top gun hosta - warning....enabling...
Comments (64)
hostafreak
10 years agotiddisolo z8 Wales UK
10 years agoFor me it has to be June
She sat in full sun all summer including four weeks of high 70's temperatures and no rain. She kept her beauty with the exception of throwing a few blue leaves till late October.
I've had her a good few years now and this is the biggest she has ever been.
Can't wait for next yearRelated Discussions
i jumped the gun ...
Comments (7)There are many perennial plants you can overwinter indoor, you also have to remember it is huge pain in the ... to do so unless you have conservatory and really care about this plant, it is not worth it. You can also build some kind of cold frame and overwinter lots of plants there. Basic design is clear top- old glass door or window pane would do it- and walls made from bales of hay, wooden frame, etc. You can dig soil out and put it in the ground or you can built it above the ground. I have simple one and successfully overwinter number of tender/ small perennials which I feel have no chance surviving on their own in the garden. I also have basement where outside window wells come on the ground level so I am able to stuff them with all kinds of pots. Due to heat coming from the house and tops of window wells being covered with plastic, it never gets below freezing and plants enjoy their snuggly place till spring comes. Some plants like hostas, do have to have cold winter spell otherwise they will never grow well- usually such plants can not be grown in zones above 8- aconitums another example of it. There is one small trick with such plants- if they only first year seedlings they won't know any better if they do not receive cold period and can be successfully overwintered indoor....See MorePretend the potted plant was a Hosta
Comments (2)ROFLMHO! I laughed out loud at this story, McT! Priceless! Thank you so much for the good laugh! LOLOL I've got to read this to my hubby!! (still laughing)...See MoreDUD hosta of 2014
Comments (44)I purchased H. Great Expectations last year and it is overwintering in my shed. It is known to be a very picky Hosta. This is the info. I came up with on GE: Height 29”, Spread 58”. Needs shade for sure. Doesn’t like to be in a long morning's worth of light. Has three colors: White, Darker green & Chartreuse. This great specimen hosta plant has large puckered yellow leaves edged by wide margins of blue and pale green. Midsummer brings white flowers. Be patient with this hosta as it needs to be sited in the perfect location and also takes Many years to achieve its glory, but is well worth the wait! Yellow with blue and green Type: Giant Slug Resistant Hosta If you overwinter your Hosta in an unprotected location, such as the outdoors, you are asking for trouble. The roots could suffer a prolonged freeze which would retard the plants growth. Plants that will be overwintered in pots or containers should be in a shed or a garage. Voles and mice can also eat Hosta roots: Beware of voles and mice. They like to eat the Hosta crowns. Use Caster Oil that has Not been unscented. It’s usually found in the Pharmacy. Mix it with dish detergent and water. See directions on http://www.nhhostas.com/organic-vole-control.htm When you water Hosta, you should pour the water on the dirt, not over the leaves. If water is poured over the leaves, they can turn brown or a spotted brown. Another cause of browning that you see at the end of summer-early fall could be caused from nematodes. The photo of H. 'Frances William' shown above could be from this problem. Foliar Nematodes: These microscopic worms that leave brown streaks in your Hosta’s leaves start to appear as early as late June in the south and the third week of August to the third week of September in the north. Cleaning up foliage in the fall versus the spring, helps to control pests and diseases. Hopefully, some of this will help. I know some Hosta can be particular to locations. Morning sun or speckled sun works for most, and should help to bring out a golden color. Good luck, Kristen...See MoreOne of triplet winners - 2015 Top Gun
Comments (17)Mbug, what an amazing hosta that DQ is! I love the shades of colour in that shot. There will be many photos of this one this summer. Spartacus get to you too, huh? It is all Don's fault! ;-) Just tonight I had an aaah moment provided by DQ. I was watering the new ones I had on the deck and when it came to DQ's turn, I just stopped and stared. It was twilight already - it had the most beautiful, soft, light creamy buttery hue to it and I could swear she put on new ripples in the last day or so! Absolutely breathtaking it was. Two leaves were back to back in perfect fit, ruffle to ruffle. Too bad it was so late...but to try and capture that on film would have been near impossible. It almost didn't look real. It truly was a moment for me. I hope it won't be the last. Faye, Amalia is a beautiful name...and so fitting that you get one for your garden. :-) Sandyslopes, two of DQ is always better than one! Glad you found the original as well. That is too bad about Marrakech - I bought mine from Hosta Fever in 2012 but haven't seen one at all at any of the larger nurseries I frequent. Mail order? ;-)...See More
TheHostaCottage
10 years agoHostafreak,
You must be thinking of 'Clifford's Stingray' not 'Stingray'.My top gun hosta is Foxfire Palm Sunday.
