Commitment

I spent quite a bit of time this weekend, and hopefully it will make a difference. Most of what I've done is maintenance but there is at least one capital improvement.

Between yesterday and today, I weeded and cleaned up the corner, up and down. I cut the jasmine back a lot, and I'm considering going for even more. I'm much more aggressive at pulling out or cutting back some of the more aggressive volunteers, like strawberry. Down on my hands and knees, I painstakingly untangle and pull the runners out from around more fragile young plants. Trace those runners back, get a grip on the node and pull! It can be satisfying when a whole colony comes with it.

In the dog's yard, I rooted out a bunch of the gray dogwood along the fence. There, one time when I was pulling on the long running root, I actually pulled a whole whip plant through the ground and up into my hand! Again, very satisfying.

I planted a peony, my first ever. I am so afraid of commitment, and it might last for fifty years. I stuck it in between an azalea and the serviceberry. It's a red single one, the previous post has the tag with the variety name. I flanked it with a tiarella and a heucera. Hopefully the combination will work out. I'm a little uncertain of the degree of sun it gets.

The yellow creeping jenny has become a problem on the corner. I've also got spots where desirable plants have died off and need new fillers. Yay for plant shopping! But the thrifty person in me wants to be sure I've got the maintenance under control.

Speaking of maintenance, I mowed the grass! I never got the final fall mowing in, so it was really long. It definitely looks better now.


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