2013 Aphrodite bloom count in western Virginia mountains

10 years ago

The front all sun bed of Aphrodite played some tricks on us this year, coming up much later due to the cool Spring weather. We thought something was wrong early, as the larger clumps came up slowest.

Now after 50+ inches of rain this growing season, the clumps are much larger than last year.

13 boom scapes showing this morning, about two weeks later than last year, probably due to the late Spring emergence and cool rainy summer.

When the first blooms open I will post a photo to see if the rain contributes to larger bloom sizes, which I have seen in the past.

Hoping for 50+ blooms this year but it is Aphrodite, and she loves to disappoint those who tend her needs!

Bruce

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Comments (54)

in ny zone5
10 years ago
My h. 'Aphrodite' grew very well this year, loves the sunny spot, just noticed one leaf-high scape here in zone 5. Last year it only had 2 scapes and 2 flowers. Additionally I like the 2 'Avocado', 2 'Guacamole' and the 'Holy Mole'. The 'Avocado' and 'Guacamole' show developing scapes, and there is hope for more scapes on my 'Aphrodite'. Bernd

This post was edited by berndnyz5 on Thu, Aug 15, 13 at 18:54
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
Does anyone have both Plantaginea and Aphrodite? Would the flowers have the same scent by any chance?
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I will try to condense this because I could pontificate for hours on this! My love for gardening came from my father. He was the ultimate green thumb-he didn't have formal training that i know of, but he was a street tree gardener for two of the communities we grew up in, and always had a vegetable garden as a way to supplement our large family's food budget.(Six kids) He was a school music teacher and when summer vacation began he was always found out back tending the garden for pretty much the whole summer. Of all six children I seemed to be the most interested in what he did-and my first memory of my own interest was when he gladly allowed me to plant marigolds around the border of his garden to keep pests away(this was a fairly large plot and now I know why he jumped at my offer to help him!)I was in elementary school at the time. Also eating a tomato whole and sprinkled with salt always brings dad's tomatoes to mind. And asparagus and homemade pickles.... That was my first taste of working in a garden. It wasn't until I was a first-time homeowner that I knew I was going to be a gardener but I chose to go the route of flowers instead of vegetables. The saddest thing, though was that the year before I moved into my new home, my dad developed Alzheimer's disease and everything I needed to ask him for gardening advice about trees and organic gardening was completely gone-he was just a shell of my father-quite sad. Not a day goes by when I'm in my yard and garden that I don't think of Dad and the gift he gave me. I just wanted to share it with him. He passed away two months ago. Just an interesting note; Our family surname has it's origin from Poland and it means 'gardener of an estate' I find that kind of neat. Maybe it's in our bloodline to be gardeners! * Posted by: pkock Zone 6 (My Page) on Tue, May 28, 02 at 2:44 So glad to find this thread - hope it lasts, because it's fun! Honestly, I am not sure what got me hooked. I think it's my tendency to love "scientific" stuff - I never pursued it professionally, but I'll make anything into a science experiment. I got through two pregnancies with that attitude. ;-) My grandma was the gardener in our family. She lived with us, and each year we had to have a veggie garden. My dad wasn't into yard work much, but was "forced" into the labor required, turning over the clay soil with a spade and protesting the entire time. Always basic stuff - tomatoes, peppers, pole beans, but they sure tasted good. We had strawberries for a couple of years, and there was a big apple tree in our yard that grew "cooking" apples. Grandma made lots of pies and applesauce. Then there was Girl Scouts - one year we had a hike with a knowledgeable person who pointed out all the fantastic wild plants along the trail. I absorbed it all like a sponge. This is rare, this is edible, this is a cure for poison ivy, etc. I still remember most of it, teach my daughter, and soon will teach her scout troop too. I was voted "Miss Outdoorswoman" in high school. Isn't that neat? Some things never change. :) --Pam * Posted by: Lucy2 Z7Atlanta (My Page) on Wed, May 29, 02 at 8:23 I love reading these. I remember going to visit my grandparents in Texas every summer. We lived in New Hampshire and would fly down and my grandparents would meet us at the airport. The first thing we would do when we got to Grandma's house was run to her garden. Every year she planted a watermelon JUST FOR US! Oh, how special that was. We would walk into the garden and she would "double check that it was ripe and time to pick it and she would let us watch as she "ever so gently" plucked the watermelon from the garden and we would sit on her front porch all afternoon eating the best watermelon we had ever tasted and spitting seeds as far as we could. Sadly, my Aunt burst my childhood memory bubble (when I was in my 40's but it still hurt!) by telling me that my Grandparents would go to the grocery store the night before we flew in, buy a watermelon and lay it in the garden "just for us", pretending they planted it and grew it all along...I guess I'm in denial because I still tell my children about those fond memories! * Posted by: becki3 z5 IN (My Page) on Tue, Jul 23, 02 at 20:34 Can I still step in here? This is such a wonderful thread, brought back some great memories. But now I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes and a big lump in my throat. One of my first garden memories is of my next-door neighbor when I was very small. She had a gigantic (to me) gooseberry bush that she would make pies for us from, if I would pick the berries. And she also had a thick grape vine that she would sit down with me in the middle of the yard and eat grapes from right