Hacking Up The Hostas

I have a tiny back "yard," all of 16 feet x 16 feet behind my townhouse unit. Fenced. Spent a number of years putting in my little perennial garden, complete with limestone rocks as border and larger ones as stepping stones. Have given blood (literally) and sweat and skin to that garden.

Then along came the boys, Nicki and Derry. And in one season (last year) they managed to demolish most of my hard work. They tore through the plants, swatted at them, nibbled on them, lay on them, played in and on them, hid in them. They managed to kill off everything but the chives along one side. Nothing but dead plants and mulch left.

So yesterday afternoon, it being an amazing 24C, I decided to split my hostas and put some in the empty space.

I've never tried to dig up and split hostas before. Mom told me it can involve hacking away with an axe and I now understand why. Even though I didn't use an axe. Do I even have an axe? Beats me. I'd have to go looking....

But my spade worked just as well. Sort of. Maybe. Okay, I had the devil of a time trying to dig up part of those two gigantic hostas. Eventually managed, but I'm sure I cut off a lot of the roots in the process. Well, what the hell. Lots more where they came from. I plopped them in and covered them up, threw some water on them, and that was it. If they grow, terrific. If not, I'll find something else. That part of the garden might be too sunny for them, actually. Guess I'll find out.

Then I planted some of last year's leftover sunflower seeds. Probably too early, but again, I really don't care. If they germinate, even if just one germinates, great. If not...shrug. Nothing lost. I've got some morning glory seeds soaking at home right now, will find a spot to plant those as well. My former neighbour used to have morning glories every year and they'd climb the fence, come down onto my side too. So pretty. They do tend to take over, though. Again, if my seeds germinate, super. If not, I'll make a trip to a garden centre some upcoming weekend and see what I can find.

I might throw in some annuals for colour this year. Hmm, maybe I'd better do baskets of annuals; the cats will leave those alone. Probably. Hopefully. Oh, and I've got some day lilies in a large container, now starting to sprout. Think I'll take those out and plant them outside my fence so they can spread. Assuming the lawn care company staff don't mow them down. Day lilies are toxic to cats, so I don't want the fur kids to have access to them.

As for the front of the unit...Usually I just hang baskets of flowers, but I'm not sure I'll bother with anything this year. Last year I had finches nesting in one of the hanging pots; that was very cool, watching the babies hatch and grow. I'd like to do something with the "lawn", but I think that's out of my means right now. Actually, I'd like to plant a tree. Something coniferous and fast growing.

Heck, maybe I should just plant hostas everywhere -- simple and cheap. :-)