Barking up the Wrong Tree

I started working on the first bed within the Stroll Garden, nearest the driveway. It had become over gown, many of the flowering plans I planted last year did not return, and it looked a mess.

The soil here is awful, mostly sand, gavel, and pea stone - it used to be a parking area for a camper. Although I have tried over the last few years to fix it, I have not had much luck. 

At this point I am not willing to remove the soil and replace it with new soil - way out of my budget and it would be a summer long project. Instead, I decided to remove some Hosta, move plants around, split some of the day lilies, and add large bark chips instead of mulch. 

Every fall the mulch gets blown or raked away from this location, so I'm hoping the bark chips will last longer. They are the same as the ones I placed along the garage side of the stroll garden back in June. 

In addition, I added some of the Super Blue Liriope (Liriope mascara 'Super Blue') along the edge. I was able to harvest enough to get started by taking clippings from the existing edge of the bed along the garage wall. 

 

In a couple of years it should resemble the edge growth at the other end of the garden helping to link the two separate parts of the Stroll Garden.