first of all...HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! It's a good husband that will go plant shopping with ya, my husband is a rose fenatic. I love the touch of class, what am i talking about i love them all :). again happy anniversary and good luck with your new plants.

Nice haul Janet. You picked up some really nice looking plants! Nice "shot in the arm" to have leafed out plants at this time of the year, isn't it?

And Happy Anniversary to you too!

Donna

Janet,

Happy 29th! Those hostas look gorgeous!

Char

Happy Anniversary! What a great guy you are married to that took you hosta shopping....

Those are all terrific hostas - I either have them or have them very high on my wish list.

I will warn you though, I got one about the same size 3 years ago and it is extremely slow. It is a sport of Big Daddy who is also extremely slow in his own right. My Big Daddy took 4 years to finally produce another eye (was 2 eyes FOREVER!) and Ice Age Trail was still 2 tiny eyes last year, the second year in my garden. I am interested to see if it has made much progress this year - it is going into the *leap* year....

Here it is from last July, probably about 8 inches tall and wide.

{{gwi:959708}}

Good luck and I hope yours grows a LOT faster for you!

Alexa

super... and congrats ...

but take back the ice age trail ... cheap or not.. i suspect it will break your heart when it dies .... i have been there.. done that.. it will remain a weakling forever and disappear one cold winter ....

trade it for a different one .... for the memory of his indulgence... geez .. i might go puke now.. rotf .....

ken

Sweet!!

Beautiful, I need a fix like that. June, Touch of Class are pretty, I have those, High Society and Hanky Panky are pretty too, those I don't have. Now I want!!

Happy Anniversary.

Good to know about Ice Age Trail, wish someone had told me that about Tattoo, Cat's Eye, Cherish, Hope. I could go on.

Thanks everyone for the anniversary wishes.

I don't know if I could take Ice Age Trail back , do nurseries usually allow that? But I think I will just keep it and see what it does. The nursery is about 60 miles away, so it would cost more to go back then what I paid for it.
I like a challenge anyway and if it does half as well as Alexa's, I'll be happy. I'll probably keep it potted until it matures a bit. That will at least keep it away from the tree roots :-/

Janet

Happy Anniversary! My husband takes me on vacation but he never say, "Let's buy some plants". You are one lucky girl! My H. Ice age trail was a convention plant when the Midwest Regionals were held in Madison. We got two of'm free as attendees. I gave one away (plant on the left) and I'm still being patient, growing on the other one. Enjoy those plants. Later, Love, Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful:

ok ... you are going to keep it ....

then what to do ...

a tiny plant in a relatively big pot ... believe it or not.. goes down hill ...

i would unpot it .... and repot it in a pot that is barely bigger than its root mass ... maybe a 6 or 9 oz solo cup ... and put it under lights or in a window .. and fertilize it with a very light solution of fert every time you water .... not unlike how i raise my seedlings .. if you have kept up on that nightmare ... lol

in a month or two .. tip it out.. and if all the roots are at the pot sides or bottom ... pot 'up' a little bigger .. fresh soil ... and keep fert'ing ....and keep doing it ... but stop fert'ing in july ... we will want it to slow down near the end of the growing season ...

does that make sense?

ken

Makes perfect sense Ken.
I really appreciate your advice.
I did plan on removing it from the nursery pot anyway, but I'm glad to know about the fertilizing.

I will keep you updated on it's "progress".

Thanks again. I always appreciate your wit & wisdom ;-D
Janet

Happy Anniversary! And I am so jealous that you can go out and purchase plants...that you have some place to visit and smell the plant scents and touch the leaves. They all look beautiful. I still have a large clump of snow on the driveway....I am at least 45 days away from purchases! Good luck with the new plants. I hope to add Ice Age Trail (at the right price) this year too.

Great advice on potting small hostas which I'll use for a bunch of dwarf and mini's I have ordered.

I have a question about the potted plants that Ken or anyone alse that can help me. Once the end of the season comes do I leave the hostas in the pots over winter or are they removed?

Janet was your haul from Grant Park, IL?
Just curious...I know my favorite spot opened April 1st also. I just recognized the white pots and was curious.
Nice collection.
Gloria

Right on Gloria, it was Grant Park. In fact, I think you might have been the one to tell me about that place last year.
We went there for the corn boil last September and really liked the place.

Now my poor plants have to deal with these cold temps. I'm keeping them in the garage for now.

blacky1, you can overwinter your hostas in pots. I put mine in our unheated shed after they have gone dormant outside. No need to water them overwinter. In the spring when they start to emerge bring them outside and give 'em a drink.
I know some on this forum say they even leave the pots outside, just be sure to either cover them or tip the pots on their side so they get too much moisture in them, otherwise they could rot.

I overwintered about 10 of them and all have done good, except Tattoo and Great Expectations are no shows yet, but it is still early....and COLD!

Janet

I am in contact with them during the winter...they are nuts about hostas as we are.
Sandra and Jean are great. They have ordered over 350 varieties this year. I will be going on the week of the 22nd. There are some that I am looking for that will be coming in around that time...so not all is there yet!

So you know you have to go again, again and again. How did everything look? At the end of the month it will be full of color. The Heuchera and perennial collections are great. If there is ever something your looking for ask them to consider ordering. She orders during the spring and summer for refills.

Fun wasn't it!
And you can't beat the prices.

I want to know about this place! And a corn boil...? How fun! I have one right next to my baby toe.....

roflol

Except for Rich's in Woodstock, Sunset (or is it Sunrise?) seems to have the widest selection of hosta in Chicagoland. What fun seeing new varieties and picking out great colors, healthiest plants biggest eyes, and thickest root systems. I like that place, and I noticed they had separated virused hosta from the sales area.

Maryann it's Sunrise Greenhouse or Wouldhous Farms.
It's a two hour drive for you isn't it. But well worth it.

Andrea it would be a 2 hour ride for you also. Some hostaholics I know your way go there also.

I think Janets Ice Age Trail is just a slip that might be young. Sometimes they are in the greenhouse...it will get big with TLC.

But yes, Sandra & Jean do the hosta area an they are very cautious of HVX and I have seen them dump a section because of testing results. They are very careful.

Andrea, I will shoot you a e-mail.

Nice haul Janet - they're so beautiful. No hostas in sight here yet - a couple of eyes showing but that's it and it will be weeks before the nurseries have plants. So nice to see yours.

Good luck with Ice Age.

June

hostared, Yes Sunrise is calling my name and I already have another list ready and waiting, lol!

Have you gone there yet this year?

I can't recall where you live, but I came across another nice place with lots of hosta just west of Joliet. If you want the info, just send me an email.

Who knows, maybe we'll meet up someday at one of these places. Wouldn't that be fun, rofl!

Janet