ah those pesky facts ..

are your plants potted.. in bags.. laying on the driveway????

first ... get rid of those knots .... out with the old.. in with the new.. lets focus on POTENTIAL.. rather than drivel about the old ...

let me know.. and i will speculate from there ...

the simplest way .. is to define an area .... and stick them all in the ground on one foot squares ...

and take the rest of the summer to PLAN it all out .... moving them out as a space becomes defined ...

your head will explode if you try to do it all by 5/1 .. trust me ...

when i had 1500 pots.. i ID'd the shade.. and had a guy with a rotavator [tractor mounted rototiller from heck] .... come to the house.. and till about a half acre of beds under the trees.. to 12 inches deep .... our record for one day of planting was 368 pots ... otherwise.. i could do about 100 per day myself .... smaller pots anyway ...

is there a veggie garden here?? .. if so ... it would be a great place for the holding bed .... no matter what the sun ...

more facts please ...

ken

OK,Yardmom,here is a pic from part of my gardens from last year,that I call an aerial view,as it taken from above my garden from the road that I live on. I have others,if you like. Phil

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Love the aerial view Phil. It's how I would like to look at my hostas.

Connie

I'm sorry you had to leave ANY behind but Ken's advice is good. Focus on the potential. I'm happy to share some pictures with you and hope it helps you some.

Our House 20 years ago when we moved in.

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Basically the same view today

Yes, It's taken twenty years, step by step to get here but in a minute you will see what was done just this year. First of all my advice would be to make up your own rules. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't but it's your garden and you can do what you like.

The picture below shows a thriving area that is planted on top of concrete. When we did the driveway it never occured to me that there would be no place to plant on the outside of the fence (which turned into a low wall). I moved the rocks there sometime before 2004 and piled dirt on top. You can see that they are doing fine.

This was a very narrow planting bed to the left of the walkway to the front door. I built it up with rocks and wood. The stair step idea lets me put more plants in less space.

The next few before and afters were done just this year. I have always grown many hostas in pots and have had few losses until this past winter. In the spring I found I'd lost about 60. Yikes!!! I'd always planned that as my exhisting plants got larger, I could move them into our undeveloped woods. I had only done one very small spot until this year. Now I'm not saying this is a final answer because I many have future problems with tree roots but for now at least, the majority are safely in the ground.

I don't know if Phil has dug into the ground to create his beautiful garden but I find it easier to build up. These pictures show how I defined the planting beds. I layered the ground with leaves, garden debris, manure, top soil, coffee grounds, etc. When I had the basic area ready I'd have a wheelbarrow full of good planting mixture. I'd burrow a little hole and add the mix and the plant in the center. In between plants is not great but I'm hoping it will decompose by the time the roots get there.

I should say that this was accomblished by me, a tired, old (61) lady with a shovel, some buckets and a wheelbarrow. Each of my son's helped for a day or so when they were here but the majority of the work was by me.

At the end of 2008. The garden stopped at the bottom of the gravel steps pictured on the left.

April 2009

August 2009

Another view of before and after.

April and August. You can see a clump of what looks like leaves in the top left of the after picture. That is the beginning of next years expansion.

Why am I not skinny?

One idea you might consider, pick a spot in your garden as a destination. Somewhere to sit, a garden room. Then build a path to it. You can landscape the room and the path.

I also like raised beds. My garden is clay and rock, but all my beds are raised about 8-12 inches, and ammended with compost, then covered with shredded pine mulch. It makes planting a lot easier and I get better drainage.

Lots of good ideas here. We need more information - what is your yard like - size, soil type, and if it flat or not - I even had to BUY rocks!!!! When we built, I got one stone - about 8" diameter and 6" high from a basement area of 1800 sq' ft'!!!!
Another thing you can do now is to stomp out the garden areas in the snow to get an idea of how it might look. If you change your mind, wait for the next snow and try again.
Anne

Aw, D I'm feeling your pain. I still have dreams or should I say nightmares of sneaking back to my old house and swiping plants from the garden. There is a lot of garden inspiration in the pretty pix that were posted. Sounds like you need some help getting those rocks out, might be worth it to hire someone for a day.

Gonna try to figure out how to upload pics to inspire ya . . .

