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..................