A Cool Grey Day

Perfect for transplanting, planting, weeding, and trimming

Most of the day was spent in this garden trying to get a handle on the three thugs that I introduced back in year one.

These plants were pretty and free and in two cases I was warned...

Silver King Artemisia and Anise Hyssop were both gifts that I accepted KNOWING that they spread liberally, hell at the time I just wanted anything to grow in the bed.

This fern grows all over the place in the woods here so I dug a few up and popped it into the garden (Duh).

The three of us got along fine for about a year, they settled in and began to thrive, I admired the fact that something was growing, then they got territorial they started to beat up the less robust plants in the neighborhood. I finally realized that me and the garden rake were going to have to form a vigilante force and take them out

It is made harder by the fact that they are quite attractive, their shoots scatter through the bed looking all pretty next to the bleeding hearts and hostas. Beneath the ground though... they crush the competition sending out runners that smother all other life. So each year I head back to the garden and try to weed them out, I've nearly eradicated the ferns, they have been banished to an area of the yard that has erosion issues where their tenacity is a plus. That is where most of the other two end up too but they keep coming back. Mostly because I just can't bear to take them all out, they are pretty and in the case of the hyssop smell wonderful.

Sigh...

Ok now for some quiet stitching time so that I will have something to talk about tomorrow!