Not sure how I posted twice. Sorry!

Linnea -- what a haul!!! Wow -- you are gonna be busy!

Cat -- Islands are beautiful -- Iris Islands are a hundred times more beautiful!!!! Good plan, girl!!

Cat, if you post one, then hit the back button to edit, it makes a second post when you hit finished. Don't know if that is what happened here, it is just what I periodically do.

Cat, whatever we do for beds, we make sure to leave the edge in a way that can be mown right up to. There is a lot less work to a yard if one eliminates having to get out the trimmer/weed whacker. Many of my gardens are edged with Bishops Weed. I can mow it and the edge just looks like an edge. Some people think that is invasive, but in Maine it isn't. My son took violets and edged the evergreen garden with them. Those can be mown up to as well. If one gets too many edging plants, they can always be given away. I have given away 1/2 my garden on Craigslist a couple of times.

We never use Weed'n'Feed products as they kill the "weeds" that are actually medicinal plants for the most part. Only 1 of the 20 items killed, as listed on the back of the package wasn't a useful medicinal. So, our lawn is never manicured. We mow weeds....and often eat them from areas we have not mown.

The foundation is surrounded by various mints. We never have to trim those. If they get out of hand coming forward, we dig them out and throw them behind the evergreens.

Nice mix of useful and nice looking plants!
I did landscaping and mowing many years ago. All summer an older man always ran to a field of dandelions with several bags just before it was mowed. He made mixed green salads, dandelion wine and I believe cooked greens with what he harvested cost-free and herbicide-free.

Linnea do you have any pics you can post of the edging?

Linnea-- the Maine Iris Society has 2 shows each year--Median & tall Bearded. At the TB show they sell dwarf irises for 50 cents each. A good way to get dwarfs.

AND!!!!!! You can share them with friends!!!!!!!!!

or you can buy the for fifty-cents each and sell them for a buck plus postage. People will beat a path to your....... well.... You wouldn't get rich but you could make a lot of friends.

I wrote the date on my calendar. Cool. I like dwarfs.

My pics are jumping all over the place. I managed these two.

Bishop's Weed next to a granite step (mower blade killer).


Bishop's Weed, Strawberries and Violets next to a tar walkway that is getting ripped out ASAP.

I love Bishop's Weed. A lot of people hate it.

Bonnie's right -- you could make a lot of friends! AND a little bit of money!! What's not to like????

I can mail it to you. I have green and variegated.

If you're talkin' to me -- thank you, but no. I'm not planting ANYthing this year (except for a few Irises). I've got to reserve my time and energies to repair my Iris Lane bed, and finish the work on the fenceline bed. I'm trying very hard not to let anything interfere with that.

I do prefer the variegated -- I had that at our last home.

Yeah, and you need to make a spot for one particular daylily, too.

Debra -- actually, I already have that spot!!!

I can send it anytime. You remember it, right? This one...if it is Laura Harwood, I already have it in another location. If it is the seedling cross, it looks so much LIKE Laura Harwood that I wouldn't/can't tell the difference.

I had to go look up the botanical name of Bishop's Weed (Aegopodium podagraria) to remember what a horror it was here in California... I was attracted to that beautiful variegated foliage, and it looked stunning with other plants. Then, in the winter when it was "dormant" there were runners stealthily going under stepping stones, behind bushes, curling around and through the roots of less vigorous plants.. When I tried to dig it up, every little piece that was left behind, sprouted . I had to move to get rid of it.. But I'm glad it can be enjoyed in other parts of the country.

"I had to move to get rid of it" -- LOL Sherry!!

Of course I remember it, Deb! Maybe this fall.................. (it's so beautiful)

I'm with you Sherry on Bishop's Weed, I had it at the last place I lived before moving here. It's almost as bad as quack grass here. I'd never plant it again.