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Small Spaces / Urban Gardening

The narrow space between houses

18 years ago

Any creative ideas for this dark and windy area?

I was thinking a kind of dry streambed perhaps, with ferns?

Featured Answer

pitimpinai

18 years ago

Thanks.
I placed bricks at intervals between the hostas to step on. It is not that difficult to go down between the hostas, but the Hydrangeas midway on the bed and Honeysuckle & ivy on the fence made it impossible to walk through last summer. I trimmed the Honeysuckle and ivy last fall trying to keep the vines in check.

Since the area is planted very densely, there are no weeds to pull. LOL. I placed a soaker hose there but it didn't work well so I water the bed from my neighbor's sidewalk. I just hung my hose from the fence. :-) I don't water much because my entire garden is heavily mulched. There are a lot of slugs, though so I apply Escar-go a few times a season.

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Comments (10)

esmerrelda
18 years ago
I've seen on the gardening shows where they have put in pavers and small shrubs and made it like a "secret garden".
pitimpinai
18 years ago
This is between my house and my neighbor's:

There is a 12" strip between my fence and my neighbor's sidewalk and another 12" between her sidewalk and her house.
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wolfe15136
Original Author
18 years ago
Oh that is nice!

Hostas and lanium!
alison
18 years ago
Nice combination!

Is it difficult to get back there to water and weed, or do you need to do much of either? (I'm amazed how nicely my hosta shades out everything but the mint.)
fliptx
18 years ago
That's a beautiful hosta planting. It looks like the floor of some enchanted forest. I think that's helped me decide to try hostas in my shady window box.
alison
18 years ago
What kind of hostas do you have? I have Royal Standards, because I like the scent, but my mother has a nice varigated, pale almost white bordered with green, that have lavender flowers. Is the blue-green one in the foreground scented?
pitimpinai
18 years ago
I think 'Royal Standard' is very fragrant too.
I don't know the name of the green and white one. It's the kind found everywhere. The blue one is 'Halcyon'. It is not fragrant. The big green with white flower IS the fragrant one called 'August Lily' (H. plantaginea). A friend gave me the yellow one. I don't know what it is called.

Wolfe, if your hosta is 'June', I'll be very happy. I just bought a small 'June' last summer. I am looking forward to see her grow. I'll have to find her a large pot, though. I have no room to put her in the garden.
alison
14 years ago
This is such a beautiful solution to a problem area many of us have, I thought I'd bump the thread up for new visitors to the forum.

I've got an equally long a shady spot on the side of my house, and I'm thinking of doing something just like this.

Great space, pitimpinai!
ceavig
2 years ago
Lovely ! Our offset space is probably 6 feet between the two houses going east/west so does get a fair amount of (sometimes intense) San Diego CA. morning sun. I was thinking of Calla Lily’s in this space but I love the idea of something with fragrant blooms. Thank you so much for sharing the image and information.

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