I actually did this a few weeks ago but just got arpund to posting about it. Had a real mess of elephant ears I planted years ago growing off a corner of the porch in the back. Recently I planted some younger ones I was growing in a pot and they're explosion of growth prompted me to fix the area up a bit.
Here's what it was before. All grassy and au natural ugly.
Had to rip up a bunch of St. Augustine grass and tons of weeds. It was rough. Amazing what all ended up in that soil. I found glass and metal shards and its a wonder I didn't get hurt. I took out a bit extra to make a trench to prevent tye grass from reaching back into it. I put down a plastic border, secured it with stakes and filled the inside around the plants with several inches of brown mulch. Around the back to fill the gaps under the porch I took some nice rocks from the front and arranged them to keep critters away. The end result?
I think it ended up pretty nice. And now the younger plants(on left) are actually putting out larger leaves than the original cluster! There's this one big one...
Not bad, huh? I'm happy.
Here's what it was before. All grassy and au natural ugly.
Had to rip up a bunch of St. Augustine grass and tons of weeds. It was rough. Amazing what all ended up in that soil. I found glass and metal shards and its a wonder I didn't get hurt. I took out a bit extra to make a trench to prevent tye grass from reaching back into it. I put down a plastic border, secured it with stakes and filled the inside around the plants with several inches of brown mulch. Around the back to fill the gaps under the porch I took some nice rocks from the front and arranged them to keep critters away. The end result?
I think it ended up pretty nice. And now the younger plants(on left) are actually putting out larger leaves than the original cluster! There's this one big one...
Not bad, huh? I'm happy.