Hosta frenzy.

When it’s lovely outside, like this past weekend, that’s where we are. Most lately, we’ve been attacking the hostas that threaten to take over.  This is serious, folks. They will take over if we don’t stop them.

(A photo from last June.) We have a crazy hosta yard. It’s totally beautiful … but also super weedy and a bit overgrown in spots. The long-time neighbor across the street estimates it’s been 8 – 10 years since these hostas have been split. They’re HUGE. One of our spring projects this year (with the gift of much more time at home) is to spruce up the beds. That means splitting, rearranging, landscape fabric, and mulch. As we go about this, we have hostas that need new homes – homes other than ours. A coworker came and took some but that wasn’t quite enough. So –

Last weekend, we began putting clumps of split hostas by the street and listed them on facebook marketplace. Dave built a little money drop box and attached it to our mailbox post. And, you know what, by the time our little roadside sale ended, we gather we sold approx. 77 clumps of hosta. And it’s just the beginning.  That’s from reworking maybe 1/4 of our hosta crop. Uffda. (The neighbor across the street – our insight to the past owners of the house – said that every couple years, this is exactly what the previous owner did. She split and she sold.)

Yesterday, we had six yards of mulch delivered. Yes. Six. Uffda again. I was outside this afternoon, putting down fabric and about to spread mulch when the seven year old from across the street rode his bike up our driveway. Can I see what you’re doing? Sure. I told him. He played frisbee with Emmett. And then he volunteered to help with the mulch. Free labor? Sure. Here’s a shovel, kid. I like gardening. Great. And while we worked he told me about how the world began and about the plant in his bedroom that he leaves a flashlight on for at night so it always has light.

We will keep plugging away, bit by bit. We do intend to add another small hosta garden, an orphanage if you will, for split plants that have no other home. And, in the meantime, if you need hostas, you know where to find them.