help it grow, even if it doesn't need it.

I help an elderly woman in Cleveland Park (about 25 minutes walk North of my house) with her garden. She lives in a large (6 bed room) old (c. 1875) stand alone home that has a sizable perennial garden. She has lived in the house some 45 years and has done the garden herself but, as she is now in her early 80s, she finds it hard to do much more than watering, weeding, and the occasional light planting. I help her with the harder, dirtier work when she needs it.

This month she is on vacation with her husband, children and grandchildren. While they are away I am watering the garden a couple times a week. On my way there Tuesday I walked down Connecticut Avenue through Van Ness and Cleavland Park, it's a nice little strip and I enjoy the people watching and the scenery of the little shops and old apartment buildings. There is a particular apartment building in CP that has brick pathways around the grounds. That is not very unusual in DC but these particular bricks are glittery and have a swirly center like when you stir together a bowl of berry pancake batter. I am quite in love with them.

Another apartment has a lot of English Ivy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Ivy) that grows as a ground cover around most the entire grounds. That is also not uncommon in DC. The European native is an invasive species around here but many people plant it (or leave it as it often creeps in like a weed) because it's evergreen and needs practically no attention other than edge pruning to contain it. In my opinion, it's for lazy people who want a 'garden' without any effort what so ever. I detest it. Not to say that I hate the plant itself but it is more than obvious that it should not be grown in this region. I met a man from San Diego and he told me that English Ivy is the primary threat to the forests near where he lives. I would imagine the same is true for this area.

The Inn had English Ivy covering nearly the entire garden space (more than 3 house fronts) on the street side. It had been there for several years, because the owner and manager thought it was gave the place a classic, old world look, and had grown to 8-10 inches thick in some areas. It took something like three months for me to convince them that it was a haven for rats and unwanted bugs and had become a most convenient place for passersby to discard their trash and should be replaced with a proper garden. So, the Spring and first half of the Summer I spent ripping out the Ivy and replacing it with some mixed perennials.

It's because I had this experience with Ivy that I was irked and almost angry to see that this apartment building was actually watering a large section with a sprinkler. I can not imagine what sort of idiot would think this was a good idea, much less that it was necessary. I mean seriously, do they water the Kuzu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu) in Georgia?

If DC were hit by a nuclear bomb I'm sure the only thing left would be the roaches and the Ivy.