Thanks, everybody.
My new house sits on 3/4 of an acre. It is flat and rectangular with most of the property in the back. Off of the back of the house is a big deck and a shade tree that I have yet to identify. (The leaves are gone now)Most of my plants will go up next to the house where there is morning and noon sun. I also have a big dogwood, several plum trees and some maples on the property. Leyland Cypress line the left side and there are a few next to the neighbor on the right as well. The pines across the back are in no man's land and do not belong to me. My property stops about 20 feet short of it.

That doll house shed was removed. I think what swmogardens said is true, I need a destination and there isn't one.(I love your picture,swmo!) Meryl, your gardens are beautiful! I too moved my gardens into the woods at the other house. Phil , as I remember, you garden in the woods, and on a hill, right? As you can see mine if more like a corn field.'

Ken, my inspector said the soil was sandy loam . I used to garden in clay so that has got to be better. I would love to add some small conifers since I have some sun in the back, and a vegetable garden....lots of possibilities. It is the layout that is stumping me. You are right, I need to find a spot and get those plants in the ground as soon as spring hits.
Anne, I love rocks, but not these 2 inch brown ones that are all over my beds! And I have no pick up to haul them away in!
Any ideas or pictures are welcome!

aw come on .... where are the hosta right now.. potted.. bagged.. driveway???

get your mortgage map ... run some enlarged copies ... start by adding what is there now ..... and then start drawing up some ideas ...

where are you ....??

you need to start with some oaks trees .... are you anywhere.. say within 200 miles of mansfield OH?? or any other tree farm that will sell you 6 to 8 foot bare root trees at proper planting time????

TRUST ME.. forget about planting under maples ...

back to the maps... once you ID some tree locations... then you can start thinking about planting locations ...

afternoon sun might be a problem .... you will have to plan on trying to drown them in sandy loam .... but your callouses and back will enjoy sand much more than clay ... but do keep in mind.. no matter how ugly they get in too much sun... they will grow much bigger... faster ... so they will be ready for the big move 2011 spring ....yeah... no one said this is a one year ordeal .....

you are overwhelmed.. because you think.. that you can.. somehow.. get to where mctav went.. THIS SPRING ... odds are.. you wont.. so dont set the bar so high.. that this all becomes a problem.. rather than an enjoyable obsession ...

more info about where the hosta are right now ...

ken

here are the pix .. first... this was horse pasture 1/2000 when i moved here.. but for the apple at the left ... and the other large hardwoods you see in the pic.. YEAH!!!! ... its a 10 year plan ....
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and this is the hosta plantings.. after the rotavator ... late in the season .... 10 years later. .. BTW... you have property.. leave paths thru your garden.. much easier to work and view the plants ... no need to jam them altogether anymore ...
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Looks like you have a blank slate,there,yardmom! Yes,I do garden on a hill,and in the woods. That pic I posted of that part of my garden started in 2006,so it was a 3 year project. My soil is all red clay,amended by falling leaves every year,so it's not pure red clay. If I had to dig a hole out in the open,I would need a pick and shovel,but here in the garden,all I've ever used is a hand trowel,the soil is so rich! Good luck! Phil

If you have the time and resources to focus a week's time and some money on it, you can definitely get all the hostas in the ground in 7 days.

I had rocks in beds next to our house, and worked through it all by myself. I recommend getting some helpers with pails and piling it up on your driveway, it can take forever if you do it like i did. We used Craiglist and freecycle.com to advertise free landscaping rocks. it also helps to hose off the rocks and get some of the dirt out of it. they look much more appealing to "takers."

my soil is also sandy, easily amended with fallen leaves and peat moss. don't forget to follow up with a nice layer of mulch on top and you'll be all set.

you could start by listing all your varieties by size and sun preferences. small, medium, large, and under each have a "likes shady areas" (blue varieties, for example) and "likes sunnier areas" (yellower leaves) categories.

