Hello Everyone !

I apologize for my absence this past month. A lot has taken shape in my life and I am trying to balance it all. I had not planned on bowing out of this community so soon after making a splash, but it was miss Moccasin (Barbara) who shot out the feeler to make sure I was still alive. Reading her email was kind of like a snap back to reality. I have been so consumed with my recent endeavors that I had forgotten about the Hostas and all the people that love them. Shame on me.

August has been full of all sorts of things, EXCEPT gardening. Kind of ironic how I place these three fabulous orders . . . get the hostas . . . drool over them . . . pot them all up so they will be ready for winter . . . and then can't even really take the time to go outside and enjoy them.

Most of my time had been wrapped up in a friend's wedding this past weekend. There were the usual preparations that go along with being a groomsman, not to mention the fact that it was on the other side of the state. There were 12 hours of driving involved total and three days of prep since his mother and my mother are good friends. The wedding was beautiful and I really am excited to have been able to participate but the cost and travel time alone make me question if I would do it again if asked.

The good news in my life is that I am eligible to take the Series 7 exam and obtain my license. I don't expect many of you to know what that is, but basically it serves as a way to further my career and I am jumping at the opportunity. The down side is that there is a book about 500 pages long covering every sort of investment instrument known to man and I am going to be tested on all of it. So, to prep I am

studying 2-3 hours a night 5 days a week and hope to be ready by January.

Then there were the Labor Day celebrations. Those took me downtown away from my gardens. So all in all it was a crap shoot in August. I am sad that I did not have more time but thankful for the opportunities and experiences.

But other than the studying, 70+ orchids, 3 Cockatiels, and a full-time job I should be able to wiggle myself back on to the forums. I'll say it is a well deserved rest from the endless studying.

Truth be told I do not have much to update since my last post at the end of July. I have potted up all my new Hosta and am just waiting for them to go to sleep for the winter. I have only lost two (and those two went rather quickly). They were Quilting Bee and Emerald Scepter. Nothing to do with the seller, I just simply put them in a place out of line of sight in my orchid room and forgot to water them. Then when I did remember they ended up getting mold. Kinda like the one you see on your lunch meats if you leave them in the fridge too long. Had I not been so upset I would have remembered to take a picture of the mystery mold.

My Irish Luck is fine except that we got a bad T-storm through here about two weeks ago and it snapped all of the leaves in half. Not enough to break them off the stem but enough that the plant looks like Carp now because all the leaves are facing the ground. I laughed when I saw it today. It reminds me of a gangly teenager that has tripped over his own feet.

My Red October is putting out two flower spikes. Sea gulf Stream lightened up significantly from chartuese to yellow since I repotted it. Mikado for some reason has not darkened under my sycamore canopy and still remains a bold yellowish-green. And most surprisingly is Cascades, it has put a second flush out and looks better than when I bought it. I'm excited to see how it turns out next year.

Amongst the newly fallen sycamore leaves I managed to find a perfect leaf left on Wide Brim. All the others are pretty badly eaten up. From my original post for an ID I am most certainly convinced that this is now Wide Brim as the color has faded dramatically from the beginning of the season. The margins were not nearly this white earlier in the summer. Then they were a warmer cream.

My newly excavated bed still remains unfinished as I have all the amendments too add and mulch to place over it for the winter. Since the labor day weekend and wedding are over and all the socializing has slowed down I plan on tackling my bed this weekend to wrap it up and get it nice and cozy for winter. Still committed to a spring planting and plenty of pics to welcome us into the new year's season.

I hope everyone is doing well and cooling off these past few weeks. We have had rain almost every other day since the beginning of August up here in Philly and my mosquito bitten body has thanked the rain gods I don't have to go out there and get eaten up as much.

And what would be a Ludi post without a picture of the Queen Elegans herself.

This pic was shot today. She is in her fall greens and still looking rather sharp.

Thanks as always for reading and a big thanks to Moccasin for shaking me out of my haze.

Ludi

Here she was in early June in her spring blues.