Watering seems to be a problem there. You will have two sides heated up during summer and possibly road salt during winter on both sides?

transplant shock.. maybe the watering ...

if leafed at move.. sun shock ... they sunburned when moved ...

ive had historical problems with hosta in black mulch.. it gets hotter than norm.. and holds heat into the night ...

asking a hosta maven if you should plant daylily.. is heresy ... and might get you banned from many forums.. lol ...

the thing that pops out to me.. is zone 5 ... and where is the snow going to go ... and will it have salt in it ... that MIGHT end up being a problem ... and since we dont know.. leave the hosta for now.. and lets see how they respond in late spring .. either H or DL can take a lot of winter abuse ...so either or.. as time goes by ..

shove a stick in the ground.. where the tulips are ... so you dont forget and try to plant something one top of them .. been there.. done that.. lol ...

if water/sun is a problem.. then.. and i cant believe im saying this... DL would probably be more bulletproof ...

ken

Watering...as in too much watering or not enough? It's rained A LOT this summer. I'm also have problems with slugs (or what I think are slugs because I have bites in many of the leaves).

Just as a FYI, the hostas were previously in the area, all I did was move them so they form a border - they got the same sun and were in black mulch. I did move them several times so it's probably shock as you say...I also split several of them so that also might be it. I know they're really resilient so I'm not too worried about them (plus I have an abundance of them).

I will see how they do next year - much of flower bed is "new" (new plants or rearranged) so nothing has really grown/bloomed as expected (you can see that with the hydrangeas and mum). I'm hoping next spring/summer my flowerbeds will be flourishing.

But I'm wondering if DL may "hide" more of the weeds than hostas.

DL might look messy as in leaves flopping around, plus you will get only certain period of bloom. Although one can figure out few varieties to overlap and extend blooming times. But they will take more abuse and less than perfect conditions and cover something ugly in sight by being taller.

Hostas will likely need more watering/ due to being squished between two hot surfaces of the roads soil will be warmer, add to it black mulch and you have your work cut out for you/ but will look more organized as far as bed general outlook goes.

If it was me I would plant something that didn't need a lot of water, had four season interest, and would crowd out all the weeds. Maybe a ground cover conifer like Blue Rug, then a low ornamental grass like Miscanthus 'Little Kitten or 'Yakushima Dwarf.' Then if I wanted color I'd use something (again) that held months of interest and needed little watering like a hardy geranium 'Rozanne'- it would loosely spill over that curb and look great.

Maybe a ground cover conifer like Blue Rug,

===>> interesting idea.. but might not like 4 feet of snow and ice piled on them.. if thats an issue ...

ken

We grow both hostas and daylilies. Daylilies demand much less care. Daylilies would require less watering and wouldn't be bothered by the sun. They can easily grow in part shade. You can grow very tall, regular or very short plants, that's not an issue. I have plenty of daylilies that are over 50 inches tall with strong scapes that don't bend in the wind, etc. You can grow all the same or different ones. You can stagger the blooms so that you have some bloom early, mid-season and late. MIne started blooming at the end of June and I still have many buds to come. I'm in zone 5 or 6 depending on the year. I usually don't bother with pulling the dead scapes but that's easy enough when they dry out. I don't cut mine back--I've got too many and don't have time, but I do deadhead so that the blooms look good and they can open properly. I can get 40 or more buds on 5 or 6 scapes. I don't buy from a big box store but from a local hybridizer. I tidy them up when I get a chance. I personally wouldn't use short plants since they won't hide the neighbor's weeds. You can get daylilies with all sorts of different types of flowers and colors. It all depends on what you want to put there. Look on the American Hemerocallis Society's webpage. Visit the Daylily Auction online. You'll find minatures, doubles, extra large spiders, etc. Whew--that's just a bit of info for you to think about. Didn't mean to overwhelm you!

How about sedums? I'd use a groundcover one such as Angelina in the front, and then taller ones like the good ol' Autumn Joy or Autumn Fire behind it. Angelina spreads pretty well, and neither needs much water since they love the sun. That said, I would leave the hostas be at least until next year to see if/how they settle in. There's room between the hostas to plant some taller sedums, and the shorter ones would go in front anyway. Or you can always use a bunch of weed- and grass-killer a few times per season to get rid of the neighbor's unkept greenery. Doubt that they'd miss any of it in that particular space.

Interesting to use sedum in between hostas - I have an abundance of those too. I might consider doing that.

I'm one of the biggest fans of hosta, but I would never plant them alone. Ferns, Heuchera, Daylilies, Hydrangea, Peonies, Tulips, Allium, Sedum, even Echinacea and Roses in the sunnier spots...I throw everything together what I have in my garden and needs to be divided :-) A great looking variety and nearly no weeds...

http://renegadegardener.com/care-3/enough-with-the-damn-daylilies/#a1  Somebody is going to link this eventually so it might as well be me.

I pulled all my daylillies (stella) -- I could not stand how ratty they looked after June.

Manyhosta, Lol

Ditto what Miles said and I am in MN. As with hosta day lilies have their upside and down side. I have my driveway lined but no mulch. It's the only sun I have so left the hosta for the other side of the lawn.

Just found this pic from the spring...I found the iris and day lilies to be good partners.

"I pulled all my daylillies (stella) -- I could not stand how ratty they looked after June."

That would be my objection to a patch of daylilies in the front of my house- they look either terrible or meh for too much of the year. If all I wanted was a bunch of green strap-like foliage I'd just fill it up with some of that running type liriope and walk away.

You can plant daffodils between the daylilies and have color in the spring months before the daylilies appear. Just saw a program where they stagger the daffodil blooms over a 8 week period, planting early, mid season and late blooming varieties. This way you could have color for many weeks. The daylily leaves would cover any of the yellowing daffodil leaves. It all depends on what you like. If you are very concerned about a neat trim area, then go for a ground cover or shorter grass. If you want color then use a variety of plants which offer staggered bloom over months. You could also add ferns and heucherella, etc which offer different types of foilage and colors. I've seen all types of tree lawn plantings called (parkways) when I visit Chicago. There are all sorts of areas planted along Michigan Avenue and in the nearby more urban suburbs. Some that have a lot of shade use a mixture of hostas, ferns and coleus, others get more exotic and use all sorts of different plants. Small shrubs are not uncommon.

Did you say you put rocks among the hostas? I'm sure they don't like that. Rocks retain heat even better than black mulch.

I'd keep the hostas and add some ornamental grass like someone mentioned above.

Well, I will go out on a limb even if it is heresy Ken lol, I like the idea of DL as well because of their height if that is what you are looking for. Just make sure you DON'T palant the ditch variety. They're awful! I have good luck with my dwarf stellas and Little wine cups. The Stellas especially love the all day sun. I do deadhead them and cut the dry stalks. There are sooo many beautiful DLs that I wish I had some more sun to put them in. I also like the ornamental grass idea too. Otherwise, I'm with everyone else----leave them be for now and maybe resign yourself to maintaining the weeds in the neighbors connected bed.It's a big pain, but now that you cleaned the bed out, maybe it would't be too hard to keep it cleaned out. Good luck!

Manyhosta, I enjoyed reading the article and chuckling...thank you for the link!