off the vine. We always sat on the other side of it so my mom couldn't see us from the window. I don't think she would have minded, but my neighbor made it fun, thinking we were being secretive. She also had about a million plants in her house that she would show me all the time. Thinking back on it now, I realize they were mostly African violets. She was in her late 80's, early 90's, and I thought she was the best neighbor a girl could ever have. (still do) :) Then there was my grandpa. When he was a teen in the service, he had come home to visit his mom just before being shipped overseas. He took ONE little segment from her Christmas cactus, which had been a wedding present 25 years before that, and put it in his wallet. He then drove all the way across the country (took a few days), all the while sitting on this wallet. Just before being shipped out, he stuck this one little smashed, dried up piece of Christmas cactus and stuck it in a little pot of dirt from the ground outside his barracks. I'm not sure what happened to it (where it was, who took care of it) while he was in the war. But I do know that when he died in 1994, that Christmas cactus was not only alive, but very, very, VERY big. He had built a planter for it on wheels so he could move it outside in the summer and back inside for the winter. He also had a ramp leading up to his patio door, which he had to remove to get it through. This "planter" was 5 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. Filled all the way with soil and thick, long roots. And the plant filled every inch of the top of the soil and hung down to the floor all around. He had to give it a "haircut" every time he moved it in or out so he wouldn't run over it with the wheels. I now have a pretty good size pot of this same plant in my husband's office, where it sits in front of a huge window all year long and blooms from Oct to around May every year. I ask about or stop by to check on this plant about once a week. I'm always terrified I might lose this plant, I feel like somehow I would be losing my grandpa all over again. Or that he might be disappointed in me for letting his precious plant die after having survived 4 generations in our family. But my all-time favorite childhood memories (of any kind) come from my Aunt Julia and Uncle Bill. They had a big farm in Missouri with a couple horses, a coop full of chickens, and about 300 head of dairy and beef cows at any given time. Along with the usual couple of dogs and a barn full of cats. And I remember one time my Aunt sent me out with the horse to get a few apples from the big tree out in the east pasture to make a pie for dinner. She told me to get a sack out of the barn to carry them in. Well, being about 8 or 9 at the time, I had no idea how many apples it took to make a pie. So I took 2 big gunny sacks, and me and Ginger (the horse) set out to find that big tree. Ginger was so patient with me as I stood on her back on the blanket that I rode with (never used a saddle) to pick all the apples that I could reach. I tied these two gunny sacks across her back and filled them up full. (poor horse!) When I got back, I didn't think my Aunt and Uncle would ever stop laughing. Instead of a few apples for a pie, I had just picked enough apples for an entire week of non-stop canning, freezing, and baking everything we could think of that contained apples. Then there were the times that Aunt Julia and I would pack a picnic basket to take out to my Uncle Bill when he was working the fields. We would sit under a big tree and just watch him disking the field, or baling the hay until he noticed us in the distance. Then he would come get me and let me drive the big tractors for a while before we ate. But one of my most vivid and comforting memories is of me and Aunt Julia sitting on the porch swing snapping beans or shelling peas. 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Then I think I will sit down and start crocheting an afghan for Aunt Julia (she taught me how to do that when I was 6). Luckily I learned to crochet a lot better than I learned how to milk a cow (sorry Uncle Bill)! Thanks for letting me take this stroll! Becki :) * Posted by: Mirri 5 (Finland) (My Page) on Fri, Jul 26, 02 at 3:06 My first attempt to garden vegetables was when I was 9. I loved peas, so I wanted to grow them. My father formed me a lot saying it would be too hard for me, turning the thick soil. Then I sow the peas and watered them for about 2 weeks. Then my first dog - who died of old age a few years back at 13- had a friend over. They were just puppies back then, running and playing. My daddy warned me, but I wanted to let them play on our rather tiny lot. They run over my pea-lot several times, breaking all those tender 15cm pea shoots. Oh, how I cried. Then I took little sticks and tied the shoots back up. Most of them recovered. Then the dogs, Roope and Olga, run the pea shoots down again after a week or so. And I gave up. I quit gardening for about 10 years. I only had a few cacti which I killed and bought new ones. But now I am a horticulturist. Working, ironically, in a greenhouse that produces pea shoots! I think that the wonder of growing, seeing the shoots come up from earth was a positive thing in the end. Even though I didn`t get to harvest the peas. This year I have a tiny pea-lot again, the first time after I was 9. I have harvested some, but my dog keeps steeling the pods before I find them. When I was 17 I found gardening again, in the form of houseplants. I was living in a tiny oneroom flat without balcony. The houseplant hobby lead me into studying horticulture. Now I have a son and 2 dogs. If Pyry wants to be a little gardener, I will build a fence around his lot. * Posted by: prairie_rose southalta (My Page) on Tue, Aug 20, 02 at 23:56 my earliest memories. being sat in the potato patch with a coffee can with some kerosene in the bottom and picking potato bugs and putting them in the can. i think that was the way my mom and grandma kept us out of their hair on wash day ( the old wringer washer, rinse tub, mangler days.) i remember the smell of the compost heap, and i never thought it was nasty. my