This is actually the "after" picture, believe it or not. Clearly I still have some work to do on this side of the little tree! (Can you see it, just behind the peony?) I started on the other side, towards the gate, and took the opportunity to liberate a hosta and a hellebore at the same time. Lots of excess cranesbill geranium, Japanese anemone, and mint. I now know these characters well enough to know that they won't be devastated by my attack. Rip, tear. The hellebore still needs some help, but the hosta now looks like a deliberate, established clump. Isn't it handsome! I left some anemone and mint at the back, to keep the ribbon grass honest.
And here is the little-column-that-could, isn't it darling?
"Oh, puh-leeze."
