Lakeside Paisley Print vs. Pocketful of Sunshine or ?
Hi everyone, I'm trying to choose a hosta to fill a bed along my front porch, in front of a row of rhododendrons. The space is about 20' long by 3' wide. I'd like something that's a combination of dark green and gold/yellow/chartreuse or possibly cream. I seem to gravitate towards varieties with dark edges and light centers, but would consider the reverse as well. I'd like them to be fairly small - I'd say 30" or less across - so they're more like a groundcover than individual specimens. I'd like a relatively fast grower so that they fill in quickly. The two leading contenders at the moment are Lakeside Paisley Print and Pocketful of Sunshine. Any preferences or thoughts on which of these might be better for this application? One concern I have is that both of these might be a little small so will have less impact and take longer and/or more plants to fill in. Another one under consideration that's slightly larger is June Spirit. Any other suggestions?
I'm in zone 6a, Boston MA suburbs. Here's a photo of the space. Sorry it's dark - this is the north side of the house, so hard to photograph. I do want something that will brighten it up! Thanks for your help!!
Comments (16)
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Are Lakesides slow for you?
Comments (15)What a hot topic to start a thread on. A few years ago I was reviewing what happened since we started shade gardening back around 1997. One of the conclusions I reached is that we had little luck with Lakeside Hostas even living, yet alone thriving. I've read, in more than one place, that Lakeside Hostas were specifically bred to be hot climate plants. Last year, 2010, I spoke via telephone to the new owner of the Lakeside Hosta plants and was told at least twice that when this new owner talked to the seller that she denied that story. It would be useful to verify these circumstances, for history's sake, I think. All that aside, Lakeside Hostas were born in Tennessee so even if not specifically bred for warmer climates, it seems reasonable that environmental circumstances played a part, don't you think? In OUR experience, other factors are in play. We were newbies planting TC punies in poor soil in deep shade in a cold climate under trees with invasive roots. Therefore any whine about Lakeside or any other cultivars, by us, are suspect. We have a few Lakesides that are amongst our faves, and I still work at sneaking some past my wife (recently L.S. Beach Captain is coming on strong, woohoo)! In conclusion, it appears that, at least here, it may be useful to remove the log from our eye before looking at the speck elsewhere. Then again, TN really does have a far different climate from northern MI, and at least some of our original thought that perhaps Lakeside Hosta may be better suited to USDA Zones further south from us may do better. I wish I knew the super-hosta-experts well enough to discuss with them how this topic may relate to the species Hosta in their homeland's varied climate. hh...See MoreMy first hosta order for 2011!
Comments (57)Here goes: In the Country Garden & Gifts: Peppermint Ice Glory Hallelujah Lakeside Prophcy Fullfilled Lots of Heuchera (and friends), plus a few other oddities Naylor Creek: Captain's Adventure Copa Cabana Foxfire Palm Sunday Gentle Giant Irish Luck Lime Smoothie LS Paisley Print Magic Fire Paradise Glory Regal Supreme Ripple Effect Secret Ambition War Paint Hallsons: Jaz Radiant Star Emerald Ruff Cut Roy Klehm Warwick Comet Bix Blues Katie Q Rascal Jim's: Regalia Grand Tiara The Shining Spinning Wheel Christmas Candy LS Dividing Line (OS) Glenbrook: LS Cindy Cee Joshua's Banner Emeraled Scepter Gay Search Heuchera Kassandra I've limited myself to about 50 hostas this year. These that I've ordered, plus another 11 or so that I am getting from a local vendor, 2 from another local vendor, 1 from a third local vendor, that leaves me only 2 more I can add... unless spring planting shows me that I have room for more!...See MoreRainy day (week....month) pics
Comments (12)The Sun has actually broken through for 60 to 90 second spurts today. Shortly it is going to start raining again. My First Frost is just nosing up (like that better than pips or piping). I actually thought I had lost one of my three until this morning when I saw it 'nosing' up exactly where I had been looking for it. I really like 'Nosing' as a description. They use it in the Hosta Library. They describe pips as noses and use nosing as a verb. After today it is going to be absolutely gorgeous with sunshine until Thursday with one partly cloudy day. Temps in the 50s and 60s with 40s and 50s at night. YIPPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Break out the triple Ss; Shorts, Sunglasses and Suntan lotion. Jon...See MoreSearching for name...
Comments (10)Hi josephines, thank you for your warm welcome! Your guess with Red October is really not the best, but in searching pictures in Google for Red October I also found Cherry Tart, which is very similar to my unknown object. I will keep it in mind and wait for more comments...So thanks for this :-) Hosta riddles are really difficult in some cases but also much fun. I have more to show, but at the moment it is raining day after day and no good photos... My tier is made of three wooden pallets, 120 cm x 80 cm, just put one over the other. My friend's husband knew about the dilemma of my garden quickly becoming too small for my addiction and surprised me with this solution. Now I can have 20 hosta on 1,5 square meter! I'm absolutely happy with his gift and it will not be long and I ask him for another. I can highly recommend it. I'm just looking for some old sandstones to cover the sides and with a dark foil cover over the wood I think it will be possible to leave the pots there in winter. I will only provide some frost cover and see what's going to happen. Fire Island has meanwhile gone to light green. I think the yellow came from my old Hosta friend not being overly fuzzy with his plants. He leaves them wherever he wants and watering is not his first concern :-) But sometimes it leads to miraculous results....See More
atmoscat
6 years agoatmoscat
6 years ago
Karin Black Cat
6 years agoWhen I got Color Festival the center was yellow, meanwhile changed to below color
Excuse the not so nice leaves, poor thing got a late frost :-(
Just thought about High Society, new this year, I have this one also in a shady bed...
Karin
atmoscat thanked Karin Black Catatmoscat
6 years agohostas_for_barb
6 years agoatmoscat
6 years agodick, thank you for posting Ivory Coast. It's gorgeous!! Maybe a little too blue for my application, but truly lovely.
After thinking very hard about Color Festival, and even finding a source where I can buy it, I'm back to thinking it's not quite what I am looking for. I would really prefer yellow or bright chartreuse rather than white centers or margins. Here are a few more I found that I'm considering.
Summer breeze
Summer Lovin
Captain Kirk
Twilight
Any thoughts on these and whether they'd be good in this spot? Of these, I love the colors of Summer Breeze the most. I read that it is a bit slow, but maybe that's okay as it's full size is bigger than what I was planning. But others' opinions on any of these would be very helpful.
Also, here's another picture which hopefully shows this area is not as dark as the earlier one suggested. I would call it bright open shade.
Excuse the porch, which we are in the process of painting.
Thanks!!
atmoscat
6 years ago
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
6 years agoI think Summer Breeze will look lovely there. Mine was previously growing in more shade and the colours were awesome! This location has lots of sun...from around 11:30 to sundown.
photo taken now...in sun
That empty spot is being filled by Made You Look before the end of day.
I think I will return SB to its former spot where the colours are superb.
atmoscat thanked josephines167 z5 ON Canadaatmoscat
6 years agoatmoscat
6 years ago
dick_in_ohio