A foot is very narrow for a box hedge unless you are prepared to trim it frequently. Presumably dog walkers go past and the shrubs will not enjoy that at all.

Didn't think about the dogs. Is there a plant similar a box wood that would be narrow. I wouldn't mind trimming weekly or monthly. I would be a ok with nice perennial that would work in that long space.

If you wish to trim often, box OK. What you put depends where you are. In many places, it would be a row of Liriope. Elsewhere it would be Hosta, peonies or daylilies ... ferns ... Pachysandra. Also, it depends on what's going on on the other side of the fence if you put something that spreads.

Attaching additional photo

I knows the picture is old but, the Hosta does not seem to be spilling over the walk as you said. What makes it look cheap is the spottiness of the plants and alternating big, small. It would look better to be one kind of Hosta of uniform size in a hedge formation.

Yardvaark. I am new to gardening so this is all new to me. We bought the house last summer. We are in a Chicago suburb, so midwest. This is area is partial sun at best. This picture was when I trimmed the Hosta. Technically speaking our suburb has an ordinance that basically says that if you have anything blocking a path, it's a $250 fine but it's not enforced.

What we are thinking would be something that does not hang over too much, this not blocking the path. I could put grass there but it would a PITA to mow as its right next to sidewalk.

Any plant suggestions with the additional info?

Liriope would work. If you consider the current Hostas to be too encroaching there's not much choice that would be narrower. Apart from miniature Hostas. Any shrub, such as box, would not be happy backed up against a fence like that. There would be no air or light on the back of the hedge and it would suffer. I'd be inclined to divide the Hostas that are there and fill in the spaces. It would cost you nothing to do that.

"This picture was when I trimmed the Hosta"

Hosta are not normally trimmed. If they are too large, replace with smaller ones. There are hundreds of hosta cultivars available.

Ditto. Hosta is not a plant that can be trimmed.

Part of the problem of making progress with this thread, Andrey, is that you don't resolve the issues/questions that are raised. You're unhappy with Hosta. Other than it "hanging over the walk" you don't say what specifically is the problem. I suggested it might be spottiness and irregular size, but you don't confirm. It's a fact that any perennial is going to curl over the walk to some degree. One must pick one that is not too bad about this. The dwarf Hosta would be just as good as any other plant. From the picture, it looks like you have dwarfs, full size, in between, and that they are all mixed up. It looks like if you replicated the dwarf one at the far left of the run, without any gaps, you would end up with a decent hedge that would not be a problem with the walk. You might could use 'Stella d'Oro' Daylily instead and achieve a similar effect, but with yellow flowers all summer long. If this was in zone 7, I guaranty you would be using Liriope. But I think where you are, it's too cold. I grew up in DeKalb and no one had Liriope there. I can't say if being closer to Chicago makes enough difference, but doubt it does.

Insofar as the city not enforcing the sidewalk-blocking ordinance, I'm sure they would if a plant (or anything else) really blocked the walk. But the ordinance enforcers of most cities are not bonafide Nazis waiting like spiders to pounce on anyone who lets a few leaves grow a little over the edge. Too, I'm sure they give warnings and an opportunity to fix things before they haul anyone off to prison.

Yardvaark,

To be honest, my wife hates the hostas. In the summer months, the leaves were hanging about 12" into the sidewalk, making it a small path to walk to our garage. The spacing is also an issue as it looks random. We use our front entrance 95% of the time. I'm leaning towards daylily or or a combination of "flowers" that are perennials.

What do you think about a possible combination of 2ft long dwarf boxwood and then daylily the more dwarf boxwood and then daylily again?

if I were you I would use pachysandra..evergreen, almost maintenance free - would probably need to clip it away from the sidewalk eventually..mine rarely needs clipping..so easy - I don't water it , mulch it or even get the leaves out of it (leaves disappear)..mine always looks good..better than weeds..kinda boring but effortless..

Using an alternating pattern of boxwood and something else is about the quickest way to develop the "country granny" garden look. Thumbs down on that from me. A solid row of anything would be preferable. Or, instead of an alternating pattern, it would be acceptable to begin the row with a group of something, continue the row with it's main plant, and then finish the row with whatever you began it with -- "bookend" style, but the bookends being more than just a single plant.

One thing we landscape designers discover is that some people "hate" this or that plant because of a completely irrational reason. I'm exposed to far more plants than the average homeowner and I barely hate ANY of them! Much has to do with how a plant is used. It is virtually unimaginable that a person could actually have a rational reason to hate Hosta. Now people might hate the way your Hosta are. It's been pointed out there are flaws in the arrangement ... but it's not the fault of the Hosta! It's that someone mixed a bunch of different ones up and planted them spottily. Let's not blame Hosta for those errors. It would be like saying "I hate oranges" because once and a while one can be rotten.

Pachysandra, if you have enough shade, is a great solution exactly as Nicholsworth described. The dwarf daylily is a good solution. The "combination of 'flowers'" -- a possibility you mentioned -- is up for grabs. It could be good, or horrible depending on the details of what you really mean.

This is a picture of Mouse Ears Hosta, a miniature Hosta. Estimated to grow 6" high (not including the flowers) and 12" across in a mound shape. If the fence provides some shade, and you could make sure they get about 1" of water a week, I think these would be great.

That's the bloomingest Hosta ever! Very pretty.

Geranium mentioned by your landscaper probably means cranesbill or hardy geranium, which is a perennial plant. There are many cultivars, but my favourite is the all summer long flowering 'Rozanne', but it's likely a bit too wide for your location. A good smaller alternative would be 'Ballerina'

I agree with others here that choosing a single plant and using it for the whole row would probably give a cleaner look. Cranesbills or daylilies both look good are really easy to grow. If you really want to go for alternating planting, my choice would be using sage and lady's mantle.

Also, plant some bulbs like daffodils in between the perennial plants for early spring flowers.