Bettylu, I think that you achieved a very pretty hosta bed. You have a variety of plant heights, shapes and a repitition of other plant material and colours which all add interest. I also like the use of stones. I've made my share of hosta blunders in the past and am still dealing with my first hosta bed in which I arranged the hostas according to bloom colours. This resulted in most of the hostas being the same size and colour ...a bed that frankly is blah. After studying my hosta arrangements and those of others, I have come to the following conclusions as to what I like: In regard to contrast I like the look of solid yellow hostas against solid blue hostas, but when it comes to solid yellow hostas and solid green hostas, I find it easier on the eye to transition from solid yellows to solid greens by means of an intermediary variegated green/yellow hosta, especially if the solid yellow and solid green have the same form. I think Steve Mass' 'Sun Power' arrangement is lovely beacaue of the varying shapes, textures and colours of the ferns, spruce and hosta. Like coll 123 I have been trying to transition from one hosta to another by picking up a c0lour from the first hosta into the second hosta or by means of drifts of companion plants. I'm experimenting with shade tolerance of other perennials besides hostas. I've found sedums and festuca more shade tolerant than I anticipated. In my sun borders, I try to use repetition of plant material by either shape or colour. I experimented with planting in threes, one tall vertical plant , a medium sized plant and a small plant. I found that most spring flowering plants are low to the ground, medium plants are summer flowering and tall plnts have fall blooms, at least in my garden. I don't like too many vertical plants too close together, because it looks too busy to me. Because most hosta collectors have limited space, it is often difficult to repeat the same hosta, so I think this can be achieved by using the tall big hostas as vertical accents and by using smaller hostas in groups of three or more. In my newest hosta bed I planted my biggest (by mature size) hostas first and filled in with smaller hostas and other perennials, which can be easily moved around if i don't find the effect pleasing. With garden art, I try not to use more than one piece in any one location. I like the use of rocks to draw attention to any one hosta. Once again, I find threes pleasing to the eye- a hosta towering over a rock and then a smaller hosta nestled into the rock, for example. As with anything beauty is in the eye of the beholder AND rules, when it comes to gardening, I break all the time. Sometimes I like the effect and at other times I don't. Thanks for asking your question, Bettylu as it's helped me clarify the rules I TRY to follow.

My name says it all...67...I'm sure over time that will grow. I LOVE perennials, don't buy annuals unless something catches my eye...no, im not a perennial 'snob', i just got hooked on perennials like my mother did before me....waiting for spring to see the babies return is such a thrill.... I fell in love with hosta back in the fall of 1980 when I asked for a piece of hosta called Lancifolia...plain green, pointy leaves, but was she a beauty. I took her home in a green plastic bag and left her in the backyard, sitting in the bag, against the house until I had a chance to plant her. I had three small children, got busy, and soon forgot about the hosta. Winter came, winter left, spring followed, and I was outdoors checking on my "babies"...I gasped when I saw the garbage bag, forgotten and still propped against the house but the gasp was one of amazement! Poking out of the bag were all these pointy, green tips, obviously a hosta was growing!!!! Imagine that...a garbage bag 'hosta bed'. That was it for me...anything that could survive such neglect deserved a place of honour in my garden. To this day my daughters and I refer to this hosta as Mary Long because that is the lady who gave me my first hosta. I still love the older hosta from which all these newbies originated, in one form or another...now we have fancy names, exotic names, suggestive names aka Striptease, Obscene Gesture, etc etc etc but they are all hosta, they are beautiful, majestic plants and will never go out of style....they don't demand special care, if you don't fertilize they still reward you with flowers and they grow bigger and more beautiful each year but they DO COME BACK, YEAR AFTER YEAR. Saying I collect hosta really means I am hiding behind the excuse that my gardens are a jumbled mess, somewhat of a jungle and the hosta that live in those beds have the job of detracting from that mess...lol. Here's a pic of the Lancifolia that survived the garbage bag and fondly named Mary Long. This is the "mother" plant from which my divisions are made. She's been moved so many times I can't remember how many, yet look at her...isn't she a beauty? Anyone who ever says "less is more" ......surely that saying doesn't apply to hosta, does it? If that's the case, then I'm a hopeless case. My backyard is 42ft. wide only but it is jammed with all perennial plants. I have a bed under the tiny deck which consists of hostas, astilbes, hellebores, one heuchera, a columbine, a dwarf goat's beard, a peony, a shrubby sweet pea perennial...a bed on the other side of stairs, consisting again of hosta, peony, bergamot, anemone, brunnera, jacob's ladder, primula, easter lily, astilbe, a bed along each side of the house with more hosta, fern, tall phlox, lillies, a bed under the front window which continues down the front walkway entrance, consisting of rose of sharon, weigela, spirea, potentilla, yellow Itoh peony, hosta, then a long (not really long) free standing bed out front, forsythia row down one side of driveway, and a bed that incorporates the city-planted maple...mainly comprised of variety of low growing sedums. Just a whole lot of jumbled plants, nothing fancy or scientific, but boy they sure make me smile!!! Gardening gets me up and at it, sore back and all, and keeps me moving and happy with the world in general. My motto is that if I see it and like it, it goes home with me! I'll worry about placement later...I have no room for anything more, hosta or otherwise but, like a lot of you, I dig up more sod, lug soil bags around and plant to my heart's content!

I shop at multiple stores. Pay day is every other Friday so I that is when I go to Wal-Mart or Smith's (Kroger owned). Every 2 weeks we also get coffee beans at the little mom and pop shop. We go to Sprouts every 2 weeks as their ads overlap on Wednesdays. This is actually getting less frequent as they have not put the bulk things on sale that I want the most as frequently (steel cut oats and short grain brown rice). The bread outlet is a once a month trip. Other stores such as Keller's (for meat), Trader Joe's, the international markets, Vitamin Cottage (for other bulk items), I alternate months. Some things I get through Amazon's subscribe and save and that can vary in frequency. Eggs are mostly from my hens and many of our vegetables come from our garden. Some of the variety in shopping is about the money savings but it is more along the lines of trying to match the quality to a certain price point and meeting my needs of acquiring a diversity of ingredients. Arborio rice at TJ's, quality meat at Keller's, red lentils in bulk at Vitamin Cottage, etc. Part of it is me trying to maintain a well stocked pantry because my moods are fickle and if the pantry has a variety of things, I can cook according to my mood. Pre-planned menus never, ever work for me.

when you interfere with the roots of a plant .. you cut its ability to pump water .. maintain turgidity ... so leaves flop ... so.. before you dig.. divide ... or unpot.. you tape it up .. so the leaves hold themselves up ... during the time of low water pressure ... used it on all kinds of plants that might flop ... i also used to tape division from the mother plant to expose the crown.. when dividing ... especially with sports ... we had quite a lively conversation about this years ago .. when someone asked what the opposite of turgid was.. and it all went down hill from there.. anyone recall ... ken