It's not all hostas - I have had lamium in the back for years, and it is very happy, spreading like mad. I've transplanted a bunch of it around the yard.

Everything looks great! I also love lamium. Job well done.

If you start saving cardboard boxes you can lay down cardboard this fall and have no weeds in the spring- it saved me scads of hand pulling this year. Either leave it in place and mulch over it or toss it in the compost pile in the spring.

I've started many beds like this- planting the plants quickly to get them started and finishing up the sod removal/vegetation and mulch removal at a later time. I've always been sorry I did it like this. I have a lot better luck removing the sod before planting the first ornamental plant- weeds are FAR reduced and it doesn't seem like such an uphill battle to keep them out of beds. I spend enough time hand pulling as it is and grass is hard to pull.

It's a lovely spot and I see that you enjoy the finest activity a human can partake- sitting back with a dog admiring the garden.

You have a great spot for shade gardens. It's just beautiful!

cearbhaill, I agree, that would have been the right way to do it - had I anticipated that the project would get this big. And the grass wasn't there two years ago. We have a lawn service that aerates and overseeds our yard, and last year, for some reason, they seeded under the trees. The year before, they carefully sprayed for weeds around the plants, so baby grass was a complete shock. Of course I water regularly, so the grass took off.

These three photos show what it looked like two years ago. They are taken from the same spot (with my back to the house), panning from left to right. There were weeds, but mostly a nice layer of pine needles; the weeds could have been dealt with pretty easily.

A few more, in the same order, closer in:

Great job so far! So much work!

Sherry

A couple of years of alphabet and that great space will be full of hostas.

You're off to a great start. I did something similar, only I ripped out brush instead of grass. One bad thing about a woodland garden is tree roots. The ground is always dry. If one of your hostas isn't growing well, dig around it and get rid of any roots. Those tree roots are fast and sneaky. I try to cut a circle around each hosta once a year, and when one is faltering, I'll dig the whole thing up. Usually a tree root has come up under the hosta.

Love the corgi picture. We've had Pems for years. Maggie, our seventh, is a black headed tri.