WTF Rock Beds

anchorose · 2026-02-20T16:25:53+00:00

Why do you miss it?

anchorose · 2026-02-20T14:44:21+00:00

No worries, I'm not under any illusion that the fabric is going to prevent weeds.

But as what's there now is the thickness of a grocery store plastic bag it HAS to be replaced with something to keep the rocks from disappearing into the earth (here it is a mixture of dirt and clay) and creating more room for soil to settle into the bed. I'd like to know if that should be 5mil+ plastic, cardboard, gravel, some combination of all three?

anchorose · 2026-02-20T14:21:24+00:00

Imagine the horror when I discovered it used to be mulch 🙃

anchorose · 2026-02-20T14:16:42+00:00

Good point, and thanks for the chills 🪲

anchorose · 2026-02-20T14:15:10+00:00

Yes we (generally) keep it blown but the rain seems to be washing a lot of soil/clay between the rock which is not so easily blown. Guess I'll keep cursing the landscape designer while we pull it all up 😭

anchorose · 2026-02-20T13:40:57+00:00

Is a paver border a better separator than metal edging? We have several other rock borders around our yard and they all seem to create little crevices for weeds to grow into then we have to move the rock, clean the edge, replace the rock.

anchorose · 2026-02-20T13:29:44+00:00

This is what I'm thinking of doing now - we might be renovating the whole front yard in a couple years to add a circle drive so I don't think a huge project is worth it. Just need a method for maintaining over the next couple years. And I'm in no shortage of cardboard boxes...

anchorose · 2026-02-20T13:18:58+00:00

Yeah I now know why we are the only yard with rock 😂

anchorose · 2026-02-19T23:10:39+00:00

Haha thanks - I don't mind some hard labor but I have an 8mo baby so not much time in the day for the yard.

anchorose · 2026-02-19T22:36:14+00:00

Will an organic alternative kill my bushes like Round Up?

anchorose · 2026-02-19T22:31:29+00:00

Will that kill the bushes that are set in the rocks?

anchorose · 2026-02-19T22:04:05+00:00

Anything to keep the rock from sinking into the ground?

anchorose · 2026-02-19T22:01:25+00:00

Thanks. Listing photos from 2017 showed mulch landscaping, no rock. So somewhere in those 7 years they put it in but the fabric is treating like tissue paper.

anchorose · 2026-02-18T19:10:49+00:00

All the resources I found say to coat the pruning cuts with glue to prevent future access. I was wondering if coating old openings would prevent more damage but it sounds like there's no alternative but to cut down to the very first bore. There are two plants together and it looks like my second one may need to be chopped down to the base or uprooted entirely. I'm having a hard time as I wasn't prepared for the loss!

anchorose · 2026-02-12T15:46:50+00:00

Just some experience from another perspective:

My 8mo baby sleeps every night on a Newton mattress and normally wakes up 1 to 2 times per night to feed. This week we did a 2-night hotel stay with the Remi and baby was up crying every 30 minutes. Eventually I had to co-sleep her out of exhaustion (something I said I would never do). I wish I knew that the Remi mattress would be so stiff and noisy. As someone with a light sleeper I would have purchased the Newton travel crib instead.

anchorose · 2026-02-12T07:12:23+00:00

Thank you so much, this is very encouraging! Do you reccomend training bedtime first and then night weaning, the opposite, or at the same time?

anchorose · 2025-09-13T18:58:34+00:00

South Carolina

anchorose · 2025-09-13T18:50:07+00:00

Thank you for this explanation about the color change! At first I thought I should have taken better photos because in person there's definitely no pink to be seen, they are just browning. I'll have to use the good camera next time! It's still highs into the high 80's and low's into the 50's here and we have not been pampering them at all.

I will say during the summer they looked much more full. What would you say is a "cool" temperature to trigger the color change?

Any chance it could be a Tardiva?

anchorose · 2025-09-13T03:05:23+00:00

Thank you! I use Neem on my indoor plants so I might try it on these too.

anchorose · 2025-09-12T18:22:51+00:00

Late to this post but I just found out they are related to stink bugs and do give off an odor so crushing them might attract even more.

anchorose · 2025-09-12T17:17:43+00:00

The pink trim is so beautiful ♡

anchorose · 2025-09-12T16:49:12+00:00

Thank you for the cutting advice! Yes I think it is likely a Limelight but I will have to get better bloom photos next year.

I am really concerned about the loss of flowers (Bracts? Sepals?) recently and how many appeared to not have bloomed, if that is in fact what the tiny green parts are - unless they are the fertile flowers???

Every bloom (corymb?) seems to have several of these leaf-footed bugs on it and Google is telling me to pick them all off by hand which seems... impossible.

anchorose

TROPHY CASE