I would then select groupings of either sm-sm-med, med-med-lg, or med-lg-lg within each sun preference category.

make sense so far?

then, i'd map out areas of your yard according to light, and then take a look at my groups according to height and size, and pop the groupings into place on your map. you could use small movable pieces of paper for that, even.

this enables you to take a look at smaller chunks of the plants to maintain a color contrast in the groups while still making them movable as a whole package.

that part sounds like a blast for those of us stuck up here under over a foot of snow. if you could somehow post a map of your yard with cardinal directions, and a list of your hostas, i'm sure some of us wouldn't mind helping out :-)

candice

Zone 6, Ken, and most of my hostas are in the garage...about 130 pots, many with 2 or 3 hosta in them, and some long planters with seedlings. Outside, I have other perennials, a few jap. maples, and some woodland plants in pots, troughs with mini conifers,hostas, etc... oh, and about a half dozen hosta in root control bags (those are in the garage). I am not too worried about what will live through the winter, but I do think I need to get them in the ground right away.
I was hoping sandy loam would be a rich soil. I was also hoping that it would not drain fast. Would you recommend adding compost to help hold the water?

Candice, you must have posted at the same time I did!

When you say it took forever for you to do it, do you mean to rake and tote all the rocks or do you mean for people to come take it away after listing it? Would you recommend me doing it that way?

I like the idea of mapping it out. If I follow Anne's idea of stomping out in the snow (snow melted here so I will have to wait) and then watching the sun on the areas I should get at least a feel for how the sun will flow on the beds. Then I can start planning what goes where. I will have to start in one area this spring, I guess and just plop everything in pretty close together so they will at least get in the ground, and then I can move it around later.

I still feel like I need a focus or destination for the beds, so I will have to keep thinking about that.

I guess I'd want to know if you are going to put up fences first. Some neighbors let their kids and dogs run wild. With a fence, you can also plan border gardens with the tallest hostas at the back.

When we moved to our current home 15 years ago, the property was totally wild and a mess. We live in a suburban oak forest. We cut down all of the saplings and smaller trees, many large trees, and still have a couple of dozen oaks.

The deer ate all of my new hostas. I fenced in the backyard. The poor front yard hostas had to be moved to the safety of the back.

After a few years of fighting the deer, who seemed to eat most anything I planted in the front, I bought deer net and built an island garden around a tree with 4 of my largest hostas as anchors. I planted hundreds of bulbs that autumn, also. That was in 2004. Moved more hostas from the back into that garden in the spring of 2005. In the summer of 2005, I discovered the hosta forum (HEAVEN!!) and was hooked. I ordered from a few well-known sellers, bought more at a garden store and built 2 more island gardens. The next spring I built a fourth. Then added sun tolerant hostas to the sidewalk garden. Then built a garden along the low front border fence. Then started expanding the sizes of all of the gardens. Then I started trying hostas in the back sunny areas. Most did just fine. I've pretty much run out of room, so now I buy mostly dwarfs and smalls.

I have all of my gardens on large graph paper, so all winter I can plan what to move and where to next plant.

I am a happy hosta addict.

If you map your yard on graph paper you can sketch out ideas and keep changing them all winter. In the spring you can sink your pots in the veggie garden like somebody said. Build one area at a time, and transplant when you are ready.

Are the stones relatively uniform in size? Could they be used to line a path, or build a small wall around an island garden? A mini garden?

You have over 3 months to plan and change your mind. Sounds like fun.

Here's my attempt to show you a pic of why it's worth going for you new hosta beds. It shows (if I upload the right link) a 3 year progression of one of our beds . . .

Keep the faith!

[IMG]http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee304/roadpizza/FrontEntranceProgressionCollage0306.jpg[/IMG]

Here is a link that might be useful:

another attempt at showing you how you may be happy in a few years with new hosta beds:

this is a two year comparison

the Abba Dabba Do is now WAAAAAAY bigger, git and grow one of those, it's the fastest grower in our poor soil heavy shade cold northern climate of any other hosta

Bunnycat, what a good idea to make use of those stones! I hadn't thought of that. They are tiny...an inch or so, but they could be used for paths. Or in the minis bed. I will have to think on that. No vegetable garden yet. NO beds that I can put them in. I have to get rid of the grass and get to work before these plants can get in the ground.

Hillbilly, your picture sequence is very cool to see. Yes, I did bring my Abba Dabba Do, well I brought about 4 eyes of it. I didn't bring the whole hosta of any of the larger ones. I figured that if they were small, it would give me a few years to get beds made for them anyway.

I love hearing all of your ideas! I have gotten something from everyone! Thank you!