This happens to me all the time...I plant a starter plant in a spot and a year later, it is already too big for the space. You can figure out how large honeybells will get, and move them over to give them more space. Obviously, that means you'll have to widen the border. Some people with older Honeybells than mine may be able to give you an idea on size. Mine is about 30" across and it is only 3 years old. I believe I read that it is about 40-45 at maturity. If you don't want to create more width in your border, it might be smart to find a smaller hosta. I'm glad you posted. I remembered your post and it is neat to see how fast a hosta can fill in!

Thank you, Mary. There's no hurry about a border, I have more pressures than that right now. If I move them, I will have to pay somebody to do it. I cannot dig on that slope but I can still do some on the level. My back limits what I can do. I suppose I could, but I have to be careful not to fall, and I need golf shoes :-). Seriously, and it would still be very risky for me as I already fell once this spring on the other terrace in front. I wanted to tear out the whole terrace on the right there and make tiers and fill with plants. Now I may just start planting it as it is with help, of course. But I'm afraid I'll get in over my head so have held off with that idea.

I'm glad you remember me as I hardly ever post here because I don't have a good plan for a hosta bed and small yard. Oh yes, I saw the jungle of them my neighbor had and should have thought of that. I hadn't thought of putting smaller ones there but could maybe next year and move these somewhere else; I love them even if they're common.

The border can be as wide as I care to make it, it's the doing. I'm thinking even if I divide them in half by the steps and give some away, they will just fill back in no time. Wish I'd thought about how big they might get. When she brought them to me, I found them by the back door wilted and was caught off guard, planted them right away.

And I specifically asked for smallish sections so I could plant with my bulb planter which was about the only way I could have managed that there. Worked great but was still hard, had to lean over that rail for the one side and hold the rail if I walk up it, still could lose my footing.

If it gets too bad before I can do anything about it, I will have to cut out leaves that encroach on the steps. That will get old. Nothing I do turns out like I dream in my head. At least they will keep some of the weeds and nasty Bermuda grass down. Maybe. We'll see as summer goes along. Grass B Gone works well.

I remember you, too!! I love the progress reports and your project is turning out great!!!
I love how the 'Honeybells' look next to your steps! A very good choice!!

Thanks for the update--and hang with us some more!! :o)

They look real good this year, I remember from last year as well.
I think next spring dig a chunk out that is closest to the steps as it is emerging, in each clump. It will grow more in the opposite dirtection if you keep removing the side near the stairs.
The tree roots are probably limiting the growth, need more water.

Dave

hey_j and debowemb, wow, thank you. I woke up this morning feeling pretty darn discouraged about everything (not too much the hostas but all the rest of it), ended up in tears. I'm not so discouraged so as to tear it all out and go back to grass though, but I have thought about it.

Now I feel a lot better about it all, and I will do exactly as you said because it does not sound too hard. Cut off smaller divisions near the steps when they emerge. Little more water on one side than the other.

If I get help this weekend with the awful weeds in the lawn and get all my plants in (will take a month or two as I'm starting lots of perennial seeds), then I do want to get back to edging there, was thinking about it all winter. It would be a little hard for me, but I was thinking of flat bricks. The neighbor has some that have curves in the ends to fit together like a puzzle so you can lay them straight, in curves or circles, but I think flat ones would be better. I picked up some perfect ones at Habitat Restore a couple years ago but was too tired to load and unload many more so don't have enough. It's harder to find the kind without holes.

If I do go with bricks, it will be hard to dig the channel, and I will want to stretch a line for a guide. But if I don't try to do it all at once, I can manage. Should I lay sand at the bottom?

I will try to hang around here more. It's a wonderful group here, surprised you remember me when I know without seeing photos how beautiful some of your gardens must be and I only posted on a couple of threads.

When I'm ready, and it won't be for a few weeks, I'll post a photo, and maybe you can help me decide what might work in the shade behind my garage. The only problem is water back there, have to haul it in whatever as heavy as I can lift. I would love to get gutters on it and downspouts so I can have a couple of rainbarrels back there. That would help so much get that part of the yard spiffed up. I can't really afford it this year. Maybe I'll figure out a way.

