Today it rained. The first drops of water in April. Made me happy I spent the time over the weekend to re-do a small area of the back garden.
Remember that gorgeous primrose path I had two summers ago?
As much as I loved it and was initially happy to let the primroses spread, I didn't expect them to be a bully. It was like a pretty 8th grader turning into a high school mean girl. They took everything in sight - trying to choke out perennials and even a rose bush.
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| Primrose has taken that entire left corner and is overgrowing all the ground cover right of the path. |
I finally resorted to Round-up - seriously, I pulled and pulled and pulled without making a dent, so finally only pulled close to things I wanted to save and then hit the rest of the area with killer - many square feet.
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| Nearly everything is dead now. |
Then it was time for a re-design.
There was one "good" and two nearly-choked-out Stokes lilies [Stokesia l. 'Mmary Gregory'] that I moved to better positions, and then I went looking.
Unexpectedly, I found some pretty Forget-Me-Nots at the farmers' market and added seven ajugas [Ajuga reptans 'Purple Brocade']. Once I had it all laid out and soaked the pots, I was ready to dig some holes.
A bag of mulch - to help with our early drought - and it's all done. And then, today, we got rain!
Come back in July, and let's see how it's doing.
You've been working hard. Look forward to July pictures!
ReplyDeleteI know, I know...rain is good. It's good for the fern that I forgot to water since last weekend and the flowers that I just planted in their huge pots 2 weeks ago, it just completely saps my motivation and will to be productive. I am totally addicted to the sun.
ReplyDeleteI never realized that primrose could be so aggressive. Its name sounds so proper and ladylike. Who knew?? Looking forward to July pictures! Also, a lot of those flower photos in yesterday's post were actually for you. :)
Isn't it great spending some time in the garden and starting something new? It's what I love about gardening: you can always change things. I am looking forward to the results.
ReplyDeleteIt could be worse having primrose all over the place, it could be spurge. There are times for use of Roundup.
I didn't know primrose were so invasive. I buy them in little pots in the late winter. I think our summers are too hot. I have violets everywhere and Roundup doesn't do one thing to them. We have a bumper crop this year. Enjoy your new garden. Bonnie
ReplyDeleteHa. Primrose spend the winter planning the overtaking of the garden. I laugh when I see them being sold at the garden center. "Come dig them up from my garden!" I want to tell people.
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