A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Please help, soooo frustrated!!!

So I have this huge flower bed in front of my house the sides of which are on a slope. The previous owners used this ugly brown rock. My dad and I spent hours removing as much of the rock as we could and planted some gorgeous rose bushes and burning bushes that are doing wonderful. The problem is that everytime it rains hard, all of the mulch I put down gets washed away and shows more of the ugly brown rock that keeps popping up from the dirt. I have tried everything I can think of to stop the water, short of digging a huge drainage system which I don't really want to do. We built a short brick wall along the back of the bed thinking that it would stop it. But the water still manages to flow underneath the bricks and wash the mulch out. I tried packing top soil along the back of the bricks and that does not work either. I'm using Black Forest Mulch which is made of up really finely ground hardwood. If I plant some sort of ground cover like phlox or thyme in front of the bricks will that help stop the water that is getting underneath? Does anyone have any other suggestions? I thought about just using ground cover all over instead of mulch but the area is so large that it would take years or lots of money to completely fill in. I've spent so much time and energy replacing the mulch over and over again, and I'm getting really sick of messing with it at all.

If you could post a photo of the bed and the wall, that might help. Meanwhile... here are some thoughts. You might try a heavier mulch like large pine nuggets. And instead of buying it in bags (which I assume you are) try to find a landscaping supplier that will sell it in bulk-- like by the truck load. (You'd need a pickup or a friend with a pickup.) This is usually much more cost effective.

I might change my mind on this after I'd seen what you're talking about, but I'd definitely at least begin to put in ground cover in specific places. Some to consider-- liriope (sp?) is grass-like, tough as nails, spreads pretty quickly without being too invasive (it usually fills in just where you want it to) and has pretty flowers in mid summer. You might use this as an outside boarder to catch the run-off mulch.

Another that comes to mind is a very small sedum (anyone remember which I'm talking about?). It spreads very quickly, has beautiful little yellow flowers in late spring. It is invasive in the sense that it spreads so quickly, but it's super easy to remove. The nice thing about this is that it really perks up in the spring-- rainy season-- but then sort of relaxes (regresses?) during the summer to a nice solid green mat. I've used this *instead of * mulch in many of my beds. Because it's a sedum, it really soaks up water when you'd need it to.

Thanks Marica, I'm at work right now, but I'll try to post a pic when I get home. The sedum sounds interesting because the faster it grows the better in my opinion since its such a large area.

Yes, I have yellow sedum and it spread everywhere in the bed in just two years..now I find myself plucking some out.

Do you know if the dragon's blood sedum grows as fast? That would be nice to use because its evergreen in my zone.

Here's a quick picture I took with my phone. The bushes are gorgeous but the ground just depresses me when I see it. Suggestions please!

Very pretty..Yup I'd go with a heavier pine nugget for now..you can add some ground cover and move the nuggets as the ground cover grows.

Good morning,

Personally, I love myrtle as a ground cover. It has beautiful blue flowers in the spring and is a evergreen, low plant. I have planted it in many places over the years, and it does not take long before it fills in and just looks great.

Carol