Each year it puts on great growth. We got this one in 2010.
Vanessa
Steve Massachusetts
10 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years ago
don_in_colorado
10 years ago
newhostalady Z6 ON, Canada
10 years agoI'm afraid my top gun for this year is not going to help you choose for next year because you already have it!
It's a beauty in the spring. The colors tone down mid season, but it still makes quite a statement. And then if we are lucky, the fall colors are fantastic. A definite beauty for the whole season from start to finish!
Great Expectations
This post was edited by newhostalady on Sun, Nov 3, 13 at 0:35
don_in_colorado
10 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years agodon_in_colorado
10 years agoSteve Massachusetts
10 years agodon_in_colorado
10 years agodon_in_colorado
10 years agoJo, thanks for the compliments on 'Big Daddy'. It's really not a very big plant yet, but I'm really happy with it's growth over two seasons. I'm really most pleased that it's getting a mature look to it, and hopefully it'll do another size leap in the spring.
It's greener than it 'should' be because it is in more sun than I would like, but it's obviously happy where it's sited, so I won't be transplanting it in the forseeable future. : )
Did I talk you into one? Maybe another pic...
I'm 100% certain Steve has talked me into 'Stingray' for next season.
Cheers,
Don B.
newhostalady Z6 ON, Canada
10 years ago
funnthsun z7A - Southern VA
10 years agoI think, for me, it would have to be Wishing Well. I have never seen a hosta stay so very blue as this one. This pic was taken on September 7th! This hosta never missed a beat all year!
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years agohostahillbilly
10 years agostacking the ballot box, i posted Golden Gate earlier showing it's grandious fall goldeness, claiming it's wondrous seasonal colour changes, so now here's my proof of how it's a new seasonal wonder: a completely different plant earlier in the season, two hostas for one price / space
hh the competetor
don_in_colorado
10 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years agomctavish6
10 years agoFavorites of my sisters plants. It was impossible to pick between these two giants.
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years agodon_in_colorado
10 years agoharryshoe zone6 eastern Pennsylvania
10 years agoTouch Of Class is the one. Great color and leaf marking. She still looks good in November.
I enlarged and rearranged my front bed this fall just so Touch Of Class could be more prominently displayed.
This post was edited by harryshoe on Thu, Nov 7, 13 at 15:00
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
10 years agodon_in_colorado
10 years agoharryshoe zone6 eastern Pennsylvania
10 years agoUser
9 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
9 years agohostahillbilly
9 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
9 years agoUser
9 years agoJo, I was thinking about which one I'd have chosen. This morning out in the garden, I looked at Squash Casserole and Yesterday's Memories and considered what would I have done last NOVEMBER?
I'd be really inclined toward a few judging by their performance this spring. But last November? Squash Casserole was last year catching my eye a bit, flexing her powers. It took this spring for her to show her true colors. I mean, now that I know how all those hosta will look as they emerge a year older, it changes my perspective.
I must go back and pretend this spring has yet to arrive. I don't know what is coming...
In that case, I'd have chosen Doubled Up.
