When You Care Enough To Send The Very Best..

10 years ago

It is a great thing to get three boxes of hosta delivered all at one time. All three sources sent the very best. I am pleased.

It's HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!! (in 6 more days)...I stopped celebrating birthdays, but it's good to keep HAVING them, you know what I mean? :)

The hosta are all still in the house, some already taped against wilt as they enter the ambient humid atmosphere in south Alabama, others yet to be taped, all sucking up cool water and waiting for the cooler shady part of the day to arrive, just before sundown. Then I begin potting.

Have a look at the new gang....aren't they amazing? The boxes first:

Ed Schulz sent H. 'Sam Spade' which I won on a benefit auction in late May/early June...

Hallson sent the 4 I ordered plus the bonus H.'Neptune'

Then Jim Hartmann sent the long stem rose box packed with big divisions from mature hosta. What an amazing sight it was when I kept pulling big hosta out of there! The green bushel of biggies all came from Hartmann, and one of the small containers sitting on the tall stool. The others ar from Schulz and Hallson.

Now for some individual leaves from the Hartmann order
There are only two I can identify now, being Kiwi Full Monty
and Lakeside Lollipop, which is the really dark round leafed medium sized hosta.
LS Lollipop?

Kiwi Full Monty

and some more of the big guys

Come on over, and join me in a POT PARTY. It's legal. :)

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Comments (21)

Gesila
10 years ago
Those are awesome Moc, I just got my order today too, they're sitting in water right now.

Did I miss a new supplier?????? Who is Jim Hartmann, where can I find his list. I want some!!!!!

Gesila
MadPlanter1 zone 5
10 years ago
What wonderful plants! I've always made the trip to the nursery and wanted to see what I was getting. Those look just as good or better than what the area nurseries sell. I promised myself no more hostas for a while, but maybe I'll try mail order next year.
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MadPlanter1 zone 5
10 years ago
Oops- meant to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
User
Original Author
10 years ago
Gesila, Jim Hartmann is our forum member, IDIOTHE.....one and the same. I have a list of his hosta, but he can also send you one.

Thanks for looking, I think they are all stupendous new additions to my garden. Probably they are more mature than any plant I have....excepting maybe Sum And Substance, which is my oldest giant, one of my original 6 hosta from 2010.
don_in_colorado
10 years ago
Holy canolli! Jim is the MAN!!!! What an AWESOME haul, Mocc! I'd be doing backflips in the sprinkler!

Don B.
mbug_gw
10 years ago
Happy Birthday....Happy Planting!!
idiothe
10 years ago
Happy Birthday, Brenda! Glad that box got there in good shape. Actually, looks like one end got bashed in some... but it sounds like the plants were in pretty good shape. Two more belated birthday boxes tomorrow!

I want to be careful about abusing GardenWeb's good graces providing this forum and not using it for advertising

Some of you who have been around a long time know I used to be a pretty active member... in fact, I go back so far on GardenWeb that I know what it means to be "Spiked!"

I've met some of the forum members over the years... had a nice visit with Ken in his garden during the convention in 2009... still in contact with Chris at Hallsons... Don R graced our gardens with his visit several weeks back... Paul and Melissa are long-term Minnesota friends... had a great visit with Vicky weekend before last... so we have kept some contact with the hosta world...

but I had some serious medical issues in early 2011 and we suspended sales and took some recovery time. We're coming back into the swing of things on a limited basis...

So... if you'd like to know more about what we're doing at Harbor Lane Gardens you can send an email or check us out at our Facebook page.

I hope that doesn't violate any rules or take advantage of the good will of GW posters...
mbug_gw
10 years ago
I was biding on Sam Spade too on the Building a Dream auction! Looks like you outbid me on a really good looking one. Congratulations!!!
I did win bids on two others, but I'm still waiting on them.
Babka NorCal 9b
10 years ago
Jim- I'm so glad you are back and writing. I LOVE your stories! I got "spiked" too back then, wondering why I ended up in Disneyland. I thought it was just my WebTV. Also so happy that your derriere got fixed.

-Babka (Diana)
User
Original Author
10 years ago
MBug, it was fun playing with the auction, always makes it more fun when the cause is worthwhile. I was very impressed with the Sam Spade, it was a thick bundle when I taped it up. At least tomorrow I won't be fumbling and sweating trying to tape up the pets before they all flop down. Things should go quickly. (I'm getting used to the routine?)

Tomorrow I show the picture of H. 'Derriere' with his very special pot feet. They arrived yesterday I think. Look for it in the Derriere topic.

