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Hey All! I thought I'd share some of my super-early hosta blooms. I'm a fairly new hosta collector, but I've never seen these things bloom so early before. But after that wonky winter, it's no big surprise, I reckon. Some of them are just sending up scapes, and some are in full bloom mode.

Here's Birchwood Parky's Gold:

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Blue Angel (who suffered a little frost damage to her wings, er, leaves!):

Dance with Me, and Spacious Skies in the background:

Great Expectations:

Paul's Glory (right) and Blue Cadet (left):

Queen of the Seas:

Paradigm:

Last one--Sum & Substance:

Wow...my hostas are not nearly as advanced as yours even with the two weeks of 80 degree temps in March and a week of 70s in April. They all look great though.

Looking great, Karen. Mine are just poking up now.

Isn't it weird how all three of us are in zone 5, but we're so far apart on the growing scale? I always thought it was the same across the zone, but I guess a lot depends on your latitude too (or some such thing that I don't really understand! )

Anyway, thanks and glad I could share them with you!

Wow - mine are barely above the dirt - but this is the first year I've had them, so it takes a while to establish, right? Mulching helped - A LOT - but I wish I had planted earlier.

Beautiful! I have some of those but they are just opening. So you feed them alfalfa tea? What did you plant them in? They look so large & healthy! You must have all the secrets?

Yours are beautiful! And such early blooms, wow!

The ones I have were a gift from a gal who used to post here, NancyMo. I have the green ones with white on the edges but they aren't close to blooming yet down here in zone 8b. I'm also supposed to have a blue one but it hasn't shown up yet this year. I'm hoping it didn't die off!

Mine are also just barely up from the ground. I'm truly amazed at how far along your hostas are!
Pretty!

Lovely! I won't plant hostas here as I refuse to feed those deer any more than I do now!

Karen, do you have "Francis Simmons"? That and "Great Expectations" are my two favorite hostas.
I've seen Great Expectations get a pretty good size and it doesn't take that long. I'm gonna see if my girlfriend has one and get a cutting of it. I would really love to have a "Great Expectations" and a "Francis Simmons" opposite each other in front of my shed.

Karen, thank you so much for sharing your hosta's. I simply love them and apparently so do you I have that same fairy girl statue reading a book (with Blue Angel)......mine needs to be refinished.....is yours new? If not, how did you get her that beautiful bronzy color.

Thanks

ve

Over the past few years I've come to appreciate Hostas much more.

I have 3 planted near my mailbox and plan to put a 4th in this week. The 3 older ones are up and in their glory but haven't put a flower up yet.

Your Hostas are so pretty and healthy looking.
How do you keep track of their names?

Thanks, everyone!!

Junk Collector~~it does take several years for hosta to become the size it says on the label--some 5 or more years! Just be patient and give them lots of grow room. If you plant them too close together, you'll set them back a year or two if you have to move them. It's better to plant companion plants and annuals to fill in the space until your hostas take the stage in a few years!

Muddy~~yes, they get at least one application of alfalfa tea each year. Last year, I did foliar feeding with compost tea made from my worm castings mixed with fish emulsion and kelp. Not sure if that really helped...I haven't seen overwhelming statistics in its favor, so I may not do that again this year. I also plan to just sprinkle alfalfa pellets around. As for what I plant them in, just put in a few castings from my worm bin and plant. Not all my soil is perfectly amended yet, but they don't seem to mind.

Karen~~you are probably talking about Undulata Albomarginata. They won't bloom until later in the summer, so don't worry about them yet. I have TONS of those, some of which I just moved out in front of the retaining wall. I paired them with Lancifolia (the smaller spear-shaped green leaf variety) and feather reed grass. Get back to me in about 3 years and it will look awesome!! As for your blue one, some are awfully slow to emerge, and since you're not as far along as I am yet, you're probably ok. Last year, I thought for sure Blue Angel had been eaten by voles because everybody else was up but her. But she finally showed up AFTER I had ordered another one to replace her!

Jvelo~~yet another Zone 5 mystery!!

Joyluck~~fortunately, we don't have deer here...I am happy about that, at least! More competition for all the other critters I do have!

Barb~~I don't believe there is a Francis Simmons...you may be thinking of Frances Williams. Yes, I do have her and she is a beauty! She does suffer from spring dessication, though, so she isn't a favorite for most people. Make sure she doesn't get any direct sunlight, or her leaves will tend to burn on the outer edges.

Vera~~I just love my reading fairy!! I am fortunate to have a statuary just a couple of blocks away. The owner will paint your concrete for you, any color you wish. He has samples out and you just tell him what color, and it's only a few dollars more. If you are interested in painting yours, I can ask him what colors he used--I'm sure it was just craft paint. Then you just have to seal them with a clear spray each year. I don't leave mine out in winter. I'll have to post a separate thread with some pictures. If you remember my Humpty Dumpty, he also came from there. They add such personality to the garden.

