Just to expand on that a little, you get a four month FREE ARS membership. You receive two copies of the magazine as they come out as part of this membership. At the end of the four months you can decide if you want to become a dues paying member of the ARS or not. There is no obligation. This gives you time to see what the magazine is like, learn about the other benefits of ARS membership, and decide whether you would like to be an ongoing member based on some experience and not just guesswork. It's pretty nice deal.

I have wondered how far back goes the tradition of wretched excess in rose gardening. I guess to people trying to force HPs to repeat, and later trying to force the feeble early HTs to grow. One reporter in the 1921 annual says he had a problem with thick hardpan under the topsoil, so he inserted small dynamite charges in drills to the bottom of the hardpan, and voila! perfect drainage. Many of them have dug the whole garden area to 2' or 2-1/2' (cheap hired labor, no doubt) and installed French drains. Several of them keep annual records of the bloom production of each plant. Often in the East it's only 10-20 per year. You wonder why they were growing HPs instead of Bourbons and why people were so crazy about those troublesome HTs.

Those of you interested in exchanging roses between the U.S. and Canada will find the process straightforward. I send at least two shipments a year south and receive at least two a year in return. No import permit is required for either direction. Canadians need to obtain a Phytosanitary Certificate from their local CFIA Office by appearing there with completely clean (no dirt or debris) bare root plants to be inspected. An application form for inspection can be obtained on-line and faxed/emailed to the local CFIA and an appointment made for the inspection. In Alberta I pay a total of $12.50. The roses are then boxed and mailed via Canada Post and get to wherever in the U.S. in approximately 10 to 12 days. Don't forget to put the Phytosanitary Certificate in an envelope and tape it to the outside of the box. Postage for a box approx. 8" x 10" x 22" is around $40.00. The reverse process is carried out by those in the U.S. shipping to Canada. Hopes this helps. Email me direct if you'd like more detail.

Hi Fellow Hostaholics, I've been watching this thread for the last couple of weeks since Patty contacted me about it's existence....thanks Patty. My partner (Yvon) and I are the new owners of Hosta Choice Gardens in Appin, Ontario. I thought I should post some information about what is happening with the business so that there is no need for rumours...hopefully just excitement. We purchased the business, property and home on August 18th of this year. We have been working with the daughters of the late owners, Udo and Margot Dargatz, since January to ensure that their parent's legacy did not fade. The daughters turned down many offers on the property because the interested parties did not want to continue with the business or wanted to re-name it. Yvon and I listed our home in Victoria, B.C. and after selling we started the long process of buying the business you all know as Hosta Choice Gardens. It was a long process but Susan and Karen (Udo and Margot's daughters) wanted us to have the business as they felt that we were the best one's to continue their parent's dreams. We are for ever grateful to them for their patience and cooperation in putting everything together and working with us thru the transition. Yvon and I are no where near as knowledgeable as the Udo and Margot were but we hope that after a year or so in the business we will have about a quarter of the knowledge they had.. LOL. If we cannot answer a question that you have... we will take the time to do some research and get back to you with an answer. The Canadian Hosta community lost a valuable source of knowledge when Udo and Margot passed but thanks to their daughters the community did not lose Hosta Choice and it's great display gardens. Our promise to all of you is to continue the upkeep of the beautiful display gardens and to offer the most up-to-date selection of hostas in Canada. No more looking at the USA websites and dreaming....were going to try to keep up with new introductions and, when they become available, we will try to get them in for Canadians. If you have a certain hosta in mind that we do not have then we will search out our sources and try our best to get it in for you. If we can't get the hosta for you, but we have one in the display beds, we will put your name down on a waiting list for a division of the display plant. All display plants will be tested for the HXV virus prior to dividing. All of our greenhouse stock will be brought in from suppliers that have tested their parent plants for HXV and other diseases know to effect Hostas. No retailer/supplier, including Hosta Choice Gardens, can offer you a 100% guarantee that their hostas are HXV free but we will do our best in trying to ensure the plants we sell are indeed HXV free. When Hosta Choice Gardens closed at the end of 2007 all the existing greenhouse stock was sold out. Our 2009 stock will be all new plants, and although they may not be over-sized, they will be healthy good sized retail ready plants. Inventory that is not ready to go will be posted clearly stating a date that we will start releasing the plants for retail or mail order sales. We will reserve upcoming releases if your willing to wait until they are ready to go(if a deposit is required we will clearly state it). The current display gardens did take a beating this year as it was hard for the Dargatz's daughters to travel from the Niagara region to weed and water. They were able to get some staff in, on a number of occasions, but it's always a battle trying to beat weed germination. We are hoping to get things cleaned up before the snow flies so that we are ready for you in May 2009. We will also be working to expand the gardens to work my collection of 800 different named hostas into the existing collection (only about 300 of my hostas match existing display garden plants). We hope to have the largest collection of 'Lakeside' cultivars on display in Canada. To finish this posting I'd like to extend to each of you an invitation to our opening on Saturday May 9/09. Come view the display gardens and help us celebrate the lifes of Udo and Margot Dargatz with the unveiling of a new hosta garden in their names. After the unveiling we would be grateful if you would join us for a bbq and live entertainment. Further details will be posted when our new website comes on-line January 15/09. Hosta-la-vista ....for now, Glenn Wilson Yvon Trepanier