lol - no blood sacrifice...just a trade for a real fat cat for "Valley's Fat Cat"! It's interesting to me that the ones that are on the market (I think 3) are nice but nowhere NEAR the amazing ones I see as I scroll through! Between these and Osiris 'Obscur', I think I have been bitten by the hosta bug again after many years of dormancy...

Moved back to IA from TX 15 years ago. Bought a house that said in the listing something about a lot of perennials and gardens. I was disappointed when we saw it. There was a row of green and white hostas in the front, a row of iris on one side, bushes on the other and two small beds in the back with daylilies, sedums and peonies and not much else. Bought a hosta grab bag by mail, it arrived as a bag of unmarked roots. Planted them in and around the line of green and whities. Years later tore off the deck, built a porch and decided it was time to do something about the patch under the maples without grass. Was told to plant hostas, lamium and perennial geraniums. (found out later it was because it was so dry because of the hard maples. Now I just water every second or third day.) So I split the ones i had and thought all was well until a friend gave me Guacamole. I thought I didn't have room, she said there is always room for another hosta. I didn't know there were so many varieties, started looking online. Ordered a bunch online with same friend, thought I would never care about names, threw out all the tags. (I can hear you all groaning!) Next year saw Blue Shadows online, searched and couldn't find it. Ordered a bunch more, cared about their names, painted all their names on rocks. Still don't know some of the first ones. :( Ended up with two of some of them. :) Saw Blue Shadows, searched high and low for it online. Ordered it, not Blue Shadows. :( Kept searching..... Met a great lady at the Des Moines farmers market, who has become a dear friend, and have learned so much more from her. Found the forum, learned more. Bought more, planted more, bought more, planted more....haven't counted lately, but close to 400 varieties, or maybe over. (I also have a duplicates of some of my favorites. Some examples... June is a lot of different places and is one whole tree ring in the back. I have a tree ring of Golden Meadows and a row of daylilies with a rainforest sunrise in between each one. ) And then I finally found Blue Shadows thanks to Paul putting me in touch with JIm. It is as gorgeous as the photo I saw. And now my yard is becoming what I had envisioned that day I read the listing. It isn't all hostas, there are a lot of clematis, daylilies, and other sun perennials around the edges. But it is funny as the sun lovers are all blooming out trying to find the sun since I have a lot of trees. I should have just planted all hostas. he he he

You have all been so welcoming, and after my day at work - it is very appreciated! o.k. - let's see - feel free to call me "hosta" for short, and I will ask DH to post a pic of our Molly. I will also ask DH to post recipes - any requests? He actually was a chef for many years, now cooks for me and family & guests. We have a veggie garden, and I preserve alot - canning & freezing. We also have fruit bushes & trees - raspberries, blueberries, pears, cherries, grapes, elderberries, currants & I hope someday apples - we can't seem to get an apple that is not misshapen from our trees. We both work too many hours, and I am also a grad student -finally getting my Master's! Both of my DDs & I are in school - DD #1 (age 24) for her Master's - she is a teacher, and DD #2 (age 18) undergrad at Univ of Buffalo - who here lives N of Pittsburgh, went to UB & has s sister in Erie? I will look back soon to find out - but I send a special "HI" right now. DH has 2 kids - DstepS is married with 3 kids - a DGD, age 7 & twin GS, age 4. DH has a DD age 33 - lives in Orlando. I am glad to be among such warm peeps - thanks!

Gee, I didn't know about the change of ownership! Glad I found out here. Here is the Made in the Shade Facebook page about the change of hands. I bought a lot of hostas over the years from Rob and consulted with him over the phone many times about something or other re my hostas. He always sent me nice plants and was always happy to answer questions, whether over the phone or email: It is with mixed emotions that I must announce that I am no longer the owner of Made in the Shade Garden’s retail/mail order hosta business. I was honored to serve you over the last 19 years. As of January 1, 2018 the new owner is Trey Rutledge. Please join me in wishing Trey every success. I trust you will afford Trey the opportunity to gain your confidence just as you afforded me that same opportunity 19 years ago. To avoid any confusion, I will be taking down my Made in the Shade Gardens Facebook page. You can continue to follow me on my new Made in the Shade Tissue Culture page. There I will try to give you a behind the scenes look at what goes on in a plant tissue culture lab and a look ahead of new hosta introductions that we are working on. Hosta’ly, Rob Mortko Made in the Shade TC