Me too! That fence is so much prettier than the busted chainlink that half-surrounds my yard. Super jealous.

I put in lots of astilbe in various shades of pink and red, some lavender foxglove, pink bleeding heart, and blue and chartreuse hostas. Plus creeping jenny, which is by far my favorite groundcover, and some burgundy glow ajuga. It bends around the corner of my house into the front garden that has lots of different types of coneflowers, peonies, bee balm, and little black violas mixed with silver brocade. Everything is small yet, but in another couple of years it’s going to be great!

Lori! “Moving Hostas” is my middle name. I am the queen of hosta transplanting and splitting. They are so hard to kill, don’t worry, you can move them easily. What you have to do is dig them out leaving a good amount of room around the base. They have really big and strong root systems, so ease them out gently. After you dig one or both of them out, stick them in a new hole, add a bit of compost if you like and then water them daily for a week or so. They might look wilted for a moment, but they will bounce right back. If you feel brave break them in half with your garden shovel and then you’ll have even more hostas to spread around your garden. You won’t kill them, I promise.

Thanks, Courtney!

Hey, Lexy! Isn’t that so great about peonies, they really do have beautiful foliage, especially some of the newer hybrid varieties. They do love the sun, I’m glad you figured out you should move them. Our new peonies will get a lot of sun at the beginning of the spring, over the course of the season the angle changes a bit, but I hope they will be happy here. I think next year I’ll invest in those stands that help the bushes stay upright, mine got all saggy this year.

Thanks, Megan! That is so sweet of you to say. It sounds like you are really getting into it. It’s all a process, I do the same thing, move it around, add a little here and avoid what I’ve learned doesn’t work for my yard. I actually bought my peony because it was very similar if not the same as a peony bush at my grandmas house. I love gardens that bring memories, do you have any peonies in your yard to remind you of your Gram?

Oh man, that is so encouraging. I bet your front yard looked great with them this spring. I bet by next year they will have doubled in size. Your shade perennial bed sounds beautiful, what plants did you use?