nursery heading north by the bridge on the old highway road out of la Puerta.
Shortly after our terraces were put in and pool installed, we realized that if things went wrong, we could have a mud flow into our pool. We planted portulaca, self seeding, loads of colors. It too doesn't like foot traffic, but did beautifully for two years on twice weekly watering. Very dense and very beautiful. Then we realized that the ground was stable and we let it die off.
We have never seen flats of anything available here.
