Back from summer vacation with some hostas

11 years ago

We're finally home from our travels this summer. Drove over 4,000 miles without getting on the expressway!

On the way home, we stopped in New York and picked up some wonderful hostas.

At Jerry Murray's hosta farm, we purchased the following:

Dark Star

Zounds

Abiqua Moonbeam

Moonlight

Whirlaway (Jerry's introduction)

Illicit Affair

Lucy Vitols

Brave Amherst

Honeysong

Summer Fragrance

At Zehr's on the Lake (Ontario)

Dancing Stars

Rhino Hide (getting some unusual looking Rhino Hides out of tissue culture)

Prestige & Promise

Christmas Candy

Instead of seeing Niagara Falls, we decided to stop at Eagle Bay Gardens and had the pleasure of meeting Ran Lydell (http://www.hostalibrary.org/firstlook/Ran.htm).

We picked up some of his introductions as well as a couple of others:

Roseann Walters

Hot Green Chilies (OS)

Polecat (OS)

Striker (OS)

Turnabout (OS)

Peridot (OS)

Red Imp (OS)

Leading Lady

On the way home we passed through Ken's hometown of Adrian, Michigan where there was a lot of commotion going on from a cow that had gotten loose from the farmer's pasture!

And, finally, I realized that I was was driving by Hallsons and hit the brakes and made a sharp left turn into Chris and Brian's nursery. We managed to squeeze four more hostas into the car:

Yesterday's Memories

Spirit of St. Louis

Adorable

Pot of Gold

I took a quick look around the gardens this afternoon and some of the hostas are toasted, others look great. Tons of seedlings have sprouted up! We'll be busy cleaning up the gardens and making room for our new acquisitions.

Gesila

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Comments (16)

User
11 years ago
So glad to have you back, Gesila. Missed your comments and pictures and scientific experimentation. If you did 4000 miles off the expressways, you had a better GPS than I did.

Most of the ones you mention are unfamiliar. I'm curious about tissue cultured differences in Rhino Hide, what happens to that heavy duty little guy.

