Thanks so much for the Birthday greeting. Wouldn't it be nice to get something from first look!!! I'm waiting to see what survives this crazy weather we are having before I make any plans for Spring. Lots of snow and sleet then rain today. I took the day off!!! Had fun cooking and playing in my cards and scrapbooking. ANOTHER HOBBY!!! Von

Bump. Some very rare ones here! This auction ends on the 22nd. -Babka Here is a link that might be useful: First Look Online Auction

There were several beauties among the hostas auctioned, but most were too pricy for me. Rare streaked proven breeders seemed to bring the most. Rick Goodenough seems to be a breeder we will be hearing much more about in the future. However, Humpback Whale, a huge blue from Mildred Seaver that was only sold once before anywhere brought $725. Its seeds sold for $100! The $11,000 raised goes to support First Look and the New England Hosta Society which will host the 2011 AHS convention. Here is a link that might be useful: Humpback Whale

here is the e-mail he sent me to explain the process. Hi Deb, this will work on any seedling, but is particularly useful for slower growing ones, Get'n em gro'n Is there anything slower growing than a 'Dorothy Benedict' seedling? They get four or five tiny leaves up and just sit there. I've found that removing the lowest leaves on a seedling at the first sign of being tired will speed up growth for most hosta seedlings; the next in line leaf will be bigger than the previous one until they reach some maturity. Removing those lower leaves forces the seedling to compensate by putting up the next in line, a bigger one. Some seedlings loose those first "seedling" leaves faster and start putting up bigger ones. Dorothy B seedlings seem to hang on to them forever and they just sit there. Aggressive lower leaf removal will jump start these 'D.B's and put them on the road to putting weight on I did a study using 50 'DB' seedlings. Twenty five received vigorous lower leaf removal and the rest were left natural. None of the natural seedlings matched the growth of the pruned ones. I am now removing lower leaves just BEFORE they look tired. Good growing practices still have to be maintained like light, porous growing medium, water etc. try it, chop chop ! Jim from the Hills