European Gardening: calling all Irish gardeners, 1 by pirl

pirl wrote:
Thanks, Orange Blossom! Walkers were the maternal side of the Lenihan family.

So you just cut them back but not discard the Sweet Williams, right? We have some astilbe that went dormant early, due to our oppressive heat wave, and I just cut them back to the ground but I realize it does leave a rather unpleasant look to that area. Why do our eyes focus on one little spot when we both have lots of flowers to enjoy?

Seems as though the garden art industry could come up with something sweet to cover a bare spot and make it more acceptable for the rest of the season. Even the lilies, as beautiful as they are right now, will eventually leave just bare stems. There is a price for beauty but we enjoy them while they are in bloom.

I try to use as many ground covers as possible (sedums are great for that) since we both have the weed problems!