Plant spacing

[Noreaster]

It makes me smile every time I see it. They look like a couple of characters!

[boops]

You have no idea They are almost 3 1/2, I watch them a few days a week, I've never laughed so much in my life.

[party_music50]

boops, I love your avatar too! Just wanted to suggest that you can also use annuals to fill in those blank spots and give you the flowers you long to see... impatiens are great for that and I use them all the time! Nothing brightens a shaded spot like impatiens and you can put them directly in the ground or pots to be moved around if needed. I grow several dozen extra impatiens plants every year from seed just to tuck in with my hostas. And I can't tell from your photos whether you have the space and enough light through the taller trees, but I would want to plant rhododendrons along that fence and definitely in that corner.

And a shout out to stefan: your gardens are beautiful and I would love to see them in person! Looks like the perfect spot to sit and relax with a drink.... and I love the stonework!!!

[boops]

Hi there-the impatiens is a good idea, but locally they are not selling them because of some sort of disease they got last year causing them to collapse. I could put some petunias around. I had rhodies in those areas, they never flowered. I do however have numerous hydrangea near the fence, they are babies right now, but expecting some flowering this year. That back corner is a new garden, just cleared this weekend. There is an american serviceberry tree in there and I have goldenrod planted along the fences in that area as well as foxgloves and a baby continus "grace" which should get pretty tall in time. And I have an abelia coming for the corner. The central point of that garden with me a Dwarf weeping japanese red maple called Red Dragon which gets about 5 feet tall and will have a hosta patch on each side of it with Deutzia as a groundcover. A work in progress as they say. I have to do it a little at a time money wise. Will post when done.

[thy]

WOW Stefan, your garden is beautiful and I did not belive my eyes when I saw hostas planted under a palm
But it looks great

Anuals or easy to pull 2 year plants can be a way to go

Pia

[kaylyred]

This was my front bed this morning. My hostas are still unfurling (so sloooow this year), but you can see how I have them spaced. Honestly, when I look at it like this, I want to run out and buy a dozen or so small to medium hostas to cram in all the spaces in between. But it'll look more filled in after things finish leafing out over the next couple of weeks, so I need to be patient. I suck at patience.

[boops]

Karen, I think your garden looks great and you have a few that are still unfurling and they look like they are a nice size. I have no patience either

[Noreaster]

I think it looks great, too. Be sure to post a pic of that bed a month from now- I bet it will look much fuller too.

My garden is also slowly unfurling. I like observing the changes each day, though. It occured to me yesterday that I don't think I have a single hosta out there that hasn't been moved at least once. A garden is definitely a work in progress.

[kaylyred]

I walk around and look at the changes every day, too, Noreaster. Since this bed is in my front yard, I'm certain my neighbors think I'm the Weird Plant Lady who walks around talking to her garden every morning, and then sits on her garden swing and talks to it again every afternoon.

Also, the cranesbill clearly has to go. It's going to be warm and muggy today, but I'll bet by the end of the week...that stuff is moved somewhere else.

[stefan]

I did notWOW Stefan, your garden is beautiful and belive my eyes when I saw hostas planted under a palm

Hello palm trees are my other hobby besides hostas, a few palm trees are planted free in Ground
Karen you have beautiful hostas
Greetings Stefan

[kaylyred]

I'm really sweating the spacing thing today. I've already moved a couple of hostas and now I'm second-guessing my decisions. Just how long can a person stand out in the yard with a shovel in one hand and the other hand on her hip staring at the garden trying to envision it perfectly laid out?

Also, last year I decided to plant several ripple-edged hostas within close proximity. They're all large hostas in the same row along the walkway, with smaller (non-rippled and variously colored) hostas planted at their feet and in between them. Now I'm wondering if they're too similar to be that close together. (They're 'Komodo Dragon,' 'Queen of the Seas' and 'Journey's End.')

Growing a garden really is like painting a beautiful landscape, except that it's a good bit more difficult (or at least occasionally back-breaking) to change your mind!

[jerryshenk]

My wife and I have this discussion at least a couple times a week. She wanted a "hosta garden" with nothing else in it so 2 years ago, we started it. We tried to space things based on future growth so that each plant would be it's own "mound" but they would overlap just a little. Right in the middle were some rather large divisions that we got from a friend. To the left of them are plants that are now in their 2nd full year here. To the right are hosta that were planted last year. The far right hosta was just planted a month ago. We have some of them planted closer together than others based on future expected size....time will tell how well we did;)


DSC_20130525_082316_pp by jerryshenk, on Flickr

[Tigger]

Jerry,

I like this approach. Planting them for their 5-year size lets you appreciate each as individuals for a few years, then as a mass once they grow to full size. Then you can decide how to go from there (taking out some clumps entirely or dividing each and replacing in the same hole). They're not so hard to move around.

David

[Eleven]

I inherited an established overgrown bed of hostas.

First,I waded in, identified the noids, and removed all the duplicates.
Then I added my own first hostas --- too close together!
As soon as I realized how bad it was, I measured the beds and relocated about half.
Then everything looked so bare that I started adding more hostas to the bare spaces.

I just added/moved a few more yesterday and will probably have to relocate several next year.
On the bright side, I've only made one change to my third bed so far this year.
I'm really happy with it and think it just needs one small tweak to be good until 2014.

[kaylyred]

Looks beautiful! Just goes to show that every garden is a work in progress.

[Noreaster]

That looks really nice!