All work and no play is not good, so take a break now and again to stop in and play with us. Show off your new additions.
MadPlanter1 zone 5
11 years ago
What a shopping trip! You must have lots of planting space, looking forward to future pictures. I think you added a new one to the "you know you're a hostaholic" list - when you skip Niagara Falls to visit a hosta nursery.
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I had the same problem with my much beloved 'Earth Angel' this year! I am very sad because the small leaves that did appear have extremely large cream margins and if it were the size it normally is, the leaves, etc. it would have been especially spectacular this year. I dug it up to examine the roots and saw nothing unusual, in that there was no evidence of vole snacking or root invasion but there were less roots on the whole than I expected to find. I'm beginning to sense that the larger margins this one has always displayed may be the real cause, with less chlorophyll uptake being available with the lesser green areas! But, I agree with all the other comments since your problem wasn't confined to one or two of your hosta, mostly that the weather could have been a factor, since Spring began earlier this year for most of us in Ohio!!! I had that problem one year where I lost a good many of my hosta not planted directly in the ground and those that were badly damaged but had some surviving parts, two summers later, they are all back to their original great sizes! True, also, of some of my hosta that were vole-attacked late one summer! Oh, voles are very small mouse-like critters that enter via a finger-sized hole near a plant, to get to the roots and they do a great job of extreme root pruning, oftentimes. At their worst, you will find you have a nice 'bouquet' sitting there waiting to be picked up by you when you notice they are sitting somewhat askew, or 'just-not-right' looking to you! Grrrr! I had some over this winter which has been a first for me--the winter invasion, I mean!! Hopefully, in your case, everything will bounce back by next Spring!! janice
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I guess starting this off with Cheech and Chong, I should have been prepared for that last one! I just want to go on record as saying that I respect all traditions and beliefs that promote peace and brotherhood. In my garden and home you will find Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Taoist, Hopi, Lakota... all sorts of spiritual symbols - all directed toward increasing comity. And the only weed I've been involved with for many years is the kind I need to remove from my hostas!
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4. Planting 3 or 4 kinds of morning glories on the arbor look as lovely as you envisioned. But seed collecting - well, that's going to be problem....if you want to keep the seeds from the BLUE plant separate from the seeds from the PINK. And NOW you have to explain to garden visitors why there are little pieces of colored ribbon tied all over the vines.... Hear, hear. I use bread ties which are decidedly more "pokey" compared to ribbon. I'm sick of apologizing for everyone getting snagged. Now I suggest that they bypass the arbor and take the long way around. Which leads me to: 1. Stop ignoring the sizes listed on plant labels and seed packs. If something says it will grow to 10ft, assume that it will and only plant one. Nobody needs 50ft of Morning Glorys to fill an arbor "nicely". 2. When you give extra plants away they then belong to the recipient who can do with them what they want. They are allowed to plant them in unsuitable (and laughable) conditions, slowly kill them in any manner in which they are good at or even launch them into space if that's what they want to do. Until someone creates the RSPCP (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Plants) you cannot take legal action against them and you should just relax. 3. Cut as many bouquets as possible and give them to everyone you know (including the cats). 4. Your garden may not be picture perfect. You might have planted orange, blue and pinks together, caterpillars have eaten off half your flowers and there are yellow leaves and floppy plants everywhere, but you know what? All that mess is much more rewarding than having miles of perfectly green antiseptic grass with perfectly spaced cone shaped shrubs planted around an empty flagpole. This is a great topic btw. :)
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Comments (5)
Hurrrrayyyyy! I have been stalking and if you can imagine instead of a tireless Energizer bunny beating his drum and substitute hand-wringing wailing and pacing, that's me! waiting for you to get back! and no! I wasn't patiently waiting AT ALL, haha! if you read back with how much I've been bragging about you and Boxofrox to Jim in my Eluane post, you'll know what I mean. tee-hee! Here is just one! of the several JeffAurora brags I was doing-- "As for JeffAurora, I am having major "withdrawal symptoms". He's still! on vacation in Mexico (supposed to be for a couple of weeks)... I first started stalking Jeff in May 21, 2009ÂI had great difficulty photographing the reds of my Lincolns and asked advice on the regular rose forumÂ ThatÂs when he sent me this absolutely gorgeous photograph and told me that all his photos were in the Rose Gallery and that highlighted the day I "discovered the glories" of this separate forum... " When it comes to waiting for you to get back from Mexico, patience is the direct opposite of what I was doing... Again, absolutely gorgeous pics and your Gemini again so beautiful! I am so glad you've encouraged me with my Gemini... It's first flush was only 5 blossoms at the time of your encouragement(2 being snatched away by birds), and the 2nd flush was 29 plus 3 more extra buds getting ready to bloom, but unlike your Julia Child it spreads its blossoms steady and slow...It's actually just finishing its 2nd flush, but those 3 buds have yet to bloom...and I am hoping by then the 3rd flush will be starting... Hopefully if you have any bumblebees or honeybees amongst your roses you can get them for me with your closeups. Had a very sad situation with my Dad's honeybees and have been clipping like mad for them...They are my absolute favorite besides roses.... You are the red rose genius here! everything red is so luscious and beautiful...And Julia Child is amazing! I love her! My closeups with Fragrant Cloud are much blurrier, but for I too love my Fragrant Cloud tree rose, it is such a continual bloomer, it's always blooming, never a bloomless moment... Now that you're back those stupid beetles will hopefully be taught a lesson with soapy water drownings and tulle to get them to go away... Lilies are gorgeous too! Jeff I tried to grow them myself, but the light colored ones were destroyed by thrips and I had to transplant one to the non-thrips area...But get this!!!! the ones with the intense reds (the stargazer)was completely untouched in thrips territory...They sure don't like the deep reds do they or the hot colors of Fragrant Cloud and Lincoln, LOL! And now for Stalking JeffAurora Part 23....heeheeheehee!
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dray67
11 years ago
Now that is a VACATION!
jan_on zone 5b
11 years ago
What fun! Did you elicit any interest from the border guys re. all that potentially contaminated potting soil?
And - Niagara falls will still be there next trip!
Jan
hosta_freak
11 years ago
What in the world were you driving? A semi truck and trailer? I neve had any vehicle that would hold that much! I guess you must have many acres to plant in. I have many of the ones you got,but many I have never heard of. You must be exhausted! Good luck! Phil
hosta_freak
11 years ago
Gesila,when you get back to looking at the forum responses,here is a pic of a leaf of my Summer Fragrance. This year was their best year. I have two planted very near eack other. I had no idea it would ever get this big. Take a look. Phil