Why is that downspout extender hanging in mid-air? I would shorten it, direct it in the direction of the hosta, and/or add a device (maybe a burlap bag or such) to dispurse the water more evenly, rather than creating a gulley type flow.

It's less labor intensive to just lay bricks over the soil where you want them, they will work themselves down. Trenching is unnecessary.

Because that's the way the guy who put the gutter up which spills over did it. I hate it and want one of those fat flexible black plastic things you bury, would have to get the slope right and filter the opening since attaching it to the downspout will do no good because of all the spillover. A gutter company did not want my job to do it right but did tell me I need a wider gutter there. I don't think that spout even works, and I had somebody check if it was clear all the way up. It was, ran the hose down it, can't remember if any came out the other end or not.

It's supposed to rain in a couple of days, so I'll check if anything comes out of it. I can guarantee you there will be a nasty puddle that takes awhile to soak on down and gets in the corner of the basement. Ugh! I'll have to set my 5 gal buckets out to catch some of it, then use it to water plants. Ugh again! Look awful. I don't have a DH and help is sporadic. You would not believe how I have to improvise, the toilet is broken so I tied a string to the plunger chain until I can repair it. I duct taped a nice terra cotta planter my daughter broke. I tried to glue with with old but unopened J. B. Weld, and while I left the room crash. Put it back and crash again, broke into two more pieces. And that isn't the worst of it around here. If I got everything done and done right, well I cannot afford it and would rather put up with it than other options, none good. I spend money on plants and photography and couldn't have any of it if I did it all.

If I angle it to direct it, the iris may get too waterlogged as well as a rose I have planted by the arbor there which is not doing well at all but it is pretty long and might bypass the rose, again if it works.

Thanks for the tip about the bricks. That is exactly what I will do when I find enough bricks. I 'spose things will grow between the cracks but not as bad as nothing. That makes is sound so doable now. Fantastic!

My daughter asked why I don't use my glass blocks I found in somebody's trash. Well I wouldn't like them there, and they would be slippery plus may be too reflective and burn something. I hate to give them away after carting them home and piling in the garage that hot, humid day.

One chore at a time, we're getting it now, got some stuff done today, any little thing makes me feel like I've accomplished something. Tomorrow and subsequent days, I have to dig quite a bit :-( I yak too much, must be tiresome.

If your gutter spills over naturally, you could put a rain barrel there to catch that water. Car washes give away big white plastic drums, and spigots are simple to install. You would just need to drill a hole or two. Attach a garden or soaker hose to direct water wherever you want. Go Green!

My favorite fix anything product is Sportsman Goop, waterproof, weatherproof and instant grab. Cures quickly.

If you have enuf glass blocks sitting around, you could paint them to cut the glare and slipperiness. Outdoor paint should last at least one season. I dunno how they would work as edgers.

I tend to send messages with as few words as possible, sometimes leaving out small details, but I enjoy finding simple solutions to situations that bug me.

mary and All, I've been wanting 2 rain barrels anyway would prefer the others, naturally. I'll see if I can pick up what you suggested, I'll find something appropriate. The main spillovers are two streams, was using Walmart tubs but they cracked over the winter. I can tolerate buckets one more summer if I don't get to it and get it done in the winter. I've got most tools, and you made it sound like I can do it myself. I've looked at beaucoup DIY improvised rainbarrels and thought they would be too hard. Once again, thank you!

The glass blocks can wait, I just threw that in and now that I've gotten it this far, I want it more traditional and like the bricks idea even if it will take a bit to find nice ones.

I need to train my keyboard not to spill out all my nonsense and be more succinct like you. Nobody wants to read all this stuff.

This should have been posted first, how it was May 25, 2006, forgot I posted these photos asking advice about some concrete repairs on usenet, didn't know about gardenweb then. It wasn't too bad when we moved here in 68, but over the years . . .frost heave and such . . .I doubt the neighbors ever thought I'd do anything about any of it. I didn't either until one day I decided I could not stand it looking like this any more and very slowly started trying to make things better, had just given up in apathy. I feared someone falling on them, no prob for me then but would be now so I'm so glad I got that done.

