I've seen on the gardening shows where they have put in pavers and small shrubs and made it like a "secret garden".

This is between my house and my neighbor's:

There is a 12" strip between my fence and my neighbor's sidewalk and another 12" between her sidewalk and her house.

Oh that is nice!

Hostas and lanium!

Nice combination!

Is it difficult to get back there to water and weed, or do you need to do much of either? (I'm amazed how nicely my hosta shades out everything but the mint.)

That's a beautiful hosta planting. It looks like the floor of some enchanted forest. I think that's helped me decide to try hostas in my shady window box.

What kind of hostas do you have? I have Royal Standards, because I like the scent, but my mother has a nice varigated, pale almost white bordered with green, that have lavender flowers. Is the blue-green one in the foreground scented?

I think 'Royal Standard' is very fragrant too.
I don't know the name of the green and white one. It's the kind found everywhere. The blue one is 'Halcyon'. It is not fragrant. The big green with white flower IS the fragrant one called 'August Lily' (H. plantaginea). A friend gave me the yellow one. I don't know what it is called.

Wolfe, if your hosta is 'June', I'll be very happy. I just bought a small 'June' last summer. I am looking forward to see her grow. I'll have to find her a large pot, though. I have no room to put her in the garden.

This is such a beautiful solution to a problem area many of us have, I thought I'd bump the thread up for new visitors to the forum.

I've got an equally long a shady spot on the side of my house, and I'm thinking of doing something just like this.

Great space, pitimpinai!

Lovely ! Our offset space is probably 6 feet between the two houses going east/west so does get a fair amount of (sometimes intense) San Diego CA. morning sun. I was thinking of Calla Lily’s in this space but I love the idea of something with fragrant blooms. Thank you so much for sharing the image and information.