So, I've never ordered like that before, and I'm wondering: if I order something now (LOTGs has some I would like) is it too late to put them in the ground? And what do you do with them when they come... soak them in bleach, in water...? Sorry, I see these posts with other gardeners' bare root hostas and I just haven't ever done that cuz I have Made In The Shade very near.

And- MITS doesn't have plantaginea or Zounds right now....

I recently added Sun Power, June (my 2nd), and Guacamole from my local nursery. Planning to buy more in September once prices drop.

Post script to my comment: what I'm wondering really is if they can go right in the ground, or if they have to be potted up.?

Don't worry about bare rooted hosta. Here in Germany we do not have such nice nurseries and I have to mail order nearly everything (also from the Netherlands), because in garden stores you can only buy ordinary, sometimes mislabelled plants. And if you are addicted you want the nice ones:-) They cope with being send by parcel service very well. I once had a parcel that had been forgotten for around a week in May and the poor things looked like very old salad:-( But each and every one did a miracolous recovery in pots in the shade.

That's Marrakech from said parcel

I cut all the leaves because my dealer told me it's going to grow again...

Normally I soak them overnight in a bucket of water and put them in the ground when it is near fall, or in pots when I get them in summer. In pots I can water better and rearrange them if the do not like the place where I put them.

And like most of you I used my dealer's 15 % off days to make another order:

Abba Dabba Doo, Blue Arrow, Dark Star, Green Fountain, Hanky Panky, Lakeside Dragonfly, Regal Rhubarb and one I was always wishing to get it: Tenryu:-)

Have a nice weekend in the garden!

Just got Evening Blush and First Blush in yesterday..going to try to get just a feeeew more in this year

Think I'll try it....somewhere here in the forum someone wrote that it's like getting another whole growing season.

I think I'll get Bitsy Gold and Blue Jay when I visit Hallson's next weekend for the open house. Flapjack and Summer Rainbow were already on my list.

Everything I bought in July and August so far is waiting to be planted. It's just too hard to keep them watered after they go in the ground in this heat. You CAN plant or transplant now, I did it in the past, but mine do better if I wait. Here's the wait list: Bridal Veil, Kiwi Black Magic, Rhinestone Cowboy, Everlasting Love, Gemini Moon, Liberty, Neptune, Little Treasure, and gracillima. Oops, forgot to list Mister Watson and Dancing Queen.

boy .. you get the enabler of the month award ... lol .. ken

windymess--you can plant directly into the ground any time the ground is not frozen. Potting hostas might make it easier to do any watering required, but it does not promote the best possible growth. Be sure you amend the soil as needed, and water the plants in thoroughly. Very thoroughly.

I don't buy in the spring or early summer because I'm busy adding new garden area by reclaiming parts of an old, overgrown pasture that's full of multiflora rose, nettles, thistles, raspberries, and every stinging and biting insect variety in the Midwest. Then I'm busy digging and dividing and transplanting hostas from my own garden. But as I dig up and prepare new areas, I reserve some spots for upcoming purchases, so once I do order, I have a place ready for the newbies and it's very easy to get them planted.

Everything from the Hallson order is now in the ground, a day later than anticipated, because Thursday night I got 8 inches of pounding rain over the course of 10 hours. Typically when hostas arrive, I would soak the roots in a bucket of water for an hour or two before planting, but right now the ground is so wet and the roots were in such excellent condition that I put them straight in the ground. The only issue was that the root mass on every plant was as large or larger than the leaf mass, so larger holes than anticipated had to be provided. Not a bad thing at all.

hl_60--congratulations on your second June, it's one of the varieties that I enjoy in several spots in my gardens. Always looks great and goes with just about any other hosta, but especially pleasing with minis.

Sandyslopes--what a great list, I'm going to have to add a few of those to my "someday" list.

Kariin black cat--excellent series of photos showing the recover process. You will love Tenryu, it's quite large, but since it's also quite upright, so you can underplant it with smaller varieties.

Eleven--wish I could make it to the Hallson open house, would love to meet the guys in person and see their gardens. The Bitsy Gold they sent was just ridiculous--I was able to tease it out into 5 nice divisions, so there is now a small patch of it in the new area.

Miketropic--a feeew--so true, but my idea of a few is usually either a lot, or way too many!

Ken--thanks for the award, I think enabling is one of the main functions of this forum. The other two being education and entertainment, of course.

Don't forget the hosta sale of your local hosta society. Our NY Capital District hosta society had a sale to the public this morning, to earn funds to be used in our programs. I donated plants plus streaker seedlings, and bought 3.