Up The Crick

This time of year the Dry Creek Bed in our back yard with all of its grasses is at its prime.  The Daylilies are done, but the grasses are just beginning to head out.  This is the third and largest of our dry creek beds.  Dry Creek Bed #1   Dry Creek Bed #2  which are integral parts of our drainage system.

What started out as a wide expanse of rocks now has a lot of dimensional interest.  I am constantly, and probably always will be constantly, tweaking the perennial plants.  The growing conditions are a little tricky.  The reason for adding this dry creek bed was that the area was so wet that it was hard to mow.  Some of the areas can still get very wet during a rainy period.  Now and then a plant just up and drowns.  I had to remove a cone flower yesterday and put it in sick bay.  So far I have lost three grasses out of forty or so which is not a bad average.

Here are before (2019) and after (2021) shots of some of the best angles.

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After

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We really enjoy this part of the garden.  It is very low maintenance.  Early in the year we spend some time pulling weeds, especially after a rain, but they are easy to remove and we have the option of spraying them instead of pulling them.  Soon we will have to blow leaves out of it but that is no different then any other area of our landscape.  And then before snow falls we will cut back all of the grasses.  Last year we did not cut them back and there were a lot of rodent nests in the grasses and I actually lost a couple of grasses this way because the mice ate the roots.  So this year everything will get cut back again.