I never remember to take before pics of garden areas that I jump into on an overdue whim (like – it has bugged me enough & I want to be done with the weeds) and I just go for it. This area which was getting ready to burst with garlic mustard seeds, mile-a-minute weed, Japanese stilt grass – among others – had to be cleared…

It took me an entire evening to get this done. My husband came out with the shovel to remove some little old stumps that were quite the tripping or mowing hazard.

I am fairly certain that at some point there was a previous owners pet buried here. So we felt the need to keep these rocks and stump there & plant around it. A fern that was growing in the to be cleared area, along with some Jack-in-the-pulpit, may apples, and Solomon’s seal were all transplanted into this area.

This will be a wonderful shade with dappling sunlight garden!

Here is an opposite end view which shows the area we tackled. And even though we are replacing the stilt grass with Kentucky blue – it is what we feel we need to do to try to keep all of these invasives at bay & to help re-establish garden areas as we can.

I added some violets and wood poppies to this area as well. Sure hope they all transplant well here! Time to consider some reptile and amphibian habitat up there too…