grandpa and i spent lots of time there, spreading things out, turning it over occasionally. i think i must have got compost in my veins, replaced all the blood, cause i still don't find the compost heap all that nasty. (compost tea, well that is a different story. lol) i remember i hated bringing kids to our house in the fall cause you could smell the crocks of sauerkraut brewing. we lived on the edge of town, and i swear my mom was the only one who canned. but i couldn't wait for it to be ready and eating the stuff till i was sure i would burst. i remember we were the "poor kids" but we ate better than any of my friends, and were healthier than most of my friends. the garden was a way of life, and everyone was expected to pitch in. and when harvest happened, everyone was expected to come home to can. my mom would pick the weekend and as young adults, we all showed up. 5 women in a kitchen!!!!! lots of hard work, but lots of laughs, too. and when it was over we all got our share to take home. now, i am a single mom with two kids, and all those lessons are paying huge dividends. my two are the "poor kids" but they eat better than most of their friends and are healthier than most, too. what i save at the supermarket because of the garden pays the morgage and the extras for the kids. and this year, my daughter is taking an active part in the canning. i just wish my grandma, mom and sisters were here, too. * Posted by: lynne_s z5ny (My Page) on Mon, Sep 9, 02 at 22:23 I remember planting potatoes on my grandfather's farm in the early spring when i was about 4 years old. We weren't just planting a little garden patch...I swear this field must have been at least an acre. I remember the fun we had, laughing and running around in the dirt...getting dirty, but it was ok..we were doing something productive. I remember Grampa explaining the different types...we even planted purple potatoes from Russia. Later in our visit to his farm my brothers and sisters and I helped plant the seeds that would become carrots, corn and beans. I remember trudging through the brambles in search of the elusive blueberry bushes...after a morning of picking berries, we'd stop and have lunch...Grampa would take a fishing line and hook out of his pocket and catch small trout from a nearby stream and we'd roast them on a stick over a fire...just like a hot dog. He amazed me...the man could survive in the wilderness with nothing, and probably live better than most of us do today. lol The outdoors was his church; where he prayed, pondered and planned his life. My grandfather, retired by this time still loved gardening and sold his veggies every summer from his down-sized farm. We spent the entire spring and summer there. Everything we ate and drank came from that farm. I still remember how wonderful everything tasted...the taste of fresh food was foreign to me then. I went back to Grampa's farm many times until he passed...there, I worked hard, enjoyed the freedom of being in the outdoors and learned how important it was to treat our planet with respect, for it is what feeds us. It seems I forgot a lot of his wisdom until quite recently. Now that I'm a Mom of 5 boys, with many mouths to feed as well as many personalities and value systems to help develop, the things he taught me are returning. My husband and I have purchased a home out in the country trying to create an environment for our boys that my Grampa created for us...one of fresh air, sun, fun and respect for all things living...an I'm proud to say, we are well on our way! * Posted by: KCtomato1 z5/6 KC, Mo (My Page) on Sat, Sep 14, 02 at 0:36 My grandfathers both got me started. My first memory is of dark purple tulips and tulips that were taller than I. I recall what a joy it was grandpa let me pick one. Somewhere in the family, someone has a picture of it. I was 2-3. Both gardened but it was my paternal grandfather that let me try everything. He introduced me to raw veggies. I still prefer them over cooked. He would also let me in the berry patch - which is what really got me growing. He made a deal with me - if I picked 2 I could eat one. He'd go in and I would pick 'em clean of course taking the best for myself. We both walked away thinking we got the better deal. My maternal Grandfather taught me more on the "how's" rather than the "whats". He grew to sell and was not keen on kids picking things he could potentially sell. When I was small I would go out to the garden where he was working just to be with him and I'd watch. I would have worked but he wouldn?t let me. He thought I was nuts for wanting to work. He told me there were snakes in the berry patch in an "effort" to keep me out. Most the time he ran me off I was just looking for the snake. Him teaching me things came at a much older age. Im grateful for the time I did spend with them and the gift they passed on. Keith * Posted by: bizmhamama CA z10 (My Page) on Tue, Oct 8, 02 at 15:09 This answers your interest in childhood memories in a roundabout way. My parents and I immigrated to the United States when I was four years old and I never really knew my expanded family. My mother, who grew up on a sugar plantation, cared absolutely nothing for getting her hands dirty. Our back yard was concrete! Her only gardening interest was roses. I became interested in indoor plants as a teenager and then became obsessed with succulents once I moved out of the house & had a patch of dirt of my own. I even wondered what it would take to go back to school for a landscaping degree, and daydreamed about owning a nursery. My maternal grandmother came to America only a few years ago. I was fairly shocked to learn that she loves gardening! She grows guava trees from seed. In her 80s, she still derives incredible enjoyment from simply watching living things grow. I realize now my passion for gardening would have been sparked much earlier in life if geography (& politics!) hadn't intervened.
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idiothe
10 years ago
Yes, josephine... I grow plantaginea and Aphrodite and Ming Treasure and I'd say that the scent is the same... I simply think of it as the plantaginea fragrance...

