Don and Chris and all who r interested in this Hosta College, We like going to Hosta College, but are passing this year. I've done Chris' HVX class (very good) and another HVX class by a rep from Agdia. The only classes I was hot for this year were by DonR, but between gas, time, hotels, food, and several other things, we're sorry to have to pass this year. Besides, I'm hoping to wrangle an invite to DonR's gardens this year, and trying to think of what cool gift to bring to show appreciation for the gift he brought us during his visit to our gardens last year. After reading the description of yor class for this year at HC, DonR, I'm even more interested to come visit, and it made me wonder if you know Glen Pace over in the Tri-Cities area of MI who has so many interesting, odd, and rare plant varieties in his garden at his Dad's house? I'm thinking ' ya, sure ya do'. For all'ya'all not from the Great Lakes area, I do believe this event is worth planning a 'mini-vacation' to attend. Further planning could net ya visits to Walter's, Chris' Hallson Gardens, DonR, Lisik Gardens (waaaay cool), ummm, us, Wade Botanical Gardens, and even the AHS President is in the general area (the Great Lakes). I could so help you plan even more delightful treasures to visit in the MI, OH, IN triangle. Just now I'm remembering K Gardens in the Grand Rapids MI area as well. There's a really fun gal in Interlochen MI that I like to visit and tease and swap stories with, but be sure to check with me to make sure you get the 'correct' Interlochen MI hosta garden to visit, as there's one that is not quite so fun there. I believe Gisela from this forum is also in the Grand Rapids MI area, and I think I found a YouTube of her gardens and would like to visit! We are seriously NOT travelers for pleasure since we're already living in 'God's Country', but have still found it worth it to go to this 'College' several times. Besides the classes, it's a great 'people' event, much more personal than major events like the National. Or so I say ;-) Don, Chris, thanks for your participation, both of you have really good things to share. hh

Don, and Dan, The pleasure of your visit yesterday was all ours. I hope my switch of hamburgers for hotdogs was O.K., heheheh. Now today I worked again on the grill, and if today's fix sticks, I can return to hamburgers and steaks with the grill... I look forward to seeing you and Dan's Hostas early next year! And you will be pestered (reminded) to bring y'all's cameras next year, eh? hh

Thanks, Ken. The native soil in the "newly discovered area" is heavy clay, but I tilled bag after bag of peat moss into it almost a decade ago when I moved in. Moreover, I just dumped a bag of Miracle Grow or some such brand of general purpose garden soil, which is like black velvet, into the "newly discovered area" to bring the level of soil up to the rest of the garden. The drainage is excellent, as it rained all day Saturday with no puddling at all. I intend to put an inch of my "shredded forest product" red much (the Scott's Earthgro mulch) over the whole new area to further protect the babies. I also visited my local area nursery today. While there, I asked their on-staff sage what to do with the baby hostas. He tossed me three 4" plastic pots, on the house, and told me to repot the babies into these slightly larger pots and THEN put the pots into the ground. Charlie (the sage) and I often get into detailed conversations about various houseplants. Today was no exception, as I told him of my big box store super-find of a Sansevieria ehrenbergii samurai --- the store had no idea about rare it was to come across---along with a beautiful Crassula arborescens undulatifolia, both in a planter with some sort of echeveria which was on its way out. I pointed to the ailing ordinary echeveria and got all 3 plants for half price, tee hee.

It’s amazing how sharing thoughts with people who care about the subject matter can make a difference. All of a sudden I knew what I wanted to do. I got my sharp shovel and dug up a chunk of the crown, a cube about 6 inches on each side. I hosed the dirt off and pulled a bazillion little roots from the ivy out of the crown. Then I took it inside and worked on it with a tweezer to get every little piece of alien root off of it. After about an hour I was left with this. I soaked it in a mild bleach solution while I took an extensive shower because I’m sure some of those roots were poison ivy to which I’m very sensitive. I rinsed the crowns well and put them in some potting soil. Good luck Winter Snow, you have a nice barrel home awaiting if you survive. And by the way at one point when I was hosing off dirt I think I saw two little sclerotia (the fruiting bodies of Southern Blight) in between two roots close to the crown. So I don’t think a Hosta can be “infected” with Southern Blight. It might just be living in a contaminated bed.