The plantings within the Dragon's Spine continue to need re-imagination.
The long-term shrubs, maple, pine, and astilbe are all doing fine. However, most of the plants I planted last fall didn't grow as expected.
Additionally, many of the hosta were eaten by rabbits and voles early in the spring, leaving them looking a bit distressed.
My plan is to try and fill in most of this area with hosta (I am going to try one more time). To begin, I removed most of the small plantings. I can use them later for filling in gaps. I then removed and transplanted a recovering spirea to another location.
Near the front of the house there were two very large hosta that had become too big for their locations, so I decided to transplant them into the Dragon Spine.
It is safe to say that I like symmetry and balance. Both plants have adjusted to the transplant, even in the midst of blooming. I then traveled around to local nurseries in search of new hosta.
Continuing the trend towards symmetry, I purchased two of each plant, for a total of 16 new hosta, including: 'Prairie Sky', 'Stained Glass', 'Patriot', 'Flavocircinalis', 'Blue Angel', 'Captain Kirk', and Silly String'. Cuttings and transplants from other hosta also were included, bur unfortunately I did not have the names of each handy.
I then spent the next day planting all of the hosta at my disposal, a total of 23 eventually filled the Dragon's Spine (with a total of 67 on property).
I recognize that many of these plants, which were already large, will continue to grow in size next year. My plan is to let them grow into each other and fight amongst themselves for supremacy. I will make adjustments along the way, but I am hoping for one large bed with numerous and diverse styles of plants (mostly hosta).
Note: the far left of the Dragon's Spine bed, near the bamboo, lantern, and large stones is off limits - it is going to be the location for a new water feature/basin that I plan to install later in the year - a topic for a later post.
