I love Queen of the Seas......

No Q's for me so.....

Only two...but Queen Josephine and Quilting Bee on the plan for spring...

Karin

Here's the ever popular Queen of the Seas. Lunaria in the background.

Snowball Viburnum flowered really well again this year.

Male California Quail, quite the handsome fellow. .....Allow me to vent ....Background is my neighbor's property, foreground is mine. That grass coming down the hill and popping up in my flower beds is a constant battle!

Salvia, Peonies just starting to open, and Poppies

Hummingbird, I think it's a female broadtail hummer.

Group shot!

Dave, your sea of hostas is a feast for the eyes!

Dave, last photo, chartreuse, rippled edge, dimpled, in the blue pot??? Nice!

Nothing unusual here, QotS

A hazy July 7th morning in my backyard in 2016.

I don’t have any Q’s, but last night while wandering around in the rabbit hole that is Pinterest I spotted this beauty...somethIng to aspire to! ThIs is “Quiet Waters”.

Absolutely exquisite garden, Steve. Have you hosted a garden tour?

Steve, love that shot in the mist!

Yes Donna, my garden is not on par with the convention gardens, but I have hosted a couple of hosta society meetings. It's a little tough trying to get everything done, when you're a one-man show, though.

Steve.....magnificent garden picture! Stunning.

2 more of the same Q's...

Queen Josephine

Queen of the Seas ....top left

a few group pics....

No Q',s here, I did have Queen Josephine but she faded away after a few years.

Steve, Sandyslopes and mbug, stunning photos.

H. Quiet Waters I would sell my soul for!

Steve, it's Fluted Fountain. It has amazing dark purple flowers and stems.

Dave

I love seeing all of your garden shots - and the lovely Qs - inspiring!

Dave - I hope my Fluted Fountain turns out like yours.

mbug- what’s the darker blue to the right of QOTS? That’s quite a study in contrast between two blue hostas.

Dave - I really like that pic of Fluted Fountain. Glad to hear it's one I've already ordered for next year. (I was afraid to ask). Oh, and your other sea of Hosta pics aren't too shabby either. (I have a keen sense of understatement).

Rather than post yet another Queen of the Seas (I would, but it's a little blurry), how about a Japanese Maple.

I was sure my husband was about to stage some sort of intervention because of my addiction to hostas. I showed him the garden views that have been posted here and he wanted to know if I could make gardens like that too. BINGO! I have agreed to take on the task....wish lists and Visa card are ready to go. Can't wait for spring.

Love all the garden picture. I think we should have a thread just for garden pics. I take lots of pictures every year . Helps with the winter blues.

thanks for indulging my obsession!

One Q: Quilting Bee

Sunnywood - What a beautiful obsession, and mbug you're right up there too!! I love looking at garden shots and seeing the amazing gardens that people have been created.

I am enjoying everyones pictures. The garden ones are a nice surprise. There are not enough 'Q' hostas are there.

Instead of posting Queen of the Seas, Queen Josephine and Quilting Bee here are some "Quite" hostas

Since the beginning of July there were really bad fires in of BC that lasted all summer. They were 250 miles west of here but very devastating.

Quite a lot of Smoke

Requiring Quite a lot of watering

Currently Quite a lot of Snow (just in front of the garden in previous picture)

Jokes thanks to Faye

Agreed, Bill - Sunnywood. The photos definitely help me get through the winter - those from my own garden, and from everyone's here. And I've been lurking around in the peony and daylily and perennial forums too.

Mae - that's a crackup! I knew I had my husband's buy-in when I took him to a hosta nursery and he saw Final Summation, and said: "Is that a really big one? Can we have some really big ones?" .... Me: "Yes, dear, of course - pick out one of those and bring it along...." Hahahaha!

Yes nicholsworth it is a very good book. I have had it long enough that I could read it again. Good info and lots of eye candy. Michael Shadrack took all the photos for Diana Grenfell's books. These are highly respected Brits here and abroad.

Only Queen of the Seas and Queen Josephine for me and no pics.

Gorgeous everyone. It is always wonderful seeing pics of your gardens. I could look at them every day!

StevePa I do not recall seeing a pic of yours before and I think I would have remembered that! Really, really nice!

Likewise for steve duggins. Thank you for sharing that lovely JM and Hostas!

sandyslopes love that Quail pic. I however do not like your neighbours. I would need to vent if I had a neighbour like that. It must be so hard having someone next door with no pride of ownership.

thanks peren.all..leaving now to go pick up my book..

Windy.....Love Pat is next to QOTS

I read about bones of the garden two years ago and put in some new trees.

Here’s a quote you might like:

If you are not killing plants, you are not really stretching yourself as a gardener. --J. C. Raulston

zkathy..I love all of your special trees!..I have a similar property but much smaller..I've been creating paths and beds and planting understory trees..this place had poor "bones" ..in fact the very few shrubs they did plant were in awkward spots that forced you to walk around them..and they had been pruned for convenience and had unattractive shapes..I removed them..some shrubs and trees that I've planted..Japanese maples..

Nicholsworth, I too have that Little Hostas book. It is definitely eye candy. Cuteness abounds in that book.

Nicholsworth,

the book of little hostas is on my 'must read' list because little hostas are all that I can put in my garden from now on :-) At the moment I'm reading Mark Zilis Field Guide to Hostas and that is quite something. I learn a lot about my favourite plants but to see all those I can not have makes it hard...

I finally ordered a Sambucus Nigra Black Lace for my garden because I love the dark leaves and I hope to put a little shade to the sunniest spot with this small tree.

