Being the hardy shade plant that they are, hostas will tolerate division from spring until about a month before frost. They need plenty of water the first couple of weeks to help get over the shock and cool conditions will certainly help them reestablish themselves. Don’t expect much new growth until the next season. Most medium sized or small hostas will be ready to divide again in 3-5 years. Larger ones may not need dividing for 8 or 10 years. When the stems and leaves circle around an empty middle, it is definitely time to divide. Otherwise divide when the plant becomes too large for its space or you want to increase the number of hostas in your garden. Most hostas can be lifted out of the ground for dividing. Use your spade to cut a circle around the plant about 4-5 ... [Read More]
Outdoor living
New cushions in five easy steps
Boring beige. Tired and sad looking. The cushions came with the chairs when they were brand new six years ago and had served well – but time for buh-bye! We eat almost every meal outdoors on the deck when the weather is nice. We needed something a livelier than beige and a bit of pattern to contrast with the dark furniture. A trip to the fabric store turned up the perfect pattern with soothing colors in an outdoor fabric. Here’s how to make new cushions for your outdoor chairs in five easy steps! 1. Measure your chairs. Choose a pillow form that most closely matches the size of your chair. Mine was 20 inches by 20 inches and each chair required 2 forms – one for the seat and one for the back. I determined how much fabric to buy by measuring the circumference to get 40 ... [Read More]
