Melissa,
Wow, good for you for planning already!

I tend to avoid resolutions, but for my hosta hobby, why not?

1. Plant the hostas that I am currently overwintering in pots.

2. Plant those hostas and any new ones in the spring and then be done with buying/planting. (So I don't have to be overwintering so much.)

3. Find ways to use gray water for my hostas...perhaps plant a hosta garden where my laundry water goes...is this a good idea? I'll have to learn more about that.

3. Continue my 3 year plan: changing my high-maintenance perennial beds into lower maintenance shrub/groundcover/hosta beds. I'm pleased with my results so far and this.

Hostaholics might not like my resolutions.

1. Introduce more companion plants

2. Pay more attention to my non-hosta gardens; they're getting jealous of the attention I'm paying to my hosta and not flourishing as they used to. Nance

Put a few dwarf conifers in with the hostas for something for winter interest, and more ferns to finish the fern walk. And of course, more hostas!

My resolution is a little off the hosta path but it is.... I'm not going to use the word 'organic' unless it truly is so (what's more organic than our original black dirt and n-p-k?) And I refuse to use the word "green".
Peggy

Mosswitch... I wish I had enough light to grow conifers in my hosta garden. My neighbor, to the south, has a few conifers in their garden, adjacent to mine. We've been here for almost 5 years, they moved in almost 6 years ago and the conifers pre-date their move-in. At first, the conifers appeared to be doing well... nice and full. But as they've grown taller, they've become very scraggly-looking. This tells me they're probably not getting enough sun (maybe 2-3 hours of early morning direct sun). And since they're on the south end, I don't think I would stand a chance to have any in my garden. Grass wouldn't even grow where my hosta garden is now. Until/unless all the trees that separate our yards come down, I've got no hope of anything requiring unless it's as shade tolerant as my hostas.

1.Take more pictures and get them labeled before I forget what variety they are. ( In other words, get them from my camera to my computer before November of 2011.)
2. Sneak add a little more area to a couple of my shady gardens. (Probably best done when hubby is gone on a fishing trip.)
3. Try to keep up a little better with my slug hunts.

Oooh, good ones! Adding to mine:

8. Be proactive about slugs and nematodes

Oh I should never go on a long car ride with my garden books. Now I have a whole new plan for part of the woods-and I resolve to put it on my to-do list and I'm excited to work on it in the spring!

Do more weeding,and cleaning up of the garden. Even though it's in the woods,it should still be neatened up. Plant less hostas,unless I clear out some more underbrush. Phil

I prefer to call them "guiding principles" as opposed to resolutions, but here goes:

1. Continue to expand my "hosta farm" (bedding area for new plants until future backyard land$caping project i$ complete) in order to accommodate new must-have purchases. Status - Pending until spring.

2. Finally hire landscape designer to help me formalize the many ideas circulating in my brain into overall plan for said backard land$caping project - many challenges and opportunities, including severe slope (tiered gardens, anyone?), ensuring rain runoff continues to go around the house and not into it, replacing current chainlink fence which cuts backyard into half with new aesthetically pleasing yet cost effective (??) fence that encloses entire area in order to confine canine residents, incorporating water feature (perhaps stream running down slope into small pond area), and maximizing space for ever growing hosta collection while maintaining natural feel of existing woodland area. Status - Pending spring when snow is gone and designer can see what he/she is truly working with.

3. Start executing Phase 1 of said overall plan in CY2011. Status - Pending completion of task 2 and decision on scope and cost of Phase 1!

4. Re-evaluate and refine ever-evolving wish list of new hostas to be considered for acquisition. Status - Completed January 1. Done! For now. Until I see the next "must have" hosta. And the one after that.

