Ready for another outdoor update? This time we turned a handful of volunteer hostas from the backyard into a quick front-yard refresh. Our backyard planting bed is a bit of a disaster still, but those extra hostas were doing nothing back there, so we dug up about five and put them to better use.
First target: the sad mailbox planting, which had been overrun with weeds this spring. The mums that had been there turned into dead sticks over winter, and there was even a big rock we’d temporarily set in the bed. That iron squirrel lawn ornament was tipped over behind a lone daffodil, which wasn’t exactly making the best first impression for passersby.
We pulled the weeds out of the driveway, which made a surprisingly big difference, and propped the squirrel in some liriope for a minute while we worked. The plan, inspired by landscape advice we’d read, was either to enlarge the planting bed around the mailbox or let it naturalize with grass or groundcover. We weren’t up for expanding the bed right then, and we liked how petunias looked there last year, so we opted for a simpler refresh this season.
We picked up three pots of petunias from Home Depot and paired them with three of the transplanted hostas. The arrangement looks a bit spaced out at the moment, but based on how well things fill in in that spot, we expect it to look much fuller within a month or two.
A fresh layer of mulch helped tidy things up immediately. That said, this is where the earlier advice rings true: the area would look even better if the bed were larger and had a softer curve for more curb appeal. It’s on the to-do list for next year.
We still had a few hostas without a home, so we planted them in another bare spot in the front bed. That simple move made a noticeable improvement right away.
Mulch makes a big visual difference, though it can fade in the sun and pollen after a few weeks. We typically buy the darkest brown wood mulch from Home Depot on sale—once the beds are established we’ll likely arrange a bulk mulch delivery, which is usually cheaper than buying bags.
Hostas tend to get large as the season progresses—many varieties expand to 20+ inches across—so the new plants should fill in and stop looking so small. We’ve extended the plantings a bit more, and something else we’ve been working on is starting to come in, which will tie the area together even better once it’s mowed and photographed.
One of the great things about hostas: they’re tough. They often volunteer around our yard, so we don’t always need to buy them. Once, we found a hosta sprouting inside a sealed Tupperware bin in our basement after a move, having lived without light or water for weeks—proof they’re hard to kill and often surprise us.
We should really update our master list of outdoor tasks—there’s progress, and a few more projects to cross off.