In the Garden

Spring in the garden: peas, lettuce, arugula, spinach. Hens & Chicks playing with the Sweet Woodruff, volunteer Foxgloves sprouting from every nook & cranny. It's going to be a good year for the Foxgloves — they're everywhere.

As were invasive Japanese Spireas...but not anymore. A good portion of my afternoon was spent hacking and wrangling these badly behaved shrubs out of the beds. I don't dare dispose of them in the brush pile, so I'm going to try wrapping them in this tarp and leaving them in the sun until they're completely dry. I'm sure I haven't seen the last of them in the beds (and I need to inspect the rest of the yard today) but hopefully this will at least slow them down a bit.

Sigh.

Why are garden centers allowed to sell plants like this at all? How about a warning label, at the very least?

Meanwhile, the lawnmower won't start and it will take 3 weeks to have it repaired. The dandelions are throwing a party, and the property has a bit of a spooky abandoned look going on. By three weeks we'll be lost in the grass. But, at least it's not winter. I'll take 3 feet of green grass over 3 feet of cold snow anytime.

Update: I just took a little walk and the field (where we're letting it grow up between our property and the neighbors) is full of Spirea. It's been growing there for years (before I introduced my evil shrub) but now I see that it's battling with the native blueberries and strawberries that are also filling in that field. We thought it was harmless native, so never thought to do anything about it. What to do now? There's no tarp big enough. I wonder if hacking it all down would be enough?