One month ago today, I posted about the downside of a mild winter. Chickweed had overtaken my flower bed along the meadow fence. Granted, it's at a spot where weeds from the meadow can easily creep in, but I'd never had it look this bad in the spring. Using mushroom mulch didn't help a thing, as it not only builds up the soil and feeds the good plants, but it feeds the weeds as well.
One month later, I'm happy to show you pictures, not only because it took a lot of hard work, but because I'm flower happy this time of year!
Most of the iris came from a former neighbor who grew hundreds of varieties to sell, as did the peonies. The roses, which are struggling a bit, came from another neighbor. That's just one of the beauties of perennials...you can enjoy the flowers as well as the memories of friendship!
I know...the edges of this flower bed aren't straight...and that bugs me. A lot! Actually, the intended edge is straight...and mulched. You can see it if you look closely. However, the chickweed also crawled into the grass. The weed killer that I used worked quite fine...except that now I need to seed some new grass to fill in the gaps.
Here we go...
The peonies will be open any day now. Their fragrance is wonderful! (and much nicer than what I'm smelling from the fields right now!)
Do you see who photo bombed my picture?!
Iris and peonies don't like mulch, as their roots need to be on the drier side...so I mulched around them, leaving some space around each plant. It doesn't look as tidy as I prefer, but whatever keeps them happy! I also used regular bark mulch this year, hoping that it well better hold back the chickweed.
My war on chickweed isn't over. It never will be, this close to the meadow...but for now I'd say this battle has been won!
