Yes, this is a safe method to get the Roundup where you want it. Time consuming, but safe.

Eleanor

I paint round-up on the cut stems of Jap knotweed and thistle. The problem with round-up painting in the rock garden, is you will still have the grass in there, only dead. eventually you should remove it, and hope all the tiny roots are dead too, so it doesn't pop up somewhere else in that bed. I tried to do that in a daylily bed, but the results were that the quack grass roots were not all killed, and it still pop-up in that bed---ugh!!! So now I hand pull it 3x a year--and try to ignore it the rest of the time.

I would suggest lifting all the plants and teasing out the grass, roots and all. Dig any remaining roots out of the soil, then tuck the H&C back in. They are very hardy, and shouldn't mind a bit.

Thanks for the replies folks

Regarding hens and chicks and hardiness.

When my brother Dave and his wife bought their first house, there were a number of hens and chicks planted in a bed near the foundation wall. He mentioned to her that if she knocks one out while weeding, no worry, just stick it back in.

Fast forward about 5 years....

Dave happens to watch wife weeding one day and notices that she has all the hens and chicks on the lawn and is digging with her trowel in the bed. He asks whats going on, she replies that she is weeding. He asks why the hens are on the lawn. She replies that is what he told her to do.

Seems she misunderstood and thought that the proper way to weed was to take out the hens and chicks, weed the bed, then plop them back. She had been doing that at least monthly for five years, not a single hen lost!

Well if that works why not LOL. Actually it just might be worth trying. They're barely in the soil and the lightest touch seems to pop them out anyways.

I think there are painters who work on garden landscapes, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: massachusetts painting