Edited to add My dog~~we were posting at the same time. I label them carefully when I plant them with zinc labels. I could never remember the names of them all otherwise. With my new additions this year, I am up to 145 different varieties, with no signs of stopping!

Thanks again everyone!

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I did get the name wrong! I used to work with a lady named Francis Simmons.
Thanks, I would have gone all day trying to remember that name.

Wow just beautiful...either ya'll must be getting much more rain than us or you must have a sprinkler system. My garden is turning to dust if I don't go out and water every other day.

Love all your hostas. I have a few but don't have the room for that many. I do have Frances Williams and I love that one. It is under the crab apple so protected from sun. Leaves stay nice. Having DH save eggshells. Slugs go for some and not others.

Thanks Z9! We have been getting adequate rains here, but I have watered a time or two. I'm trying to keep better track of when it rains and how much, because I've lost a few things by not keeping them well-watered that first year.

Jan,thanks!! If the egg shells don't work, try spraying a solution of ammonia/water diluted 1:9 or 10. You can spray the plant and mulched area around it with no damage to the plant. That's what I'm doing this year, and it's working fairly well so far.

quote:

try spraying a solution of ammonia/water diluted 1:9 or 10.

And ammonia is a fertilizer! Farmers mix it with something to put on the fields!

ok, tell me i am not going to get hooked on hostas. bought my first three today to plant by my new waterfall. i'm anxious to see them in bloom.

Great bana!

Karen, my blue one has finally broken ground. It was up about 1" yesterday! I had stuck my finger down in the soil to feel around to make sure there were still roots there...there were!

so, they die back in winter? guess i better go read about them.

Bana, they do here but we get freezes here...it's just that our ground doesn't freeze.

i read they get 1.5' high and anywhere from 1.5' to 4' wide. is that true? i need to know before i plant them. i bought three but think now i'll take one back.. and just do one on each side of the waterfall. here's the waterfall with all the plants i bought today crowded around it. sprengeri, boston fern, 3 hostas and 2 astilbe. i'm trying to decide what to use and what to put elsewhere. think maybe ferns & hostas and do the astilbe in containers on the deck. opinions please?

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Hey Bana! Of course I'm not going to tell you that you won't get hooked on hostas! I hope you do, so I'll have someone to share my addiction with!!

Give me the name of your hostas you got and I'll let you know how big they'll get. Every hosta is different, and some can get up to 4 feet high by 6 feet wide! You'll definitely want to make sure you give them growing room, but keep in mind it takes at least 3 years, and sometimes up to 5-7 years for a hosta to reach maturity. You may want to put companion plants there to fill up any empty spaces until they reach their full glory!

Welcome to the madness--it's great fun!!

thanks for your help, karen. mine is Hosta Aureomarginata. and from what you are saying, i think one is not going to fit to the left of the fountain. the right side has the room and should be ok. maybe an astilbe on the left would be better.. and i can take the other two hostas back.

helen
zone 10a

I've never been a big fan of hostas in my garden but I did get some for a shady area and then I bought the "mice"!!!! (And next year I'm hoping for more mice!)

Your collection is beautiful!

Martha

Karen Thanks so much for that show. Love 'em., especially "Dance with Me". Will have to look for that one. Have quite a few of my own sprinkled around the yard. But no where near your collection, don't have the room. They are addictive. One I fell in love with is I think called Patriot? Bought a few of those.

Bana, there are actually several different kinds of Aureomarginata, and it looks like yours is Fortunei Aureomarginata, which will get about 24" high by about 40" wide when mature. I have attached a picture of mine below.

There is also Montana Aureomarginata, that has wider margins and grows to 27" high by 68" wide. I just got mine this year, and it still hasn't found a home yet. Just knowing how much room they will eventually take up in the garden will definitely make you do your homework before you plant them!

Linderhof, I also love the mouse family, but so far, I only have Blue Mouse Ears and Cat and Mouse. They do seem to be more hardy than some of the other small ones, though, which I like. Seems like the critters just love to chew on or dig up my minis...I'm about to give up on them!

Jan, my Patriot is still pretty small, even though I've had it for 2 years. It will eventually get 20" tall by 34" wide. I moved it this year to a new hosta bed that will be themed, "Patriotic" for my DH. His flag is there, along with an Army cement stepping stone, and I will plant his old combat boots with annuals. I can't wait to get it finished, and am hoping he will catch the bug once it's done! I'll be looking for shade companion plants that have a patriotic name, if any of you know of some. I just planted a new heuchera called "Amber Waves" in there!

thanks for the info, karen. i moved them away from the fountain and am carefully deliberating where to plant them. this would obviously be too close for three but things look better in odd numbers. two didn't look right. imagine them in the ground and not so high as they are in their pots.