5. Slow down rate of hosta acquisition. Status - Pending and unlikely to achieve. Technically first order of 24 hostas (Hallson) was placed December 31, so I have not violated this one. Yet. After all, I still have space in said landscaping project and if I buy them now, they'll have two-three years of growth on them before they are moved to their final destination . . . . And I don't gamble or smoke or hunt or fish, so think of the money I save by not having those expensive habits . . . And those sales - why think of the money I save at that time . . .

6. Continue to be alert for signs of HVX in existing collection (especially hostas acquired before I became sufficiently knowledgeable about its prevalence); test suspected plants and carefully remove/dispose of confirmed infected plants. Status - Always ongoing.

7. Continue to educate myself about foliar nematodes and methods for treating. I have several infected hostas, some older and some newer, and a couple of brunneras in a separate garden area. I may try a systemic approach this spring. Status - Ongoing.

8. Continue to enjoy wandering through my gardens on a near daily basis from spring to fall, if only for five minutes, and relish in the beauty of each plant as well as the overall effect. Thank those wandering by who stop and share their compliments while I am outside weeding, glad that the fruits of my passion and labor are being shared with others. Status - Ongoing.

Now, back to my cup of coffee and wish list review . ....

Ahh, global warming is good in spring, will be able to work in the yard 2 weeks earlier probably this year too! That's only 2 1/2 months away from today. I will :

1. improve the plantings to look neat by installing several new borders and spread bought mulch throughout.
2. fertilize all hostas several times a year to get better growth in leaves, fight those slugs.
3. stop and smell the flowers, hostas and dwarf conifers.

I see it, it will be a great spring! I agree since we all have no vices, we should be able to buy more hostas (and conifers).

1. Teach my son how to weed, so I can spend more time on the fun things

My plans for 2011 is to start a Hosta Garden. I'm planing to retire about 3 years from now and devote more time to gardening. The past few years I've working hard establishing a cottage garden. But I have another area in my property that is mostly under trees where I will plant my hostas. I have ordered several hostas and will continue ordering the next two months to start planting in late April. I would appreciate some suggestions from anybody who knows hostas well about must have hostas I should plant. Thank you

Welcome Max,
I'm a bit of a newbie myself as I began collecting Hosta last year. A few bits of advice.
1. Read the FAQ. It will give you the answers to pretty much every question that you have.
2. Be careful where you buy your plants. There is nasty little virus called HVX that is in the nursery trade. If the people you are buying from don't know about it and can't guarantee their plants, don't buy from them. Don't buy Hosta from big box stores either.
3. Location is important. Be aware that although Hosta are shade plants, they do need some sun. Some more than others. Even the blues need a little sun. Water is important as well. With all the leaf surface that Hostas have, they transpire a lot of water.
4. Check out the gallery link at the top of the forum page. There are some great photos of gardens in there that will give you a lot of ideas of what to plant and how to create beautiful gardens.
5. Have fun and take risks. If a plant doesn't work where you put it, you can always dig it up and move it somewhere else, or try a different plant. Keep trying until you get what you want.
6. This last one I learned from Ken Adrian. If you don't like the plant get rid of it. Especially if it's a maple tree.

Steve

Welcome Maximo, Just a quick note...if you start a new thread with your question you'll get more responses as a lot of people won't check back to this thread. On that note Sum and Substance, Liberty, June, Lakeside Shoremaster, Lakeside Dragonfly, Guardian Angel, and Rhino Hide are some of my favorites, at least today.

my resolution this year is to finish everything I resolved to finish LAST year.
I mean it this time.
Really!
and to only buy hostas, no other plants, this year.
I mean that this time, too! lol

My resolution is to finally label my hostas properly. I now have enough that I cannot remember where everything is. I have plastic labels now but will get some proper ones this year.

My first is the same as last year - try not to pre-order so many hostas that when they all arive in the spring, I am scrambling to get them all potted and have no spaces in my gardens to put them in, resulting in the need to add additional beds. Next, I would like to fertilize more this year. Finally, I have a sun bed that deperately needs revamping...I had intentions of doing that last year, and it didn't get done.