Side Garden Question

[PipGirl]

Hi everyone. My granddaughter and I spent last Saturday fixing our ugly weed ridden side garden. It is sloped, rocky and difficult for me to manage. We weeded and raked it until clear then planted. I bought lots of Hosta to outline our stone wall at the top of the garden. The lower tiers are a combo of Lily of the valley and day lily. They were roots not whole plants. I was going for ground cover type easy plants.
My goal was to have it as maintenance free as possible once established.
Do dried roots take longer to germinate - can I expect to see growth by the end of summer?
Thanks

 

[Beth_B]

You absolutely will! Bare root hostas (not sure about the lilies) will take off but it takes about a month before you see much growth. If you're not getting much rain, I'd give them a good soaking about once a week to encourage root growth, especially if you didn't soak them before planting. A general purpose fertilizer application will help too.
Once they start unfurling leaves, you shouldn't have to pay them much attention except for watering if you have extended dry hot spells. I haven't watered my lilies or hostas in at least two years and they come back bigger and badder every year.

 

[PipGirl]

Thanks! That's encouraging! I did not soak the roots but we had 3 days of hard rain before we planted them. I water them about every other day now.
Once they take and are established I won't need to do that! Just water if we have a dry spell.
How exciting!!! I have a veritable Hosta watch on around here . . .

 

[DrCase]

Stone wall ,sloped and rocky that sounds nice

 

[PipGirl]

DrCase, yes it is lovely but very hard to work in. If I had more energy, I'd consider a Japanese Rock garden!

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Bare root Lilies will do fine, just water them once in a while and the will spread.

 

[PipGirl]

Thanks, that is encouraging too.

 

[DeborahJane]

Hi everyone. My granddaughter and I spent last Saturday fixing our ugly weed ridden side garden. It is sloped, rocky and difficult for me to manage. We weeded and raked it until clear then planted. I bought lots of Hosta to outline our stone wall at the top of the garden. The lower tiers are a combo of Lily of the valley and day lily. They were roots not whole plants. I was going for ground cover type easy plants.
My goal was to have it as maintenance free as possible once established.
Do dried roots take longer to germinate - can I expect to see growth by the end of summer?
Thanks

Sounds lovely. There is such a variety of hostas. They're a great plant but the snails love them too much where I live so I've had to give up. Looking forward to seeing your new side garden or at least hearing about its progress.