Welcome Frugaljon, I lurked for a while before I jumped in too, now that you are settled you can go crazy and fill that garden. You have a good start with some excellent classic hostas and I'm sure you will be enabled by the good people here to expand your list. We are all longing for spring, I can't wait to start counting pips. This is a bit of a quiet time on the forum but will stir back to life after Christmas with the alphabet which is fun. Whereabouts are you in the UK?

Denis

Hello right back at ya Frugaljon. You'll see lots of goodies during the Hosta Alphabet to begin on Dec 26 so be prepared to add lots of new hostas to your wish list. The photos that posters share on this forum are beautiful - it's easy to love 'em all. Welcome, and I can almost hear your British accent from here (Canada)!

Welcome, frugaljon! That is a good start for a hosta garden. Hope this new home is the right one for you and you can watch those babies grow big and beautiful!

Kathy

Hi Frugaljon,
Nice quote from facebook.

I have a few hosta that are on your list in my beds and pots. From your list, new to me in 2014 is El Nino. It has been a terrific performer all year.

An addition I'd like to suggest for your collection:
hosta Ripple Effect
It's a neat little plant with interesting leaves.

Spring can't come soon enough for sure, but in the mean time be sure to participate in the Hosta alphabet, starting in 3 short weeks!

Welcome to the forum :-)

Welcome frugaljon!
I am quite new to this forum also. Such a great group as you have discovered. Happy gardening!

Welcome to the group! Nice list of hostas you have there. It will be 3 years in January when I joined this forum. When I joined I thought I had ordered a lot of hostas--I think my first order was about 8 maybe 10. Thanks to the people on this forurm I now have about 100 and I am really an amateur compared to a lot who have hundreds.

Many thanks to you all for the warm welcome. A rather self indulgent post there I know but thought I would just go for it after a lot of procrastinating.

Denis I am in the SE in N Kent. Been very mild here the last few winters and no snow at all last year, but very wet instead and wouldn't be surprised to get the same again this year.

Dgregory, thanks for the suggestion. Have been looking at ripple effect actually already or curly fries. My collection so far have all been gathered from generic local garden centres. Once they're away this year and i can see what is working and where I think I will branch out a bit for more with my purchases to more specific and precise orders. I learn about different hostas now from this forum and the photos of peoples collections are inspiring and your gardens are beautiful, so sure i will get a list of must haves this summer. Any suggestions are always welcome though.

Stoc I don't think I have room for a hundred in my garden but might have to give it a go!!

Frugaljon, welcome to the forum.

I don't know how long you've been lurking, so I don't know if you've seen any of UK_hostaman's posts. I'm not sure where in the UK he lives, but I'm pretty sure it's England. He has a wonderful small property and grows the most gorgeous hosta you've ever seen - in pots. He hasn't posted much this year, but we hear from him occasionally.

Do a google search. His id on gardenweb was uk_hostaman. I've found one that I really enjoyed. and provided a link. He posted some great photos. It might take more than one search string to find them. They are some of the nicest potted hosta you've ever seen. I also found a link to his blog, which, though not updated, still exists. It's BlogSpot.com, I think.

If you can find his photos, it's worth looking for.

bk

Here is a link that might be useful: A UK_hostman post

Bk, believe it or not i was looking at his pictures last night, with the topiary and without, beautiful garden. The dimensions of his garden are not too dissimilar to mine and while I need to keep a bit more lawn for the kids and a dreaded trampoline his borders are what I am going for.

Cheers for the link hadn't seen that one. Liberty has already jumped to near the top of the wishlist as has restless sea

This post was edited by frugaljon on Sun, Dec 7, 14 at 4:09

Ah hah!
You have officially been enabled :-)

Hello
I always feel like I am some kind of celebrity when someone mentions me in a post!
Thanks for the nice comments and welcome frugaljon(how did you arrive at that username?)you will love it here.
I haven't posted much lately as much is happening on a personal level so has been really hard to contribute to this great forum.
If I could give a bit of advise,only buy from van de top and fransens guaranteed virus free and great hostas worth the extra postage and all the latest releases and very reliable.
I would recommend seducer,goodness gracious,niagra falls,bridal falls,any sum and substance sports especially winter snow,Liberty,lakeside candy cee,arc de triumphe...actually I could go on and on!
A good pot mix for me is 75% Irish peat and equal parts mini bark mix and perlite with a good feed of slow release fertilizer and bone meal in spring as the pips start to show and last start your slug pellets regime on February 14th!(easy to remember)
Hope this helps and all the best for next season UK

