6/23/12 Early June, I planted a few sprigs in back to see what would take.

Top left, a bit of Jap. Painted Fern, Coleus, Ajuga, and finally, dirt where the Winter Arum was. (see rant) 10/5/12 - A neighbor is proving to be a pain. I told him I put some plants in the ground that aren't showing anything yet, so please not to mow where I've weeded, and just, please, mow a straight line from the corner of the step to the corner of the deck.

So far, since June, he's mowed four times: twice in July, once in August, once in September. (As an aside he got $60 beginning of July - he charges $5 to mow the back yard - and Kevin asked him to let him know when he ran out of money. At this rate, it looks like the $40 left over will last all next year.)

Anyway, back to the plants. Out of the four times he's mowed since July, he's managed to cut into the flower bed on two different occasions. The first time (one of the July mowings) he went out of his way to cut off the yellow Coleus and the Painted Fern, the second time (that was the September mowing) he went out of his way to cut down one of the Ajuga plants.

It's not a big deal, either way, for the moment. The coleus grew back and filled out so I was able to take a couple of cuttings and start them in water. The ajuga looks ok and will grow back too. I just hope he doesn't take it into his head to "forget" and mow everything down. That would be upsetting, as the Winter Arum is up and showing good growth. The Painted Fern looked ok for a while, but for whatever reason, there is no sign of it anymore. I hope it will come back in the Spring.

At any rate, one would have to be blind to miss the flower bed. It's filled in nicely with Ajuga. One would have to be blind to miss the border, too. Instead of a 2-3" border, I increased the weeded edge to 5-6" inches, so the man would really have to have some malice aforethought if he mowed into the flower bed from now on.

I've got it out of my system now and will assume he'll stick to mowing the grass . . .