Sunday, January 20, 2008

Too Harsh On Hostas?




I didn't mean to seem so harsh about hostas (winter is giving me a severe case of the crankies). In truth, there is a week in late spring in our garden when the newly emerged foliage of the hostas is the absolute highlight of the garden... breathtaking would not be too strong a word to describe them then.
Anyway, the hostas can probably stick up for themselves; a couple of them are big enough to be considered somewhat intimidating.
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Comments:
Well, I didn't take offense, and I don't think the hostas did, either.
 
But JUST a week, huh? I think you're caving in to the hosta platform.
 
I think the question would be whether you would say the same thing about any plant that you have been growing for 20-30 years. What about daylilies? Daffodils?
I have been growing hosta for 20 years and I am certainly tired of many of them. At the same time there are some, particularly at the specimen level (been growing for quite a while), that would be hard to replace.
I also agree that hosta in the spring time are rather special.
Sagae with blue bells is an example.
You do get points for prompting the comments on a cold day before the football begins.
 
Well, I took the bait(!). ;-)

Anyway, I go crazy over every green thing as it makes its presence known. I am in love with the little woodland wildflowers that were here before I came and I'm waiting with baited breath to see if those I transplanted from our other woodlands will have survived the trip! (Dutchman's breeches, red trillium, woodland phlox).

I've orders ready for more toad lilies, and pulmonaria as well as... Guess I must be getting ready for Spring! :-)

(Oh, I can say that I'm terribly infatuated with daylilies, too! But I just don't have a lot of adequate space for them...)
 
You know though... and I'm not sure I'm putting this the right way... I can see belonging to a daffodil society (well, actually I did belong to the ADA at one time), I can see belonging to a daylily society, or rhododendrons, and a lot of other plant societies. I can't see belonging to a hosta society. I mean, what do they talk about? The fourteenth named sport of Hosta Shady Lady, which looks like the third and the tenth and the seventh? I get several hosta catalogues, and after getting through the first 150 hostas, to about the "G's" my eyes start glazing over. I suppose there are fifty named cream daylilies with plum throats that pretty much look alike, too, so maybe it's just me... but I still say hostas are the linoleum of the garden... so there!
:) Don
 
A picture is worth a thousand words....
I get it.
 
Don, I understand. And I'm almost to the point that I'm not sure I can handle more hosta at this point in time (maybe just a couple more, and a little one or two), but variety IS the spice of life (to coin a phrase! ha). There is occasion to move our interest to other plants, because they're new and complementary and unique to what we already know, have, and enjoy! I just consider these hosta, as well as daffodils, tulips, daylilies, phlox, etc. as wonderfully familiar, substantial friends.
Have a great day! :-)
 
dl & Shady... one thing I want to do is move some of the hostas so they are in back of some of the beds, then plant new stuff in the beds and have the hostas for background.
Don
 
Okay, you post all these pics of gorgeous Hostas, all well grown, yet you say you're not a Hostaphile? I just don't get it.
 
I'm just smiling away, over here. :-) Especially after having re-read this post.

Personally, I've never found linoleum ever to be breathtaking. Not even in the Spring! But those hostas of yours are Gorgeous! ;-)

(I just had to comment one more time!) snicker.

Seriously, those large variety are great background material for the many, many varieties of smaller shade-loving plants! You'll do a beautiful job. I haven't seen anything anywhere on your blog that hasn't been well done and lovely.
 
Mr. McGregor's Daughter, Don likes to play the crusty old codger when he's not busy naming his statues Uboughtwot (or however you spell it) and Hernia, but really he's a plantophile of the highest order. If he didn't like hostas, they wouldn't be in his garden. Like he said, he is just cranky because Iowa is actually getting winter this year.
 
shady... thanks (that's the nice thing about digital photography: cropping).
Kathy... It was -15 last night... Grrrrr!

Don
 
Really? Gosh, it hasn't gotten that cold all winter here, and it's supposed to for us.

Sorry, Don, I couldn't resist. Maybe my snowdrops will bloom first. (Don't worry, they're still buried.)
 
Kathy... we've had a miserable January, with two different cold spells where it bottomed out at -15. I would suspect my snowdrops won't bloom until the end of February, 4-6 weeks late (they are still totally buried in snow and they are talking about another foot of snow later next week being a possibility). Oh well.
Don
 
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