I am Not Fond of Mulch

Mainly because I am always digging and moving plants and mulch just gets in the way.  I prefer a living mulch, like this reptans 'Atropurpurea' Bronze Ajuga.  It's the darker blue/purple flower behind the red primrose.  I bought a couple pots of it over 15 years ago and it has multiplied 1000 fold.

 Here is a more close up picture. 

Both of these pictures were taken in 2006.  Remember that first image because at the end of this post I will show you this area today.  Grab a Kleenex before you scroll down.

Back to the topic of this post............I have been wandering around the gardens digging up pieces of ajuga to put around the new front steps garden.

I think a nice thick mat of this live combination of green and  purpley-bronze ground cover will work much better in this area

 than any other mulch.  The purple ajuga leaves will go nicely with the purple Ninebark leaves.

Just imagine all this exposed soil covered with those blue/purple blooms in early June.  It should be beautiful!  That one pail of ajuga barely made a dent in coverage, so this week I plan to go out and dig up a bunch more. It will spread quickly.

O.K. back to the rockwall garden which I say, with all the modesty I can muster, looked gorgeous in that first picture.  Remember that was 5 years ago.  If gardens do anything, they change.  That picture had a lot of creeping phlox blooming around the ajuga. Unfortunately the creeping phlox became infested with grass and I just could not keep up with it.  Last year I made the sad decision to kill it all off.  I have been working on its death since June.

Here is a recent picture--grab that Kleenex and give it to me as I shed a few tears.......

I know it looks pretty sad.  A few years ago I decided to turn this garden into mostly shrubs to prepare for my old age when I can't be spending 2 hours a day bending down to dig out grass from the phlox.  So it had to go.  I must say the creeping phlox is putting up quite the fight!  I have used multiple applications of Round Up and there are still many areas clinging to life.  I think by next spring it should be ready to redo.  I do have 3 Alberta Spruce here which are all doing well, two cherry trees (so far the birds have eaten every single cherry) and a few burning bushes for vivid fall color.  This year I planted three grasses

 and I plan to add many more.  I have a vision of a shrub/ornamental grass garden that will look fabulous in the fall.  We shall see..................

Lack of Customer Service

I am always amazed when I compare the high level of customer service we provide at the hotel with what I receive when I am on the opposite side of the counter.

I am not exaggerating when I say that at the hotel where I work, we go overboard trying to please customers. It’s really ridiculous the lengths we go. It’s very rare that I see that level of service given by businesses I deal with.

Remember the Husqvarna Sapphire sewing machine I bought last January? I bought this machine because of its quilting possibilities. In order to make use of these possibilities one must, in addition to the pricey machine, purchase the “Quilter’s Kit”, which has the sewing feet needed to machine quilt. I ordered it before I walked out of the shop on January 23, 2008. It’s a pretty expensive little kit – somewhere in the $300 range.

I don’t know the actual price because I have never received it. It is now August 6, 2008. I have called three times and talked to the store owner. I asked him specifically if he would call me when it came in. He said he would call. Yesterday I went to the shop in person to see if they had one in stock. Of course, they didn’t. The owner was not in, but the lady who sold me the machine was. She apologized and said she would leave the owner a note. I called again today. The owner won’t be back until tomorrow.

I think I have been very patient. It has been nearly seven months and I am still Quilter kitless!

I have witnessed adults throw hissy fits at our hotel counter for way less.

Just recently a lady screamed at the guest service rep until she was redfaced because she booked "last available room type" over the internet and she got a smoking room. As the name implies, there is no guarantee as to the type of room you get and a screen pops up which specifically states that smoking preference cannot be guaranteed.

The hotel had not one ounce of blame on this one and yet, this woman-- dressed in business attire--threw a tantrum like a two-year old child until we gave her a nonsmoking room. Of course, a nonsmoking room does not just magically appear. It was a room that someone else had reserved and expected to get when they arrived. I just hope someone in a nonsmoking room canceled that night so the conniving woman didn't ruin another person's day by taking their room. Ms. Businesswoman waited too long to reserve and the only rooms left were smoking, so she made the reservation knowing full well that she was not guaranteed a nonsmoking room. The sad thing is her conniving worked because we try to please them all--even those we know are flat out lying. I hope she broke one of those 2.5-inch heels on her walk down to that nonsmoking room.

It's been nearly 29 weeks and I can't even get Local Sewing Store to order a quilter's kit. Many business owners in my small town complain about losing money to internet orders. I wonder why they can't figure out what motivates us to do so...I am giving this guy two more weeks and then I, too, will be surfing for an internet source.