{{gwi:1070868}}
User
11 years ago
Here is my Zounds in July. Latest one I've uploaded to Flickr

Summer Fragrance in early August

My Rhino Hide is not a TC, at least do not think so???How do you know? Here it is, latest mug shot.
Gesila
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks everyone.

Moc, I've learned how to use my Navi that is built into my vehicle to avoid expressways!

We both have seen Niagara Falls before and it was so crowded. My DH was not being helpful and kept telling me to "turn here" onto the bridge to Canada. We didn't have papers to enter back into the USA, so I was getting stressed out, the hosta farms were much more relaxing.

Phil, does your Summer Fragrance bloom? They are supposed to be super fragrant. I was up in Blairsville, Georgia for 5 days helping my son pack his house up for their move to Vermont. You sure do live in a beautiful part of the country Phil. I really wanted to stop by and see your gardens, but didn't have a minute free. I still have another child in the south and look forward to visiting your gardens next season. But oh my, the giant bees, lizards, and other creatures were way too much for me!

Gesila
Gesila
Original Author
11 years ago
Hey Moc, you posted while I was posting! Thanks for the pictures, I haven't had a minute to even think about where I'm going to put my new ones. I just noticed that Dick Ward was a sport of Zounds. Hoping that means that Zounds might be sun tolerant!

Gesila
ci_lantro
11 years ago
Gesila, I have Summer Fragrance--had it for a few years, dunno' how many...maybe 6 or more years? Somehow, it's escaped ever being divided and is now 38-39 inches wide by 20 inches tall. Takes afternoon & late afternoon sun here in central WI, drought tolerant and blooms reliably. Fragrant, yes, but not super fragrant. I never notice the fragrance unless I bend down to sniff. In fairness though, it's downwind from my regular path across the patio. Reluctantly situated it there because the spot is prolly too sunny for a lot of other hosta and SF likes the spot.
hosta_freak
11 years ago
Gesila,yes my Summer Fragrance bloomed this year,but I didn't smell it. You would have been disappointed in my garden now. It is going down fast,due to the weird weather,still it was a good year. I've been to Blairsville a few times,and their topography is similar to mine. Phil
User
11 years ago
Oh yes, I had Dick Ward and loved it, which is what sold me on Zounds. I had it sitting beside The Shining, thinking that Zounds would be a smaller mature plant, when I read more about it....LARGE? Oh wow, it has a way to go yet! But it is very gold, as much so as The Shining, and I keep it in morning light but broken by some very high pecan tree shade.
mmarnold
11 years ago
Cant believe you found Zehrs on the lake!Great place and right down the road from use.We love them!You really where off the highways.
steve_wny
11 years ago
Small world...I purchased my first hostas at Murray's, and my most recent ar Eagle Bay :)
Gesila
Original Author
11 years ago
Zehr's on the Lake is a beautiful nursery! We drove by it and had to turn around and go back. So glad I did.

Steve, did you know that Jerry Murray got his hosta addiction after meeting Ran Lydell at Eagle Bay!

Gesila
mmarnold
11 years ago
Ive never been to Murays or Eagle bay.But I plan on a trip this week.

Back from summer vacation with some hostas

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