Welcome! Your list is a great one. Whirlwind is a personal favorite as a small that stays small. Looking forward to seeing your growth in the coming year.
hh

Good to hear from you uk-hostaman and thanks for the advice on your potting mix. I will start putting the majority of what I have into the ground but planning on keeping a few temperamental hostas like great expectations and Frances Williams in pots to find the best location for them for a few years and also experimenting with something like august moon into how much sun it can take so giving them the best opportunity to thrive in terms of their roots will of course be important, so thanks for your advice.
Also thanks for the advice on sourcing hostas. Will definitely be placing an order with one of them this year and as I get a few more I will definitely be putting more in pots as I run out of room in shadey beds.
(The username just came from how I try to live really, like to try and be quite self sufficient, growing some veg etc and being a bit 'thrifty' with my purchases. So far have not paid for a full price hosta, always looking for reduced ones or end of season clearance. Wonder if I will be able to keep that up!!)

Welcome, frugaljon! I won't likely forget your location as I had a couple tour the gardens this spring from Kent. I also have to second a couple of UK's suggestions. Seducer truly seduces, and Goodness Gracious will make you say wow, my goodness gracious you really are a beauty! Also check out one of Jo's top gun picks, Fruit Punch. That got put on my list in a hurry! Never full price? Good luck!

frugaljon, I also try to be frugal, I grow some veg/fruit and keep chickens and have planted several hundred trees for future firewood. I also love a bargain, fransen have a clearance list on their site of older varieties they are discontinuing, from E1.50 upwards, there are some really good ones, you should check it out. I ordered 10 from it recently and am tempted to add a few more to it.

So you live in Kent, nice part of the world, you don't get the extremes we get at the other side of these islands, well mabey you get the heat lol.

Denis

Here is a link that might be useful: Fransen website.

Welcome.

Can't wait to watch your 19 hostas turn into 283....

My list is growing already thanks to that link Denis.
Only getting a few smaller ones until I know how I am set for space but have bought my first full price hosta in there too - rainbow's end is an incredible looking hosta

Welcome to the GW forum, frugaljon. Looking forward to your seasonal pics. Hostas are a pretty fun drug : )

Cheers,
Don B.

Hello, I am new to this hosta forum too. I grow about 35 cultivars or more. I am just a gardening addict. I have about 250 daylilies, also iris, coral bells, lillium. You get the picture.

I always say DL and Iris for the Sun and Hosta for the Shade.

I live in southcentral KY and love touring Botanical Gardens.

Teresa

Hi Teresa----I am quite new too, welcome! You are in good company here as we all share the most wonderful of addictions. Again , welcome.

Hi frugaljon! I have only been posting and reading since this past April. The forums are really fun and you will also learn alot, you probably already know that. My yard has mostly hosta, heuchera and daylilies. If you check out the perenial forum you will probably meet a fellow UK gardener named Campanula. She( i believe) posts frequently. Just thought you might enjoy meeting another UK gardnener!

Sherry

That's it, Frugaljon! You've gone over the edge..no turning back! No doubt you will be paying full price for more than one because you will find that you NEED that particular hosta, really NEED it.

Welcome to the wonderful, crazy world of hosta! We are here for you but you really need to post some pics, quickly! No hosta exists unless we've seen a picture, lol.

I've got 10 of the ones on your list - I like the way your list started...with Frances Williams, a big beauty!

Looking forward to your future posts.

Jo

A warm welcome, frugaljon!

Frugaljon, if you hang around here too much, you may have to change your user name! ðÂÂÂ

Cynthia

Again, many thanks to all for the welcome. Have to say though that this winter is getting a bit boring with regards to hostas already. I just get into something and it's taken away!
Need to find a winter passtime which doesnt involve looking at hostas on the internet at work

Hey there, Frugaljon....welcome aboard.
I wish to recommend to your pleasure a video on YouTube about the Hanging Hosta of Hampshire. Ever heard of them? I've watched the videos innumerable times, trying to note details of how they manage so many hosta, and what happens when winter comes, you know, just looking and dreaming. I link to one such video below.

My hosta garden is 25 x 100 and is in coastal Alabama (near the Gulf of Mexico), and my zone is considered 9a or at best 8b. We have an undependable winter here, but we manage a few freezes and cold temps enough to make dormancy possible.

Get ready to join the fun day after Christmas, when the Hosta Alphabet series begins. Until then, similar threads exist for last last several years. Wonderful resource.

Here is a link that might be useful: HANGING HOSTAS OF HAMPSHIRE video