Wandering Hosta

I've started working on the Mini-Zen garden that will be along side the new back steps/porch. I can't paint yet due to rain, so I took this opportunity to clean out the area and clean up the basement window.

I then applied a new layer of heavy duty weed fabric. I still have to work on the "bucket" area which will be directly below the rain chain I am installing later in the week. 

The bucket has holes drilled through the bottom and is filled with stones. It acts as a basic from of drainage for the rain chain.

I now have to start thinking about what the final design will look like. Its a small and tight area, so it cannot accommodate a lot of plants. I desperately want to hide the window from view, so I am thinking of moving a small Hosta from the island in front of the house that has outgrown its location.

In the meantime, I removed the Hosta Blue Cadet (Funkia, Plantain Lily) that I had transplanted here back in May (just behind the rock). 

May 2023

It was doing very well, but I knew I had panted it too close to the see through fence and I would have to move it again in the future. So, I decided just to take it out. 

I then placed it in the viewing garden in a location I had recently altered. 

This location in the viewing garden has always been in need of amended soil. There was a think layer of crushed gravel where a small Hosta resided along the driveway (left side of image below), and the Mr. Bolwing Ball Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis 'Bobozam') next to the Hosta was also seemingly unwell. Additionaly, a Rheingold Arborvitea (Thuja occidentalis ‘Rheingold’) that was in this location since 2014 had become so unwell that 90% of its foliage was dead. So, I removed the Rheingold Arborvitea, choped it up, and bucketed a couple remnants for use somewhere else.

I then removed three wheelbarrows full of dirt and gravel, and then added four very large bags of new soil to amend the location. Afterwords, I replaced the Hosta and the Mr. Bolwing Ball Arborvitae, and left a large open spot for the Hosta Blue Cadet from the new mini-Zen garden. 

I left significant gaps between each plant so that they would have space to grow over time. In the meantime I can fill in the gaps with some annuals.

This post is a perfect example of how a change in one area of the garden can impact, or be impacted, by a change elsewhere in the garden. Maintaining a garden is never simple.