and to me it is the same in most of the hybrids down the line... the whole Fragrant Bouquet family. They have smaller flowers - and for me set flowers earlier than the true plantagineas - but the fragrance seems the same, if varying sometimes in how strong it is from each blossom.

BTW - of course, no Aphrodite flower stalks yet here in Minnesota... but quite a few fragrants are blooming - and the bloom time on the same plant can vary in my garden by two weeks depending on exposure and amount of sun.
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
Duplicate

This post was edited by josephines67 on Thu, Aug 15, 13 at 3:54
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
Jim, I appreciate you picking up my question and i hope you are feeling a bit better with each day?

This Plantaginea fragrance you mentioned...I am familiar with it and am waiting for some scapes to grow taller and bring forth flowers and the wonderful scent. I just learned from your reference to Ming Treasure that it is a gold-edged mutation of P....very glossy and attractive.

Would you consider P and/or A to have the strongest scented flowers of all the fragrants you've grown? I have barely started adding fragrant hosta to my collection...I'm sneaking in under Mocc's, Don's, and your tutelage! Lol

I noticed the rather sweet scent on appropriately-named So Sweet yesterday...at times it is rather elusive...unlike Plantaginea's flowers...there's nothing elusive about that one! I have a lot to look forward to as "Guacamole Don" also has a large scape ready to unfurl flowers...hoping in a few hours I'll be able to get a whiff or two. I've added Aphrodite to my want list too...love white flowers, especially doubles! I imagine they are rare in hosta.

Jo
MadPlanter1 zone 5
10 years ago
I divided Aphrodite this spring, and she didn't take it well. Poor thing, I had to dig the whole plant up and literally saw off a chunk. She's got much smaller leaves, and is only showing a couple scapes so far. Oh well, it was for a good friend - but never again.

