Touch of Class:

Ooh la la:

Hudson's Bay:

Neptune:

and more . . .

Joy Ride:

Great Ex:

Paul's Glory:

Clear Fork River Valley:

American Halo:

Island Breeze and Plantaginea

and a huge leaf of Big Daddy framed in yellow

The End!

lots of your hosta still look good!..Touch of Class and Dark Star look exceptionally good!..I'll post pics if I have any worth a look..back to say the American Halo leaf has great colors..

American Halo gets my favorite vote!

I love your Liberty and Dark Star, I have both (a little smaller) and they had wonderful fall colours over here.

Beautiful pictures, even though I hate to see fall come it is a pretty season.

Lovely fall colors.

Your yard definitely shines in the fall!

I love that Acer Palmatum Sango Kaku Nicholsworth55! Your garden doesn't quite know it is fall now! Beautiful! I don't know whether your hosta is Fragrant Blue or Halycon. I don't have Halycon, but I do have Fragrant Blue. If it is helpful, I could take a picture of FB so you can compare.

I love that maple too!..it was so tiny (2 ft) when I bought it..someone on the maple forum said I should remove the 2 lowest branches..but I can't bring myself to do it yet..I would love to see a pic of your Fragrant Blue..not keeping track of the names of my hosta is one thing I would do differently if I could turn back time..

Your pictures amazing! I love especially the photo of Liberty and her seed pods.

newhostalady you always have such great pics! Karin & nicholsworth just lovely! I try not to have zone envy since I consider it pointless but it is really difficult at both ends of the season when I am one of the last for them to rise and first to go down...sigh.

nicholsworth has your plant flowered yet? FB is fragrant and Halcyon is not.

Here on Sept. 21st in one section of garden Curly Fries is showing major displeasure with the weather.

peren..I have zone envy too :-( ..I TRY not to think about it but it's a battle..what a great idea to check the blooms for fragrance!..I feel like a dope..I didn't even notice what bloomed when this year..so busy with stone work, containers, family etc..I hope to be more under control next year..Luke is adorable :-)

I’m also member in Zone Envy Club, LOL. All my hostas are dormant, has been many weeks and I have long time until I see pips again.

Yes the sniff test would take away the guess work. When we get busy we miss all kinds of things don't we? I was so focused on getting certain garden projects done I would realize that I missed the bloom time of some plants or I would come around a corner and see a Daylily in full bloom. The funniest was seeing a couple of Lupins blooming at the same time as the Chelone. It stopped me dead in my tracks.

Thanks, Luke is a sweet, funny, energetic and wonderful companion.

I just came in from raking up leaves and I was thinking of you since I was working under a big maple and it was quite windy. Hmm maybe I should have had a hard hat on...

Saija and I was thinking of you when I was talking about zone envy! Mine are all done too. It is going to be a long winter for us!!!

we worked at our compost factory today..and I wore a hat lol..not a hard hat but at least my head was covered..

peren and Saija..don't look at a calendar or do any calculations..I'm trying not to think about winter..then yesterday at the dentist they have a flat screen..you see a slideshow of beautiful scenery while you're in the chair..every time a snow scene came up I thought "ugh..winter"..

peren..it's true..we work so hard that we forget to "stop and smell the roses"..

P.S..I shortened my user name and included the zone and location as part of my name (like newhostalady's)..no more 55 or parentheses..Saija - I'm not sure I've seen anyone else with an emoji in their zone info..it's cute..

Luke is definitely a cutie, peren.all! Your garden looks great, as always!

Nicholsworth (without the 55 part!)---now what can I change my name to---oldhostalady?---your compost factory is quite the process! Lots of work involved, but I believe it when you say that your plants are loving your compost!

I have to say that I am envious with anyone whose hostas are now gone dormant! I am waiting for a freeze just so I can put my hosta containers away. It's cold and windy and I just don't enjoy the outdoors very much anymore. It's too cold for me!

Now about Fragrant Blue, I remember a thread where forum members were discussing whether or not they could smell any fragrance from Fragrant Blue. I was surprised that many said that they could not. Mine does have a scent, but it is a light one. Nothing compared to something like Guacamole's stronger scent. Now doesn't that make it more confusing!

In June:

In August:

In October:

newhostalady..you made me laugh with the "oldhostalady" comment!..I could be "ash seed picker upper"..it cost me hours and hours if you add up all those minutes cleaning up..my hosta does resemble your Fragrant Blue..I've never noticed any scent on that hosta..with some of my other fragrant ones you can't help but notice the fragrance..it's wonderful..

I have TRIED very hard to smell Fragrant Blue's flowers. I think I did a couple times...but it could have just been my imagination. Wondering if Solberg's new 'Blue Perfection' has much fragrance? It's interesting how everyone's senses are different, like how people perceive colors. Hasn't been too long ago, that I found out how varied, fragrances are to us. There are some things in my garden that are a very strong fragrance to me, but others say they don't smell anything, like my kolkwitzia shrubs. I also love the smell of boxwoods, rue, vitex, and other plants a lot of people hate.

it must've been wishful thinking when they named Fragrant Blue..I love blue hosta but I bought it when I saw the name..there's 2 possible areas where it could be..I haven't nailed down exactly where it is..I haven't noticed fragrance in either spot..the fragrance must be very faint..

Nicholsworth, when those tree seeds start falling, it does seem like one is merely a seed picker upper! And sometimes I think I am just an "old" hosta lady---that is "old" as in old age! LOL

I thought the thread below was an interesting one. It talks about how slow growing Fragrant Blue is. There are some pictures too. Maybe you could consider growth rate when comparing your Halycon and FB? I can't comment on whether FB is slow or not due to tree roots compromising growth of my FB.

Fragrant Blue - What Can You Tell Me?

I also noticed that Halcyon is considered a medium whereas FB is a small (as per Hosta Library).

And the name Fragrant Blue is definitely deceiving. I have to practically put my nose into the bloom in order to smell it!

newhostalady..that WAS an interesting thread..it's always helpful to hear other's experiences..now I know not to expect an outstanding fragrance..but I have no regrets..it's a pretty hosta..

I bought a Hosta labeled Fragrant Blue this fall because it smelled very strongly and exactly like honeysuckle. I couldn‘t pass it up! And I have a lot of plain blue hostas!

I looked at that thread, and sounds like I have a good nose or a different Hosta than FB.

nicholsworth, how do you keep those logs standing on end like that? I’m going to have a lot of logs and I have a place to make a compost pile like yours, but I’m perplexed. Why don’t they fall over?

Kathy..those logs are big..they were so heavy I couldn't drag even one on a handtruck..they're from my neighbor's ash trees..my husband raked the dirt to "fluff" it up before he stood the log up..he used a level as best he could to keep them plumb..he put the largest at the corners..it was sort of like working with stone..trial and error to get logs that would fit well next to each other..they haven't moved a bit..I'm a little worried now that the bark is loosening..they've been tight but if the bark disappears we might have to move them closer (what a hassle)..we'll cross that bridge when we come to it..it's been great having a place to contain our compost..

NHL - your hostas are so beautiful! And Dark Star is near the top of my most-wanted list. Some of mine have held up very well this fall... some are basically gone for the season. I think I have some little micro-climates in different locations where the plants are very protected and haven't been affected by frost yet.

Nicholsworth - I just love that little maple, too. I have planted three different reddish ones in the yard. If I can find a way to squeeze in a Sango Kaku sometime, I will.

Kathy - that looks like a great solution to your tree problem. If I had the space, I'd love to do something like that, too.

Peren.all - I'm missing my garden buddy Susie. Luke is super cute!