Saturday, June 20, 2009

A Hosta Takeover

We have a tall, narrow, East facing 1920's brick house on a long narrow lot with a plenty of mature trees. Our frontage is only 33' and that includes half of a driveway (we share the drive with our neighbours). On the South side the neighbour has very tall cedars that form a fence between our properties. His tiny yard has a large-ish maple centered in it. We have a large-ish deciduous tree in ours as well. The tree canopy blocks any rain from hitting the ground. As a consequence of these feature we have a tiny yard that is perpetually dry and in shade. Not surpisingly, we haven't had any luck keeping grass growing there.
Last year we planted hostas. Little tiny hostas from dividing the ones I had as well as a few that a friend brought over (along with 10 bags of soil and some muscles) for my birthday. We dug up an "L" shape that goes along the stone pathways and built up the soil.
This year a neighbour brought over a few wheelbarrows of mulch he didn't need.

(The above picture was taken from the driveway, so you can imagine how small the yard is.)
Another friend donated the large hosta from her own garden. Last year it was a single leaf. Look how well it is doing!
The grass still isn't doing well, despite the wet weather. Maybe next year the entire yard with be hostified! Who needs grass anyway?

3 comments:

Ann Made Studio said...

I love hostas. We have some in our back yard and it appears that where they are must be the perfect place for them because they are "huge". (I'll post a picture.)

Claudine said...

LOL 33 inches? I'm trying to picture that.

Patricia said...

Ooops! I had better correct that one. The lot is narrow, but not THAT narrow!