Will have to look up "Guacamole Don".
hostafreak
10 years ago
I only have Plantaginea,and it bloomed just once,a few years ago,but not since. I moved it to a different place,and now it is very small. It doesn't matter to me if has a smell. I am one of the few people in the world,who can't smell anything,unless it is really strong,such as ammonia. I have no trouble with taste,though. OK,TMI! Phil
brucebanyaihsta
Original Author
10 years ago
14 bloom scapes this morning, neat to see the new ones poking through the clump!

Hosta 'Invincible' does have a slightly different fragrance, even though it probably came from Plantaginea way back in breeding. 'Flower Power' is somewhat strong like Plantaginea

I believe part of the scent is due to air conditions; when hot and humid in the evening, my fragrant hosta can pollute the whole neighborhood. Who has all that fragrance on, for the evening, we once heard someone remark!

Not quite as distinct as the shrub daphne in the Spring

Once had a 100 ft row of large 'Honeybells' clumps in a field - you could smell those at the roadside as you drove by if the wind was blowing.

Bruce Banyai
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
Bruce, it helps me to imagine scent when you liken it to Daphne which I'm familiar with....the weather conditions you spoke of had a great play, I believe in my discerning scent on a couple of hosta that are not known for fragrant flowers...I actually went on a scent hunt around all my blooming hosta...it was an isolated incident... capturing perfect conditions, just at the right moment....and I was fortunate to have experienced it. Since heat and humidity have dropped significantly, I can't smell anything on the two.

Really looking forward to your photos, Bruce!
Jo
bragu_DSM 5
10 years ago
grrrrrrrrr

have had aphrodite ten years, and it has ... yet to bloom

grrrrrrrr

dave
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
10 years ago
if .. plantaginea.. is the fragrant SPECIES ...

and in theory.. all fragrance is derived from her ...

i dont THINK ... fragrance can be different in different progeny ...

it can be greater or lesser .... but it should all be the same base scent...

dont you think????

i am not a geneticist.. but perhaps it is that there are no other genes.. in the gene pool.. to vary.. the scent..

or i am wrong...

ken
idiothe
10 years ago
Makes a lot of sense, Ken. And my non-discriminating nose really can't tell the difference - except in concentration - between my plantagineas and Fragrant Bouquet and that whole bunch of relatives.

One possible alternate explanation... Since flowers are designed to attract pollinators chemically, we can assume they are sending out lots of attraction chemicals - and what we call scents are only the chemicals we are aware of detecting via our nose/mouth sense of smell.

I once read a novel about perfumes and the process of making them. What we think of as "the plantaginea fragrance" is not one chemical, but a whole mix of them. I'd love to see a perfumer try to duplicate it - I'll bet it is very complex.

So a hybrid of plantaginea could vary in both quantity and whatever mix of chemicals being sent out into the air... producing varying fragrances...

I guess if the flowers can be different - just looked at a bunch of the Fragrant Bouquet family yesterday that have opened... flowers are shorter and not pure white... have distinct light purple cast before opening... then I guess the emissions can also be scrambled and different...

Just speculation - but possible I'd think...
idiothe
10 years ago
and just to concur with notes about transplantation/division...

I, too, have found that the plantagineas tend to dislike transplantation... going back to smaller adolescent leaves even when the division is quite large and with a good root system.
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
Bruce, haven't forgotten about the blooms....are they open yet? Read that as " are we there yet "? Lol. Just wondering if it was picture time. :-)
Jo
in ny zone5
10 years ago
This is a great thread, in my garden the plantaginae and fragrant family is starting to bloom now, I took a sniff at one of Guacamole's flowers = very nice. Don't forget 'Royal Standard', also starting to bloom now here. H.'Aphrodite' needs to get its scapes higher to get going. In the mean time I give them all extra water, we will have 89 dgrs in 2 days. Bernd
brucebanyaihsta
Original Author
10 years ago
Cool wet weekend - no blooms open yet
idiothe
10 years ago
Thanks, Bruce, for getting me to notice some differences here. I've got blooming on some of the Guacamole family, but none on others growing side-by-side... lots of fragrant bloomers with plantaginea heritage, but all with the shorter - 3" and under - white blossoms.

(Royal Standard not quite ready yet... Moonlight Sonata blooming...)

and none of my "pure" plantagineas - species, Aphrodite, Ming Treasure - have flower stalks appearing above the foliage yet.