Yes, I have a couple of things coming this week. Many of the folks donating were at the convention in Milwaukee and asked if I would be there to pick up the wins. Don't I wish! :)
esther_b
10 years ago
Happy birthday, Moc. That's a good present for yourself! I haven't participated in that auction, don't even know how. Besides, I haven't an unplanted square inch now. I was showing my handicapped neighbor my new Dicentra in the last unplanted space there was, telling her it was a good flowering plant for shady spots. Well strike me down if she didn't spot the 99 Cent Store Invaders and actually thought them cute!

Halp!
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
why hadnt they been taped up.. as soon as they came out of the box???

congrats

ken
beverlymnz4
10 years ago
Happy birthday. Your plants are wonderful. Can't wait to hear about them getting planted and growing up.

Beverly
janann
10 years ago
Happy Happy Birthday to you! Don't ever stop celebrating, you only get one a year. So if you make it a 100, that is only 100 cakes you got just for being here! So just keep celebrating it with hostas. :) (This comes from a girl whose Mom died at 52, and as I now have less than ten years to get to that, I realize just how young she was.) So I think you should celebrate the whole month!

I got my plants from Jim and was just as thrilled. I just never seem to find time to post photos. My Blue Shadows from Jim is in the ground and looking gorgeous. And Jim I think it is a crime if you don't tell us that you sell such gorgeous plants for such lovely prices! I don't mind any enabling, I mean advertising, and it isn't really advertising, it is just informing us as to a wonderful source for beautiful plants! I just came in for breakfast and now heading back out to plant! Oh and I am currently planning a kayaking/biking trip and trying to plan it around a garden visit. Hoping to go to Jim's in MN, but if anyone else wants to Iowa girls two show up on their doorstep for a tour somewhere in or a state close to Iowa, we are very flexible. We only need hostas and some type of water big enough for sea kayaks. :)
mosswitch
10 years ago
Okaaay Jim, found you on facebook. You are now on my list to order from from fall planting!

Sandy
hostafreak
10 years ago
Mocc,that plant you call Sam Spade looks an awful lot like my Harpoon,including how shiny the leaves are. Nice plants! I hope you have plenty of pots! Phil
User
Original Author
10 years ago
Well, heck, Phil, I'm assuming it is Sam Spade,,,,,the only hosta I won donated by Ed Schulz was Sam Spade, so I get this box (very sturdy BOOT box, in fact) with a hosta in it, saying sent by E. Schulz, I get an email saying it was the one being sent, and then....it arrives without a little "Hello my name is Sam Spade' tag anywhere. So I'm making a leap of faith saying it IS in fact Sammy Spade.

It is a nice hosta. Rhizomatous I think it's called. If Harpoon looks like it, then I like that name too and certainly the look. I'll check it out.

I had a Sam Spade from another source but was not sure it would live, rather IFFY at first, so when this one came up from the originator Ed Schulz, I wanted the "real thing." They do not look the same, my two Sam Spades. We'll have to talk about that on a separate thread, okay?
almosthooked zone5
10 years ago
Oh My........, I have total hosta envy ! Also have a very happy birthday
Faye
Babka NorCal 9b
10 years ago
I really like the tile of your post. Yes, you indeed have received the "very best"...but where's the crown? ;-)

-Babka
User
Original Author
10 years ago
Babka, the crown was made out of chocolate, and I ate it.
Oh yum. That's why I'm so content here tonight...

...after a day hauling big bags of mix and cow manure and pots and water hose....forgot to take a look at the shiny back leafed hosta until now...drats, a mind is a terrible thing to waste...and I may be 40% done with the task .... taking my time...cannot hurry in this heat ....why is all the potting mix on the bottom of the barrel...

And I turn on the sprinkler which gets me hosed down before I position the arcing spray just right.....and it is suddenly wonderful....cooler...leaves perking up....does not take much.

So that's why I'm tired tonight...and still have PICTURES to tag with plant names before I upload them to Flickr....name tags for the pots, so I do not forget to learn every one of them. So sad to overlook one of them, isn't it...when they may be doing their very best and want to be recognized and idolized...as so many hosta deserve.
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
IDOLIZED! That's it, Moccasin! That's it! I've been hunting for a word that means exactly what I feel for hosta and you nailed it! :) :) :)

HAPPY SUMMER, EVERYONE! I'm only a day late...

When You Care Enough To Send The Very Best..

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Gesila

MadPlanter1 zone 5

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