Well, I've been a bit discouraged about growing roses since I moved back to the south. In CA I had magnificent ones, but if you think black spot is the pits, try the orange version they battle out there. Now roses are starting to call my name again and on a recent visit to Charleston I spotted one I would LOVE to have. Anyone have any idea what it might be? The flowers (about 2 1/2 inches across) were palest pink - more creamy white with just a blush. And they opened out almost flat (old fashioned looking) with lots of petals in the middle. The canes were quite long on some of them we saw and were climbing/leaning over garden walls. The most amazing thing, though, was the fragrance! Fantastic! I would dearly love to have one of these to grow over a covered wooden swing I have in my garden. I can only imagine sitting there surrounded by that delicious scent!

Here's a mention of a supplier in SC. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hosta/con0910162630520.html I would swear that there was a supplier from N. Alabama on the forum last year for a couple of posts. I looked at his website at the time, and it looked impressive. He was in zone 7. I've searched and been unsuccessful in locating that post, though. Maybe I dreamed it. Also, there has been an increasing number of hosta showing up in local nurseries here in the last couple of years. Monrovia Nurseries is doing lots of hosta lately. They are out of California, but sell lots of plants in the south. So, try your local nurseries. Lowe's carries hosta here. I've bought some nice ones over the last few years and all have been healthy. There has been some problems with plants from the Netherlands, so I would stay away from plants from there. They are usually bare-root plants in boxes. I'm not as concerned as others about this, as I grow in pots and don't have to worry about contaminating my soil with diseases as long as I keep them in pots. You might also look into White Oak Nursery. They are out of IL, but I think they ship earlier because they ship out of a cooler, not from digging. But ask them - I might be wrong. bkay

I bought quite a few plants from Vermiculite 1 on ebay last year - her plants are wonderful but her shipping can be slow - but worth waiting for. Hostabargains, bentley gardens and oakcreekgrowers/Casita Azul are very good too. Hostabargains mainly sells small, but very healthy plants, Casita Azul's are larger. Bentley sells divisions, full plants and tc's. (Both Bentley Gardens and Casita Azul [ilovehostas.net] have websites. I have been very happy with my purchases from all three. Clayton3887 on ebay has sent me some very good plants. He makes sure you know the size of the plants from him. Unfortunately, I think I have found HVX in a small number of my other ebay purchases from last year, so I have mainly limited my ebay buys this year to those mentioned above. I hasten to add that there are many good sellers on ebay whose plants don't have HVX. You just have to be careful! Also when you buy from ebay, the size of the plants, or divisions you receive vary wildly. And watch out for the cost of postage and handling - it can add up very quickly. I use my copy of Steve Greene's Hosta Finder to see if any mail order nurseries have the same plant and compare cost/size etc. Tony Avent at PlantDelights has a brilliant catalogue, but his plants are, in my opinion, very over-priced and I have found them to be very unreliable. I spent a lot of money on unusual hostas and about 80% died. This was before I knew about the other wonderful mail order hosta growers, whose names feature regularly on this forum. I thought it could have been the great difference between N. Carolina and Connecticut growing conditions but may be not. I have had very bad luck, in the last 3 or so, with White Flower Farm mail order hostas and, believe it or not, columbines. If they didn't die the first year, they faded away to nothing by second or third year. They, like Plant Delights, are relatively expensive. A big disappointment so I steer clear of them. Those are my experiences. All our gardens are different and what doesn't work in my garden may thrive in yours, and vice versa. Jakki

welcome in theory.. hosta are ONLY shade tolerant .... so .. in theory.. sun should be ok ... but the further you go south.. there is the heat... and the night time temps .... which might be worse than the sun.. if you get my drift ... hosta transpire.. sweat .. give off moisture.. when they do that MORE than they take in.. they start looking ratty ... so ... how much water you provide is highly important ... in theory .. FULL SUN.. is anything more than 8 hours ... the worst for hosta is from about 2 pm thru 6pm ... sun during the high heat of the day is when they give off more water than they take in .. so if you can provide just a few hours of shade ... you will be ahead of the game ... hosta in drought and heat.. can go dormant in response ... and it would be those.. that should be moved in the future.. should the conditions not be right ... in full sun.. even with damage... they will most likely grow faster.. fuller.. and shorten the length to maturity ... but they wont be pretty ... but they will usually not die .... except in the most extreme circ's ... some will even live on the driveway.. with barely any soil for a year or two ... but those are not the foo foo hosta ... they are the old workhorses ... so which you choose is important ... the bottom line.. IMHO ... plant them.. and if they dont look happy.. move them ..... ken