In my hazy memory, I kind of lumped all these later season fragrants together... but there are definitely going to be different waves of fragrant blooming this year.
brucebanyaihsta
Original Author
10 years ago
If you are wondering why I have not posted recently, those 19 bloom scapes have not progressed past the big white bud stage!

Will send a photo tomorrow but this is ridiculous?

They are running 2-3 weeks late due to the late Spring, so maybe I am just my normal impatient cuss!

Bruce
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
I enjoyed the first open bloom of Plantaginea only yesterday, this morning other buds still closed...can't wait till morning to check...

I haven't seen Aphrodite blooms in real life...your pics, Bruce will be my highlight of the day!
:-)
User
10 years ago
Bruce, thanks for the update. I have 3 Aphrodite and 2 of them aborted their blooms. The big fat buds, looked very promising. Then suddenly the fat outer white began browning on me. And even the Poseidon which had similar big white buds on a fat strong scape, it hasn't opened either.

I am ordering more Aphrodite though....from a different nursery. I won't give up. How could I, when you've kept the faith for so many years and had your Aphrodites grace your garden with blooms last year? Prima Donnas for sure!

Idiothe, I have Ming Treasure, and it is a lovely hosta. Not as large as Mama, but shaped the same. I had to repot Mama herself early in the spring, and she has yet to bloom. I hope I did not set her back. Actually, I have 8 separate pots of plantaginea, from GreenMt, Plant Delights, Seawright, Hornbaker, and BobSolberg. The next bunch (Aphrodite, plantaginea, et al) will come in my fall order with WadeGatton.

As for what's happening, most of my early bloomers have set pods or else dried up the scapes. I've enjoyed the fragrance but found it elusive and hard to pin down to a specific hosta. With so many fragrants in the garden, the delightful scents are on every breeze. I'm becoming addicted to a twilight MoonWalk. With a flute of champagne it is perfect.
brucebanyaihsta
Original Author
10 years ago
Aug 30 2013 update

21 bloom scapes, none opened full, initial one spoiled

Spoiled bloom bud next to two full ones, but not sure if they will open.

Have to wait until next year?

Impatient hosta flower grower!
brucebanyaihsta
Original Author
10 years ago
Weather update here in western Virginia mountains - continued cool and moist, bad for Aphrodite blooms!
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
Wish I could send you and Aphrodite some of our heat!! Bruce, that's quite an impressive stand of hosta there! It must really put on a show when all flowers are open and blooming.

Fingers crossed for you! Thank you for the update.
brucebanyaihsta
Original Author
10 years ago
Sept 2 update - blooms still frozen closed

Maybe.........
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
It's only 66F today, raining..feels too much like Fall! Lol

Bruce, in your earlier post above you mentioned how Invincible has " slightly different fragrance" . I have its progeny Sweet Bo Peep blooming here and the scent is noticeably different from Plantagenea......it's been different from the first open bloom..wish I could describe it. It is very lovely...I actually prefer this scent...clean and crisp...poor description but if you noticed the difference in Invincible perhaps you understand what I am miserably failing to explain! Lol

I guess there is an aura of mystery surrounding any fragrance - I'll just enjoy the experience. :-)

I was wondering what I'd do if I were in your shoes and here's what I came up with...I would dig up a chunk of Aphrodite with bloom scapes, pot it up, bring it indoors, place it beside my chair, in front of the window, on a table under a lamp, and hope the heat from the window and lamp would coax it to open its flowers!!! LOL LOL
in ny zone5
10 years ago
Here in zone 5 in upstate NY I have one h.'Aphrodite' with one scape just a little higher than the leaves. Yesterday and Sunday we had 84/85 degrees and some rain. Last year it had 2 flowers open up, this year I hope for more. This is the second year after transplanting into more direct sun. Next to it a h.'Guacamole' is blooming with a nice scent.
Bernd
woodnative
10 years ago
In NJ I havE nice open Aphrodite
woodnative
10 years ago
In NJ I havE nice open Aphrodite
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
Lucky you! :-). Would you be kind enough to post a pic please? It would be great for all of us to see the flowers open. Thank you.
User
10 years ago
Oh yes Please! I need to see one, to keep the faith that it can happen. SOMEWHERE.
bkay2000
10 years ago
I'd like to see that they really do bloom. The last two years, mine has made a big, fat clump of blooms, but they won't open. It's like they are fused shut. It's not a problem with cool and wet weather, here, either.

