Hooo-boy! I'm sending this to my DH......

Truly, there is no such thing as too many hosta.

Hoot-man. If Scott's had its way you'd be using ferts every week. Mow and fert all at once. Lawns are waaay overrated.

My front lawn last spring.

You can see bits of grass here and there. Just enough to rest the eyes.

tj

That Mr. In the pic has intense eyes - nice!
TJ , love your front garden and token grass. It's lovely.

Jo

You must spend a lot of time on the dwarf conifer forum with Ken too! Beautiful landscaping, just beautiful!

Ken? Ken who?

Thanks Jo & Garry. The idea Don and I are touting is to not let Scott's dictate what a lawn should be. When in doubt, rip it out.

tj

Spoken like a true hosta lover! That's a motto that makes perfect sense! I'm making more hosta room too, lol :-)

"Spoken like a true hosta lover!"

Well, er, let's just say plant lover. I have a grand total of two, yes, count 'em, two hosta in my front yard. More to come, I'm sure.

I spent 14 years trying to fine tune my gardening skills in the back yard before I realized I was never going to get things right the first time (or the second, or third) so I figured I'd just start winging it in front.

Outline the beds with a hose or rope, cut the grass short, cover it with 10 or so layers of newspaper, cover that with anything organic (compost, mulch, leaves), let it sit over winter and plant through it all in the spring. No back breaking sod removal.

tj

Tsuga, I had the pictures of your conifer garden from years ago. They are gorgeous. Every foot of it commanding attention.

Plus your way of doing a bed is PERFECT. I don't believe in digging flower beds either....although DH does. He is also the lawn enthusiast. I mulched almost the entire Back40. My kind of garden. You can see how pots would appeal to me. :)

Hey Don who is this Scott guy? kinda looks like one of them serial killers lol.

tj, I really like your front garden love the conifers with the alliums.

Denis

Now That is a lawn I can love, TJ.

Denis, 'Scott' is the pitchman/actor for a series of TV commercials here in the U.S. The products are for lawn-care, seed, fertilizer blah blah blah that kind of stuff. Fertilize your lawn 50 times a year or it'll die blah blah blah.

I much prefer TJ's idea of a 'lawn'. Looks fantastic, TJ.

Don B.

Scotts can't make any money on conifers, because conifers are not to be fertilized usually. Picture taken this morning, here is part of my front yard, also inspired by the GW Conifer Forum. There are some heathers in between. I have two h.'Orange Marmalade' growing in between those conifers, in their shade. There is a difference, usually hostas do not like bright sun, but conifers need a lot of sun. Bernd

Here is a hellebore growing in between some conifers this morning. Bernd

Thanks Don, Denis & Moc.

Bernd, you have some very nice looking plants and a good mix of cultivars.

Moc, once I learned that method of lawn killing there was no stopping me. No poisons, no back breaking work and in the end you amend the soil (which my clay requires).

tj

tj, your gardens are always so good looking! Right now some of my plants are not looking their best, some conifers have a lot of yellow, will probably be replaced with new foliage in May.
Bernd