Jeff, it is good to make contact with another AL grower of hosta! Thanks for the reply. Oh yes, I've been a frequent visitor to the hosta forum over the last year. There are a few other folks who grow hosta with zones like 9a California, 8a Texas, but no one on the Hosta Forum from Alabama. I know that around Birmingham, they would have to be growing, but other than that search I did, one hit indicated that Bob Solberg had come to speak to the B'ham group, not much activity. I know what you mean about the variety of the leaf being so beautiful. No other plant I've grown has the capacity to change so dramatically from the beginning of its growing season to the end. And, over this last year, I'm afraid I've become addicted to hosta. Many of my selections are the fragrant ones, not chosen primarily for that reason, but because H. plantaginea is the one most likely to endure/thrive in our warm and humid zone. Mobile was just given a new zone designation of 9a, from 8b, which seems to indicate we are going in the wrong direction to give hosta culture a happy future. Like you, I am keeping mine in containers. I'm not sure if I have a vole problem or not. I know we have moles, but have not verified voles yet. It says they are present in south Georgia (in a reference) so quite likely Auburn would have them. My dachshund caught a mole in the fall, but no voles so far. Plants which have leafed out early this spring/winter are: Lederhosen Satisfaction Fragrant Blue Stained Glass (did not go dormant all winter) plantaginea (3 plants all lovely) Royal Standard Eskimo Pie Lakeside Kaleidoscope Counting the ones on order this spring, some due in today and tomorrow, I have 79 different kinds, some multiples as well. I won a First View auction of some seeds, which I'll be planting also in peat pots by the weekend. Might freeze them for a couple of weeks though. Incidentally, I have a roll of 90% shade cloth purchased from Home Depot. If I need more shade, this will be strung up between my two large pecan trees, and attached to the privacy fence posts. I have a Flickr album about my hosta, under the same screen name I use here on GWeb, if you wish to view recent pictures. Originally I put THREE hosta in the ground, but since then I learned to go the container route. It promises a better future. My orders have been to: Hostahosta (Bob & Nancy Solberg) Land of the Giants Naylor Creek Nursery Plant Delight Nursery Bridgewood Gardens Q & Z Shady Oak Shades of Hosta Bridgewood Gardens Hornbaker Gardens Hallsons Gardens plus, I visited and picked up plants in Carlisle MA from Robert Seawright, hosta and hemerocallis plants. I've picked up a few plants from Lowes locally, impulse buys, and am keeping them separate from the others, using different tools etc, just in case they show any HVX. It will be easier to keep them separate in containers, is my way of thinking. Hope you let me know how your hosta look, any pictures will be eagerly awaited. I think you can follow this picture to my Flickr album:

ILovetoGrow, I'll be looking in the WalMart plant section to find one in Mobile, maybe. Like Ken says, it is a marketing ploy which may or may not work for them. Certainly, as I scanned the thumbnails at Ken's linked site, I saw beaucoup plants that I'm growing already. No scarcity of plant selections for here. However, Mobile is a subtropical zone, not really tropical, and I have to be quite particular about what I put in the ground, what I pot. And some of those POTS, man, I am not able to move them with a dolly if they are full of soil and a big plant too. (Hence restoring a derelict garage into my Teahouse/Greenhouse for wintering tender plants.) When my potted banana trees get big, they'll stay inside the Teahouse all year long, they thrive on heat and frequent watering, heavy feeders. Why should I love hosta you are wondering, with all the other stuff....well, Ken, I had a taste of northern gardening for several seasons, and I became enamoured of the hosta variety. No other plant species can change so much in its lifetime, or over the course of one year, and they all seem beautiful. Plus, if I can manage to give them the REQUIRED DORMANCY, which is my puzzle right now, they might prosper for me. I intend to give it a good try before I say Uncle. And I'm not known to give up easily.

Thanks all...Will certainly look at going to Big Bloomers and Plemmons! Bkay....I had forgotten about the Dixie list....thanks for the reminder... Several of us attended the Dixie Regional last summer that Bob and Nancy hosted so we were able to go to their nursery and also tour their garden. We also went to Plant Delights but 1 friend on this trip didn't go so this is a good excuse to go again...Also went to the Arboretum on that trip...it is fabulous!

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