I know I saw Bruce's last year, but I'm beginning to think I imagined it.

bk
MadPlanter1 zone 5
10 years ago
Aphrodite was not very happy about being divided this spring. After lots of water and several apologies ("I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't do it again!") she put up six scapes and is blooming. So for anyone who wanted to see a bloom, here's a photo.
bkay2000
10 years ago
Thanks, MP.

bk
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
What a lovely blossom, MadPlanter! So nice of you to post a pic, thank you!

When I referred to "Guacamole Don" I was actually referring to my Guacamole ... Don in Colorado has plenty of them and its because of his enthusiasm for this particular that I got one . . . And decided to name it after him, in his honour...it's a smile. Between him and MoccasinLanding, I have become interested in fragrant hosta. :-)
User
10 years ago
Jo, you won't be disappointed in the fragrant hosta. They are among the toughest.

Okay, so if you call your Guac after Don, I suppose for my SECOND 'So Sweet' I should call it after BKay, since I doubled my holdings due to her. That would be the "So Sweet BKay" (or should it be written "So Sweet Bouquet"?)
:)

Hope you don't mind, BKay! Everytime I see this hosta, I always think of you. In similar fashion, I see Myrle with the Niagara. And Aprhodite has to be Bruce Almighty! :) (That's a movie title).

Been trying to figure out how to do things with my Kindle Fire and in the process got some great books to keep me busy and sitting down outdoors. I guess I'll try reading to the hosta. I'm looking for an e-book about insects or pollinators so I can have it with me in the garden.
bkay2000
10 years ago
I was at 1/2 price books the other day and ordered "Botany of Desire". to come from the other store. I'm looking forward to the read. Thanks, Mocc.

bk
don_in_colorado
10 years ago
I think I'll nickname my 'Holy Mole' 'Holy Mole Moccasinlanding' because that's usually the first thing I exclaim when I see new pics of her strange and amazing garden work in Alabama. : ) 'Strange' most certainly used in the complimentary fashion.

Don B.
User
10 years ago
I thank you for that, GuacDon. :)
My DH always says, "It's DIFFERENT."

I wonder what he'd say if he toured the "Hanging Gardens of Hampshire"? Although I have no hosta hanging around, it is not out of the picture if I need more space. The only way for me to go now is UP.

Getting ready for the fall, and the last order of the year, I bought 5 more large MiracleGro bags and one bag of bark fines/mulch. That is to make some good drainage, mixed with some vermiculite or perlite (always get them mixed up....I mean the white stuff).

High on the order list is Quesadilla, and plantaginea 'Japonica' and another White Knight and another Sugar & Cream (it set seeds like a champ this year) and maybe a couple more Royal Standards. Plus, 2 of VanWade's Aphrodites. The present Aphrodites came from Hallson and GreenMt. My Athena came from Avalon. I keep track of the sources because I always order additional plants from other sources. Like hedging my bets. I am coming to think that where they come from, how they are grown, accounts for a lot of variation in their color and habits. It's not all the genes, sometimes it is the cultivation. Our long growing season here leads to a lot of new leaves late in the season, and therefore the plant is not worn out and goes until November and December before dormancy. My theory is not scientific, it is just a personal effort to make sense of hosta showing above ground for 9 months or so. Just so they get their 40 days of beauty sleep in the cool weather, I guess they are good to go again. Maybe I need some fresh potting mix for the Aphrodite, so they will be the first repotted.
User
10 years ago
Hey, B'quet (BK) I think you will really enjoy Botany of Desire. Plants have a strategy it seems. I'm sure hosta do.
bkay2000
10 years ago
Mocc, where do you get pine bark fines? My choice seems to be landscapers mix or regular old pine bark mulch. I made a 3-1-1 with landscapers mix and it was WAY too dense. I didn't actually lose anything, but set some back this spring from staying too wet.

bk
User
10 years ago
BKay, I read in one of the threads recently that the "pine bark mulch" from Lowes is the same as the pine bark fines. So today I brought home ONE bag of it to test out. If it is the same as pine bark fines, then you have it....when you get the "regular old pine bark mulch"....I'll take a picture of the bag and upload it for you later today. Must go to the vet now with the two doxies while they are freshly bathed.
don_in_colorado
10 years ago
I got an 'Aphrodite' this spring, but it died. I'm never trying it again. Until NEXT spring. : )

Don B.
bkay2000
10 years ago
Bruce, let us know what happened with the Aphrodite.

bk
brucebanyaihsta
Original Author
10 years ago
Update:

It has been 10 days since my last posting and they have bloomed but I have been away.