It is a huge fragrant sport of Mama herself. I got it in 2012 and it looked like any normal greenie fragrant hosta. Then last year in late summer it bloomed. Those blooms were every smidgen as big and as gorgeous as Mama herself. Not finicky about opening its blooms either, like sibling Aphrodite. The stature of the hosta is more like Avocado or Old Faithful, with long petioles that are stout enough to hold up fairly large medium shiny leaves.
I know it is said Doubled Up is a MEDIUM or else COMPACT. Well, mine is not mature yet and that may well be so for most of them. However, I notice this one has almost an umbrella spread of the lovely leaves and some of the petioles are revealed.
Remember I am writing this part of the post as if it were 2013 so here is my photos to back up my claim. I wish I could find the image of my DH holding a ball point pen beneath the trumpet shaped white flower of Doubled Up, but it is not showing up.
In the location last year it got afternoon sun. I was more timid about exposing my beloved fragrant hosta to late day heat in our summers. (This year I'm a lot bolder.)
It was blooming on July 15 2013
Note it is twilight and the flower is opening
This was July 2 2013
Nice shape to the plant itself, the way it holds the leaves
Now this year? I am still impressed with Doubled Up.
However it does have some competition now. For this year I will wait until we do another Top Gun. That way we can all start together.josephines167 z5 ON Canada
9 years ago
Eleven
9 years agoMy favorite last year was Fragrant Dream. I love the color change from spring to summer. And it's fragrant! Here it goes from June to August.
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
9 years agoUser
9 years agotHANK YOU, jO. yOU ARE A good activity director!
This year I'll be ready. And waiting.I'll try to get some of my pictures with 9 seconds of sound uploaded to Flickr later today. The problem with that is, it is my turn to cook tonight. Plus a lot of other things happening today.
First off this morning, the USPS delivered a real surprise package which I'll give a feature in a special thread, I mean it is THAT SPECIAL. Then I set about watering the first section of the garden. It was maybe 10 am and already 100 in the shade and I was wet with sweat simply filling the bird feeder and the birdbaths. Then I took a big bag of veggies to the hardware store and saw a hanging basket which jumped in the car with me. I took it home because I had to do a trip to Lowes and needed an empty car. Yes, I got 30 bags of compost/manure, 6 bags of play sand, 3 cement pots on sale, 3 more LED solar garden lights, and 3 yellow blooming milkweeds. It was too hot to unload mid day so now I must wait until after dinner to do it. Once it is out of the car I'll be able to pick up 20 bags of cypress mulch in the morning. That should get all the materials I need to complete the reshaping of the garden floor to better use the rainfall and make the garden paths easy to walk.I know that is off-topic. I just don't want to find another spot right now. Thanks for listening to my rambling.
What I meant to say is that Fragrant Dream is a beauty. Eleven yours is certainly in great shape. Please let me know when your fragrant hosta come into bloom. A good number of mine are blooming now, and it is freaking me out....especially the ones with fasciated scapes, big leaves on the scapes. I have ONE seedpod (so far) on 24 Caret Gold with more flowers still to open.
Fragrant Dream in late April 2014
DonnaDelaware
9 years agoUser
9 years agounbiddenn
9 years ago
Kate1970
9 years agodfrench200 (7a)
9 years agoStriptease for me. It is huge this year! The coloring and pattern is subtle but beautiful. Love it!
User
9 years agoUnbidden sez:
"I race through reading. i thought I read Moccasinlanding say her DH was holding a pen under the bloom...(in the picture below). So i looked, and looked harder. OMG is that her DH's BUTT?!! Spilled my wine and everything..."hehehehehe
I forgot that set of Derriere pot feet were showing in the picture of Doubled Up flowers. Well, DH is a bit larger than that, honestly. And he (my DH) had held the ball point pen to show the bloom of DUp was as long as the pen. At least six inches long.But that isn't my sweet DH. He loves to garden but when he gets down and dirty outdoors it is with his clothes on. :)
Derriere in April 2014
User
9 years agojosephines167 z5 ON Canada
9 years ago
josephines167 z5 ON CanadaOriginal Author