Well, you can either start mowing the lawn...

Or move the hosta. :)

Will it look better next year? No. All that abuse will set it back. Plant needs the leaves to build roots.

Of course, it might look better than it does right now. Or it might not return at all.

I like mocc's idea of putting a price tag on a raised sign...that might help!

I have a neighbor who hates the dozen or so huge overgrown Albomarginatas lining his walkway. He complains that they start looking terrible (full sun, no water, no pest control attempts) and mows them to the ground about this time every year. They come back bigger in the spring just to spite him. I know albos are notoriously weed-like in their persistance, but I'd be willing to bet yours will bouce back too.

Thank you for the input.

Cilantro-I guess I meant "look better next year than it does at the current moment". I know the mowing will have taken some sort of toll on it. Your comment about mowing the lawn myself got me to thinking....maybe this is some sort of trick to get me to take his job. He hates mowing the lawn. Hmmmmm....lol.

Here's what the plant used to look like. It's new this year, so it was fairly small to begin with.

Here's what it looks like today. I guess it has 4 leaves on it, not 2 as I previously stated. I hope it comes back.

This post was edited by flower-frenzy on Mon, Jul 22, 13 at 15:22

I edged my beds with seven inch wide landscape blocks. There are walls of the same block, so they fit right in, and the mower wheel goes on the concrete, so I have less to weed-wack. Or you could go with another favorite trick - paint rebar a nice bright color and pound it in. Mine are hose guards - I was dragging hoses over hostas all the time. I use 6 ft. bars, but it comes in 2 foot lengths, just right for a decorative border.

I have some "decorative fence" pieces that I use for decor in front of my trees in my tree rings. The decorative fence title was what the store called them. It couldn't possibly fence anything, they are just a panel. But I used one at my neighbors to protect their hostas from their hired lawnmower. (The house is owned by siblings that live in three different states, they use it a couple times a year as a quilting retreat.) They have a hosta bed that is overcrowded, but beautiful. Mostly very common hostas, but there are a few they picked up at our arboretum. Anyway, one at the front got mowed over and stepped on several times last year, this year one of my panels is in front on the bed, and it looks great and has worked wonderfully. :)

Well, I use those ornamental stick-in-the-ground flower bed edgers that are about 10 inches tall, with spikes to put in the ground, over by our roof-sitting neighbor's property line. It was my attempt to keep that bed looking good from both approaches, which I considered BIG OF ME.

Well, since it was put in, the guy does not go parallel to the edged bed, he goes back and forth, so he always hits the edgers, and has broken off I don't know how many of them.....I even put down a row of old bricks to allow his lawn mower wheel to ride on the bricks, but he instead rather furiously pushes the power against my edgers. And now, I observed that he is further adding injury to the bed by stepping into it as he turns the mower. I don't get NO RESPECT, I tell you!

I am having visions of yucca...the big things called SPANISH DAGGERS, if you know the plant. They like it dry and hot, and you won't see anyone stepping near them for any reason. He knocked over one of my Italian cypress, root ball totally out of the ground. And he moved the edging and brick crooked so there was more space on his side up next to the wooden fencing. What am I going to do with this guy?

As soon as we can, I think we'll put up a real fence too tall to easily step across, or which can rattle his eye teeth if he rams his lawn mower into it. We're waiting for a break in the heat, and I might get the fence folks to do it for me, cement cylinders raising it above the front edge of his lawn mower...unless he jams it beneath the sections of fencing and rips off his carburator. This particular neighbor is addicted to his lawn. His poor wife has an 18" wide flower bed against the house across the front which faces west. No flowers anywhere else in the whole yard. Not even foundation plantings.

I really try not to look like a fortress over here. I like to share the beauty of a garden, and appreciate the compliments of the bikers, joggers, walkers, and sometimes drivers who wave or smile or speak as they pass by. Although my beds are not formally laid out (except that bed adjacent this neighbor), they manage to look pretty good.

So yeah, this neighbor gives me the lawn mower blues too.
Picture shown taken in May, looking down the row of edgers on their side of my flower bed, looking pretty good IMHO from their side of it.

Mocc you need an 8' fence there. Hire a crew. Flower as a quick fix I use a tomato cage. Lots of great colors. Can't step on them and no man will want to mow one up. Paula

Long live the New Prince!

I agree with Paula, Mocc. 8' fence sounds like a good idea. And perhaps tripwires for his roof, send him flying off of it when he's being a nosy creeper. heh heh heh...

Flower-Frenzy...He KEEPS doing it?? What the heck? As Aretha Franklin would say...'R-E-S-P-E-C-T'! ; )

Cheers,
Don B.

Flower-Frenzy, you could be right that your DH may be sending a subtle message with the mower mishaps. Maybe if you mowed the first round, trimming the grass by the hosta bed, it'd humble him enough to be more careful.

Moccasin, all I have to say about that guy is: good fences make good neighbors.
:-)
Deb

Get yourself 4 or so fist size rocks and place them on top of the soil where he should not mow. If he mows there the rocks will create a lot of noise in his mower deck. Single rocks you should be able to buy at a nursery. I just picked one such rock up with my mower and needed to file the mower blade sharp by hand. Bernd

Wow! Thank you for all of your great ideas. I especially like Bernd's idea of placing fist sized rocks in front of the hostas. Radiant Edger is pretty small, but that size of rock wouldn't obscure the view to where I couldn't enjoy them.

Don, yes he keeps doing it. He swears that this time wasn't him and something else must have happened. (It's kind of obvious when there's a freshly mowed pile of grass where the leaves of my hosta should be. Lol)

I believe he is trying his best to be really careful. He's just one if those people that tries to be really careful but somehow isn't, if that makes any sense.

I agree. The Bernd-rock idea is a good one.

Don B.

The rock idea came to mind for me too . Also you can threaten to buy a mature one to replace it for another $25 or so. Leave the price tag on it too. If that doesn't work , throw rocks at him. Just kidding hubby! Accidents do happen

Lol...yes, the rocks would come in handy to throw at him later on. (Kidding, of course)

After catching a rock with a mower he also will get a striped lawn because of part of the blade being dulled. It will be a lasting impression.

I must add here, that I did not get hurt during my recent experience with a rock inside my mower. I also wear leather boots when mowing, but the rock did not get slung about, but stayed in place. So be careful teaching your DH how to treat hostas kindly using rocks, and insist that he wears thick leather boots covering his ankles. Bernd

This post was edited by berndnyz5 on Tue, Jul 23, 13 at 13:42

I like your rock idea too, Berndny. That means I can take up my nice brick, which was there to make it easy for his lawnmower wheel to roll on the edge w/o harming anything. Which he has ignored, of course. A row of those big gravels (what I call them) will teach him some respect.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T is where it's at.The recording below was chosen for Stoc......the clip is a live performance in Stockholm in 1968. LOT of energy in this!

Here is a link that might be useful: Aretha's 1968 performance ...RESPECT

Whew! That was an exciting video. Aretha is the queen of soul! (That dress is a crack up, though)