Sweet Woodruff and variegated Ivy are two of the most obnoxious weeds in my garden. Maybe different in other parts of the country though. The Ivy reverted back to normal English Ivy and has gone rampant. I started with half a handful of Sweet Woodruff mixed with an Ajuga plant. (They bloom the same time) The Ajuga is fine, but the Sweet Woodruff pops up all over, especially where I don't want it. Both are too vigorous for a Rock Garden. Botann - I do not mean to put you down but here are my thoughts regarding your statement. Indeed sweet woodruff can be considered invasive but they are easy to take out since they grow as a shallow rooted mat and they can grow in shady dry areas. I have them and I have never seen it to be a problem compared to say dandelions. In fact, I rarely see it growing around my plants. I do find them finding home in cracks in stone and other such difficult places. It could be that in our zone (6b) it is not as invasive. Some garden books recommend woodruff to prevent other weeds. After all it takes a weed to control other weeds - LOL. Variegated ivy is a slow grower and I have yet to see them transform themselves to an english ivy. I have had them for 15 years and have not experienced any problems with them. They do send out longer roots that can be hard to take out. Our neighbor has another area with english ivy and I agree it is quite obnoxious. The OP has two options: One to redo the place and leave it as a 'rock mulch' area but expect to start weeding at some point in the future or to weed well and plant some desirable competitor to keep bulk of the weeds out. In both cases some weeding will be needed. And as terrestial_man said in order to control weed you have to go beyond your target area and keep things at bay. That is why i weed my neighbors in my self interest. Nowadays I may be pull out a bucket full of weeds in the entire season from my own garden (about 3500 sq. ft)

Rocks are hot on top but cool underneath. As an aside, note that when no controls are present there is no basis for comparison. Not needed in this case but the way to test the question would be to plant half the plants with rocks and half without, using all the same kind of plant, from the same batch and with all other factors being equal. You have to eliminate variables before a pattern can be accurately observed. The common example where people swear by a gardening myth is amending of planting hole back-fill. If their plants survive the amending and grow, then that proves that the amending was helpful. None of the other plants in the planting were planted without amendments, so there is no basis for comparison. But they just know the amending produced a better result. It seems like it would be helpful, so it must be.

Most azaleas - not all - prefer shade and oak or pine mulch . They do have very shallow surface roots that are sun sensitive and dry out quickly . If necessary - Screen native soil of rocks by putting it through half-inch by half-inch hardware cloth. Then, mix up to 1/3 organic matter such as compost, peat moss, or composted manure into the native soil when planting . Do not use bagged store bought soil exclusively . It will make it difficult for roots to penetrate the native soil as they grow. Do not plant under an overhang or near downspouts, as rain run-off will damage the plants. It is also a good idea to avoid planting next to concrete walkways or foundations, as concrete surfaces have a very high pH and this can cause problems with growth and flowering. Do not use pea rock as mulch. Apply 3 inches of organic mulch, keeping it away from the trunk. This is very important to keep all mulch a good distance away from the trunk or stems of plants . Would any of these work for you ? coffee - Coffea arabica gardenia - Gardenia species Mexican fire bush - Hamelia patens firecracker vine - Manettia rubra false poinsettia - Mussaenda species wild coffee - Psychotria species panama rose - Rondeletia splendens bush pentas - Rondeletia leucophylla

I am at at Tim Horton's parking lot (free WiFi) so that I can get on my macbook to find a thread in the Hosta forum somewhere that could help me remember exactly what size pine to use in my media for my pots. Well, lo and behold I found this perfect thread and I thought it could use a 'bump' for this season considering there have been media questions. Anyway, now I can go back into Canadian Tire feeling confident that I will buy the right stuff. You should have seen the young lads face when I couldn't decide what to buy and I told him that I would be back after I visited my forum and asked my hosta friends :) Again...thanks so much to all of you really experienced folks who share your knowledge with the rest of us!