I Almost Fell Over When I Read This

When I got home from work today my latest issue of Backyard Living was sitting on my computer chair. DH puts all my mail there because he knows that is the first place I go to when I come home.
I had to look twice when I saw this article on sedums:

Those tiny white flowers looked hauntingly familiar.

I quickly scanned the print to see if it really could be what I thought it was....
I nearly screamed out loud....it was indeed 'coral carpet'!
Backyard Living needs to send a reporter over to my garden to photograph me all red-faced and nearly falling over from exhaustion as I dig this stuff out in my now two-year attempt to eradicate it from my garden.

Sensational ground cover- I guess that is true --as long as you want ALL THE GROUND YOU HAVE to be covered.

At least this article makes me feel a bit better about being seduced by this plant. I pity the author of this article when the lynch mobs come looking for her once they find out what this plant is really like!

Well, I must get back to my pedicure. Yesterday I had my nails done and now I need to get matching toes. I do it myself to save money, but the fatter I get, the harder it is to reach those toes! :)

I use the magazines to shield the carpet from the red polish. Then I just bend over right from my computer chair and polish them. That way I can blog while I do it. I told you before that I am a master of multi-taking! :)

Butterfly Bush, or should I say Lack of Butterfly Bush

My butterfly bush did not endure the harsh winter very well. It's not dead, but as of yesterday, it looks like this:

A couple of scrawny one & a half foot stalks. If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you may remember that this bush gets very large - over 7 feet tall and usually overhangs the deck. I used to love coming home and going out to take butterfly pictures while sitting on the deck.

It does not look like I will be having any blooms this year.

Yesterday I was walking up from the basement through the garage and saw a Monarch through the window. I put my laundry away and then went to see if it was still there. It was still happily sipping the drumstick allium nectar.

I didn't get a great picture, but, hey, we beggars can't be choosy!

I have been in the bad habit of doing no garden chores when I get home from work. My gardens are too big to be tended to only one day each weekend. So today I came home and immediately went out with my trusty shovel and wheelbarrow and spent 1.25 hours digging out more sedum coral carpet.

Years ago I planted it with ajuga because I thought it was a nice combo. The ajuga bloomed in the spring and the sedum in July. At the time I didn't know just how aggressive the sedum was.

Last year I thought I had removed it from this area. Ha! It was back this year with a vengeance. All the little white flowers are sedum. I decided the only way to remove it was to remove the ajuga right along with it. So today I dug it all out of this little area.

I also removed this silver snow-in-summer which is intertwined with the phlox.
After 1.25 hours I had two wheelbarrow loads removed and one load of top soil added back in.

It needs more top soil, but I was too pooped to haul more. I threw some of the nicer ajuga into a bucket of water and left it under the shade of a cherry tree until I get time to replant it.

The wheelbarrow and shovel were left there also because I have many more loads to haul out. I feel pretty good that I at least accomplished something after work today.

Just look at that green grass at the end of July! Unheard of in my yard. I hope it rains tonight.

I have no idea what the temperature is, but it was hot out there! I came in red-faced and ready for a long shower. It's been over 45 minutes and I am still red in the face. If I should ever disappear for a few weeks with no post, you can be sure that the sedum coral carpet finally did me in!

Remember my new garden shoes in early June?
Here they are today with my garden gloves right after I finished the above.

I Like Ground Covers (I bet you've already noticed that)

My third ground cover is just beginning to bloom. It's the silver stuff with the white flowers behind the phlox and ajuga.

It's Snow-In-Summer (Cerastium tomentosum). I planted it from seed years ago to bloom with the poppies. The plan has been marginally successful. Most years the poppies are finished before it's in full color.

Just like with all the ground covers I have , this one is mass planted in the rockwall garden and it was chosen (as all the others were) because it looks good even when it's not in flower. Good foliage is very important because they only flower for about two weeks.



It is not in full bloom yet, but when it is, it will look pure white like a big mound of snow.

At about the same time the white blooms, this yellow sedum (my 4th ground cover planting) will also be in full flower.

This is one I don't yet have enough of. It's a very well behaved sedum ground cover unlike the white-flowering sedum coral carpet that I have been removing for the past two years.

My plan is to eventually have the entire rockwall garden in ground covers, shrubs and just a few flowers. I am planning for my golden years. :)

Two years ago I added two of these Royal Purple Smoke trees (Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'). They are just tiny now, but can get up to 10 feet tall in 10 years. Not too long ago Lostroses posted a picture of a huge one in it's full smokey glory.

It's looks like this one may be ready to take up smoking this year.