Just use a putty knife. Hold it flat against the wall as you scrape off the drips, and no one will get hurt. If the walls have not been painted in several years, be sure to wash them well and PRIME before painting. Hardly anyone does this with their walls, unless they have to cover up a dark color, but it will make all the difference in how well the paint adheres to the wall and how beautiful it looks on the wall. It's a pain, but totally worth it.

Unfortunately, I donâÂÂt have a sample board of the treatment, to use for testing. It would make it so much easier. I do make them now. IâÂÂm afraid I canâÂÂt imagine the warm gray glaze. I want to neutralize the pink a bit, but am having a hard time visualizing how adding gray tones would go with the warm wood colors. I thought of adding in some of the bottom color, but blue-green + pink equals some shade of purple (!) If I remember correctly, adding the complementary color would tone down the intensity. Which for pink, would be a green with a touch of yellow, right? There ARE a few touches of ochre: I added a bit a few years back when I hung some pictures with ochre toned mats. IâÂÂm concerned that if I use an overall ochre glaze, though, it will make the wall look âÂÂdirty.â IâÂÂm thinking now of adding some by pouncing with a dry sponge and a small amount of the diluted ochre color mixed with water. I could build it up gradually so as not to go too far all at once.

Msgirl asked very good questions that I always learn from her. Sam, thank you for the reply. Looking at Hawaii's rose park: vivid & deep color, indicative of DEEP & fertile soil rich in volcanic ash. Plus roses in public parks are GRAFTED on Dr. Huey which can reach deep below for nutrients. Chicago Botanical Gardens' hybrid-tea roses are grafted. Even with their loamy fluffy soil: their Old Garden Roses (most are own-roots) can't go down deep ... and their blooms become 1/2 size in our record-rain this year, due to calcium & nutrients leaching. It's worse in my heavy clay, only 1 foot of top soil, below is ICKY sub-clay that no plants can grow, not even weeds. With wimpy own-roots, really tiny like alfalfa sprouts, in 1-foot-soil, and 40 inch. of rain, plus 32 inch. of snow per year ... that will leach out nutrients UNLESS solid stuff is added on top. I see own-roots like babies: if they are really tiny like Jude the Obscure, they can't handle solids, and have to be spoon-fed constantly with tiny, diluted amount of SOLUBLE fertilizer ... tiny roots can't hold much at one time, and die if too much is given. That's why slow-released organics, low NPK 2-1-2 & low-salt like alfalfa works well with own-roots. Re-mineralization on top works for own-roots, since they can't reach deep down. Even with aggressive own-roots like Romantica French roses: it's thick & woody surface roots, rather than a straight stick down like Dr. Huey. Frederic Mistral died after many years in my garden, when I dug that up, thick & woody, but within the top 6" of soil ... I put 1 bag of sand, 1 bag of organics, and 2 bags of top soil. The soil is deep & fluffy & loamy soil ... it's just the nature of the root expanding across, rather than a straight stick down like Dr. Huey. Mirandy is known to survive zone 5a for decades, when I killed it on purpose, the root was a straight-stick deep down, very much like Dr. Huey. Dr. Huey is a huge & woody straight-down stick. He doesn't need to be fed nor watered that often. Dr. Huey is so aggressive that within one month of planting, it reached deep down to the sub-clay beneath, I broke 1/4 of Dr. Huey when I dug up Pink Peace ... but the rose was perky after I re-planted. So re-mineralization is NOT needed for Dr. Huey, he can extend 4 feet across to steal water and nutrients from elsewhere. I spent 1 and 1/2 hour killing Dr.Huey rootstock. Yes, the root extended that far: 4 feet across, and at least 2 feet deep. Someone in Colorado reported killing Dr. Huey, and 5-years later, it sprouted again. My neighbor spent $$$ to have a tree chopped down, but they did not dig up all the roots. Few years later, I saw a bunch of shoots where the tree was chopped off. My zone 5a is infested with ugly, tall Dr. Huey take-overs . Homeowners don't have the time to kill Dr. Huey.

First remove the rocks, so that you can actually get to the soil. You said you can't even weed properly because of these rocks, so they need to get moved. That can be manual or you can use some machines but it'll cost you money or time. Secondly, once the rocks are removed, you can amend the soil and keep on it to stop future weeds. That may include chemicals or doing it by hand, but actually when you get that initial rush of weeds down, staying on top of it can be done on a regular basis. Thirdy, you'll want to put something there to crowd out the weeds. That could be mulch or other actual plants. Fourth, you can also treat this patch like you would other parts of your grassy yard and follow a weeding schedule throughout the year, such as using pre-emergents or weed killer at the appropriate times of the year.