However, there was another serious problem. In my enthusiasm I had put clumps into my hosta beds and now needed to remove them. But hosta are fragile plants. If you step on them while attempting the hard work of getting out the epimedium, you destroy some of the leaves and they will not regrow that season. I felt that the epimedium was fighting me to a draw.
Now back to this week. Because of the rain, I expected the ground to be soft. I went to my largest hosta bed. Since we have gone through fall and had some colder weather, the hosta has died back to its roots meaning that I could walk into the bed without damaging the hosta. The epimedium, however, was standing there looking at me. All I had to do was take my various tools and remove all that invasive epimedium.
Please summarize the lessons learned, i.e. “famous last words”, and how the new year of gardening on your shady property will be different. Is there a local young person who might have enjoyed the exercise? Did all the yard waste go to composting?
Thank you. Just reading about the effort, exhausted me. But I’m sure it is very healthy to do all that work.
I really enjoyed this blog.