One of the reasons I still hang around in this forum is that I can see such wonderful pictures of big gardens with lots of trees :-) This kind of gardening is not possible in Germany due to the limited space in our old towns. And you have such wonderful hostas! :-)

Sandy, I have neighbours on three sides of our property who do neglect their gardens. Small pieces of land on two sides but a big garden on one. I wish I could rent it and make it beautiful. It has belonged to an old woman and was nice until she passed away. Nowadays it belongs to a group of people who do not live in the house but won't sell either. So it is a very nice place fur slugs and snails...and weeds...it is a constant battle...I hope they start their building project this year to put an end to this...

Planting in my garden means planting in pots and only vertical :-) Bought a few nice stairs for my collection of small and minis and I'm really looking forward to see them grown over in summer. Currently they house the pots that go back into the garden come spring...

Karin

Karin..those stairs are beautiful..I love the stain..a pretty pale color with the grain visible..you have a terrific hosta collection in spite of limited space..I'm looking forward to your pics this season..I saw a Mark Zilis book when I was online to reserve the book of little hostas..I'll get that next..

nicholsworth, the colour is called patina, I hope it stays like this for a while. It is so hard to wait for spring now, winter has been terribly grey here this year, mostly rain, no snow and freezing sunny days...no wonder if I have the winter blues :-(

I would love to get Mark Zilis Hostapedia, but it is not available here in Europe and you can only buy used ones for 250-500 €, this is crazy...

Let's have a look at some quite blue hostas...

Karin

Karin..I love the name patina..is there a hosta with that name?..I have a bad case of spring fever..we had a beautiful day last week but now snow's coming and we have a cold week ahead..winter is NOT over..

nicholsworth, Patina would be a very nice name for a hosta. Here it means a kind of cover or nice sheen that good things get with age...

It started to snow here,too...

Karin, I like the idea of the Lace Elderberry you ordered. Those grow well here. Here they sort of grow like enormous shrubs. But I did see some pictures where people trained them into tree form.

According to the shop I ordered the Elderberry it is a special kind growing in column shape. I really hope this is true as I already have a lot of small trees in pots that need room in the garden one day, too. But I like the leaves so much that I could not resist and with a winter discount of 20 % it was done...

Karin..good description of patina..means the same here..and just like popmama I like the idea of the dark foliage of your new lace elderberry..

mae, I love your story. I was like your husband 12 or so years ago, I had no idea how nice a hosta garden looked.

I was checking out a neighbors porch sale, and could tell there was some unusual gardening going on in their backyard, so I sort of invited myself to see it. They were (as most gardeners are) more than happy to show me around. When we went to the back, and I saw all their hosta, with plenty of companion plants, I was swooning, yes swooning, and instantly hooked. I blame Mrs. McKee for my sickness. About 5 years later, and another Memorial Day, porch sale, self-invite, she told me they were prepping to sell their house, but needed to downsize the gardens to make it more saleable. She was letting her local hosta society come in that next weekend to purchase FULL clumps of plants for $5-$10, and extended that to me, on condition I join the hosta club. I ended up with 2 pickup truck loads, including a massive clump of Sum & Substance. Two people were needed to dig it, load it, and unload it, which a gentleman from the club graciously offered himself. That's when I fell in love with hosta people. I so enjoy the fellowship of other gardeners while visiting gardens, and having visitors at mine.

I'd love to hear other peoples stories too. Maybe we could throw them in with the X-thread?

sunnywood, I find myself quite envious of your property. Just curious, where in NY are you, and do you belong to any clubs there?

zkathy, nice tree choices, I wish so bad I could grow edgeworthia, the fragrance is awesome!

nicholsworth, I love the look of red-leaved jap. maples as understory trees, so cool.

In defense of my neighbors on both sides, the hillsides are steep and it would be hard for them to get down there to do much. I'm kind of the crazy one who gardens all the way to the edges, steep or not. :-) I feel like I'm gardening in the wild!

I have a black lace elderberry that I really like. I'm trying to limb it up into a short tree. You want it where there won't be too much traffic that might break the branches. I usually have to cut back some broken branches if we've had a year with heavy snowfall, too. Here's a closeup of mine last spring...

This is one that inspires me at a botanical garden in Salt Lake City (Red Butte Gardens) Look at the size of it!

Wonderful elderberry pictures, sandy. It will take the rest of my lifetime until mine is as big as those...but that's no reason not to plant a tree:-)

I really admire your gardening skills on your slope :-) It always looks beautiful and well tended when shown on pictures.

Steve....Loved your story about instant acquisition of a Hosta garden! I do hope that the wonderful Mrs. McKee moved somewhere that she can still garden. What a sad day it must have been for her to watch her well grown treasures exiting the garden gate. And what a gold mine for you! Did they all come with names?

jan

Yes they were all labeled, Jan. The McKee's were moving to a retirement community, so not as much space to garden, but she practically single-handedly takes care of the community vegetable garden there. How energetic she is, blows my mind. Her whole hosta garden where they were moving from, they only started after they retired in their 60's. Lot's of brick paver pathways, stone walls, underground watering system, amazing!

I want to be her- Mrs McKee.

Thanks for the kind words. They're much appreciated. I know all of our gardens present their own challenges. That's why I like it here. There's so many of us who are motivated to play in the dirt, get excited to see the plants grow, and make our own small space in the world a little more beautiful.

I know what you mean about planting trees. I planted a small Colorado Blue Spruce that I'll never see get really big, but it's still rewarding to see it slowly growing.

Way to go Mrs. McKee, what a role model! It must have been very difficult for her to leave her gardens but I'm sure she must be pleased/comforted to see what a beautiful space you've created with her plants Steve.