After I got that far, I didn't want rails from a big box store. This is how I am. Go without or have to have exactly what I want. I had a photo down the street of the rail I wanted on a neighbor's front steps, heavier gauge, and posted it on the web, made a local iron works look at it. They custom made them for me. Some of it is off-the-shelf components. Had my front porch rails which had broken off made to match. It was expensive but well worth it to me. Spend here, economize or DIY there.

Quite a difference. This is a nice neighborhood not a slum, but you wouldn't know it from the photo, would you? I wish I'd posted it when the others were more likely to see it, didn't think of it.

{{gwi:1012069}}

First off, don't feel bad about not foreseeing how HUGE your hostas would grow to be in such a short period of time... I keep dividing mine and spreading them out and giving them away and dividing them and spreading them out again and giving them away.... and guess what I need to do AGAIN this year? *sigh*

So far this year I took three whole hostas out of my hosta garden and moved them to another part of the yard, and I can still only see a teeny tiny bit of dirt in between my plants (and that's only in the spot where I took out two adjacent plants!). I figure I'll have to remove half a dozen, which means I'll have to rearrange the ones that will remain... I thought I was DONE with this hosta bed! LOL

As for your downspout issue, DH was complaining about a couple of our inconveniently-located downspouts, and I asked him why he didn't just put up those rollaway versions. He cocked his head like a confused puppy-dog, and I explained that they're a flexible plastic piece that you tie onto the downspout and it unrolls when it rains and disburses the water, then it rolls itself back up when the water's gone. He got so excited, he looked like a kid on Christmas morning, and by the time I got home from work, he had three of them installed. (link below)

Hang in there.... you've always got "hosta family" that you can count on here when things have you feeling harried!

Here is a link that might be useful: roll-up downspouts

imahockeymom, I did check back a couple times and thought this was done fini. So sorry. This thread I remembered but post on some and the site needs a "my threads" feature like dpreview, click on a My Threads link and it will show the status of every thread I've posted to whether I started it or not, very convenient.

I only feel bad because it will mean more work, but I saw a video on youtube how you do it in the early spring when they just poke through. It looked "doable", and then separate them. My daughter wants some, and I hate to throw them away but they're so common, don't know if anybody will want them.

I was looking by my shade garden and kinda wishing I had moved and kept those Patriots, they had gotten "dimpled" by this year and really pretty, and they are $$$. Oh well. I got my daisies which I really wanted.

Nobody told me when I got on this craze 3 years ago that I'd spend as much time moving and reshuffling stuff as planting it in the first place lol. I just got in from moving two clumps of iris that were crowding my Reine des Violettes roses. And planting a pot of them I kept in the sunroom for the winter because I was too tired last fall to even think of planting them, they came as a "bonus", and I didn't really want them, but hate to waste plants. Hope I didn't kill the other iris; they're beautiful.

Three-ring circus, son was here, he'll take some of my hosta. Now that things are looking better around here, they all want some of it lol. And he's going to help me Sat w/a friend, I do everything I can myself, but some things I just can't do. I still dig, but can't do a whole lot at a time.

The curly thing on the downspout well it might work, worth a try. It spills over the gutter because the gutter is short and cannot handle it, been here 40 years and don't remember it ever being like that until the old one fell off.

I'll hang in there, been lookin' at hostas. This is the nicest forum, great bunch of people, so enthused and dedicated, and I don't know diddley squat about all the different ones. What on earth do I have to offer here? I do like to look at the photo threads.

i see you did update us on the step project.. and i missed it

ken

ken, yeah thread got too old. Should have posted that from the gitgo. Nobody can possibly follow every thread and especially if they jump forums like I do.

Son was just here and did some stuff. People like to get things over and done with, I didn't expect him in the rain, had a buddy w/him, and I got bossy and got out 2 plastic cutting things I use for sewing to hold against plants and shield them. But I was not quick enough and had to do some yelling, please don't get too close to that and that, I can never replace some of the roses I rooted because they are disappearing from where I got them.

Sure enough, he got one hosta leaf pretty good but at least it wasn't Roundup. Oh me.

Hostas are going like gangbusters now. Lots of rain.

He did notice my gutter problem, said I ought to have them done. Well, yeah, but I'm going to have to pay $5500 to have a huge tree taken down, must be done, and that's going to shoot the budget for big ticket stuff for this year for sure.