Photos to follow shortly.

Bruce
brucebanyaihsta
Original Author
10 years ago
Here is a photo from last weekend - the flowers are slower opening this year, with several bloom scapes turning brown already. A poor showing compared to last year's display.

Will keep the photos coming as they develop.

Bruce
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
Isn't it just lovely?! Thanks, Bruce!

I hope next year brings lots of open blooms for you (and us) to enjoy! Every time I bend down to smell the Plantagenea flowers I'm transported to heaven.

Flowers are meant to be opened to enjoy, especially when they are beautifully scented, but there is something to be said for the "bud stage" as well. The contrast of the pure white buds against the green foliage on the P and her progeny is second to none. I'm sure you are enjoying that spectacle on your Aphrodite...it is magnified tenfold compared to my one and only P in bloom at the moment. :-)
User
10 years ago
Bruce, the saying, "A watched pot never boils," can be changed to "a watched bud never opens," I suppose.

What a great event. So pleased. Much anticipated.

I have p. 'Japonica', p. 'Athena' and then Aphrodite, Ming Treasure, Doubled Up, and so many more, if you threw darts at Don Rawson's Fragrant-Flowered Hosta list, you'd hit one that I have.

It is my recent observation that some have more pervasive fragrance than others. I was catching the scent earlier in the year, but it was elusive. Now I walk out to the garden, and it is THERE, it is hanging in the air, and that means morning as well as evening. Although Mariachi is still opening some blooms, one of the lower faded blooms is sporting a big ole seedpod. I am most happy to see it. Little 24-Caret Gold right beside it, with smaller flowers, shows no signs of a seedpod. Perhaps it is not fertile both ways? I don't understand the birds/bees/plants like some of you do. A young species plantaginea tried to bloom but got drowned in July. Now the largest p. has a stout scape turning toward the afternoon sun, and I am hopeful to see her show me her best as the grand finale of the season.

Let's hope that the pods which form are all filled with big fat seeds. We've had a few days of dry weather, and some of the pods in the garden are turning colors now, like Invincible Spirit has sort of russet red pods. I know I am not the only one to be excited at the prospect of homegrown seedlings.

Don, Holy Mole is a good one. Doubled Up is a good one too, with awesome sized blossoms. But I'm thinking a late bloomer is by far the most fragrant, being Mariachi. If I get some babies from the pods it produces, guess one of them will have a garden name of Fandango, another one La Coucaracha, and of course Flamenco for one with ruffled edges....even a dark green could be Irish Step....

You know of course that the Irish welcomed the Spanish Armada with open arms literally. That's why Michael Flatley in his show Lord of The Dance, had a flamenco performer. It is a part of the Irish culture too.....especially western Ireland where the Armada ships sank....true story. History is a part of our daily lives, but we seldom pause to make the connections.
brucebanyaihsta
Original Author
10 years ago
Final 2013 bloom scape and open flower count; a disappointing 18 scapes and only 4 opened as flowers.

Probably due to cool Spring, cooler summer and low sunlight levels due to lots of rain overall for the season.

Guess I'll quit and throw them out in the trash, start all over with new tissue culture plants and wait for the year 2038 for the next cycle of weather to be favorable for great blooms.

Bruce
brucebanyaihsta
Original Author
10 years ago
no one commented on my last post about waiting until 2038?

That was intended to be fodder for further comments on patience with your hosta!
in ny zone5
10 years ago
"Patience with your hosta". Ha, perhaps mine blooms next year, I like the light green glossy foliage. My h.'Aphrodite's single healthy scape with buds is sitting there now for one month just above the leaves and waiting. I wonder what she is waiting for, probably until the first frost. It is in full sun until early afternoon, gets watered regularly. Her 'Guacamole' and 'Avocado' neighbors have nearly finished blooming. h. 'Holy Mole' has nice foliage and probably will bloom every year. Bernd

2013 Aphrodite bloom count in western Virginia mountains

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