Christmas Notebook

In the lull between the iris / peony blooms and the daylily flood, we are thankful for the hostas that grace the garden. They add color, texture and beauty. A sense of peace after the fast moving spring flush. Over the past few years, the bed by the carport has become more shaded. Last year, we moved peonies out and moved more hostas into it. They didn’t seem to mind the move at all.

‘June Fever’ stands out with its beautiful color.

‘Waving Wuffles’ and ‘Clifford’s Forest Fire’

‘June’ is nearby. This is my favorite hosta. I love the color and its vigor. ‘June’ just keeps going.

And here’s a small hosta that I really like. It’s called ‘Lemon Lime.’ It would make a very pretty edger.

‘Invincible’ has a very glossy green leaf. It makes a shady spot sparkle.

‘Golden Tiara’

In the front yard, ‘Royal Standard’ and ‘Grand Tiara’ grow under the redbud tree by the front porch.

‘Torchlight’ is under the same tree.

We have some hostas that have been in the garden ten years or so. ‘Blue Angel’ may be one of those. I don’t remember when we added it.

‘Powder Blue’ was added to the garden a few years ago. This is going to be a gorgeous hosta when it reaches maturity. It’s a beautiful powdery blue color and is supposed to grow to a 60″ wide clump.

Another fairly new hosta in our garden is ‘Journey’s End.’ This, I believe, is it’s third summer. It is growing quickly. The hosta to the right is ‘Candy Hearts.’

Hostas come in so many different colors, sizes, and textures. They are a beautiful addition to the garden and don’t require a lot of care other than mulching. Like most other plants, they do best with adequate moisture, especially during their first season in the garden, but once well established, they can take care of themselves.

~~Rhonda

I started to put this post together a week or so ago, but didn’t get it posted due to being busy with prep for the annual church family picnic. Then I was ill this week and spent four days in the recliner, elevating my leg. So, finally, here it is…the first of several hosta posts. Enjoy!

The hostas seem to be particularly happy this year, growing large and lush, for the most part. Here are a few pictures from around the yard.

The ‘Royal Standard’ by the front porch has been large for some time. Though it’s on the north side of the house, it is far enough from the main part of the house to get quite a bit of sunshine, especially in high summer. It does fine, year after year. Hostas take more sun than many people give them credit for. Moisture is a big issue, though. They need their water.

Another hosta with a sunny disposition is ‘Squash Casserole.’ It’s a vigorous hosta and multiplies quickly. Here it’s planted on the north side of a Japanese maple on the north side of the house. It gets a lot of afternoon sun.

‘Daybreak’ fronted by ‘Candy Hearts’ sit in what had been a very shady corner. Half the redbud tree has been trimmed back or lost to ice, so the corner is no longer so shady. We’ll see how they do. ‘Daybreak’ is one of my favorite gold hostas. It keeps its color and makes the dark corner shine.

DH moved ‘Waving Wuffles’ which had been so close to the large ‘Samurai’ that it was overshadowed. It should be happier now, with more room to grow. The smaller hosta in the front is ‘Devon Green.’

This is ‘American Sweetheart’ which seems to like the spot it occupies under the mulberry tree.

We’ve found ‘Wheaton Blue’ to be vigorous and quick to grow. It’s also under the mulberry tree.

‘Clifford’s Forest Fire’ was moved to its current location two summers ago and seems happy.

‘Spritzer’ is larger than it looks in this picture where it is surrounded by Honesty (money plant) seed pods.

This particular hosta ‘Sagae’ had some trouble getting started. It grew smaller and smaller over several summers, but now has rebounded and is quite large.

Under a large redbud, the hosta ‘Frances Williams’ likes the dappled shade. Her leaves are easily burned by summer sun.

‘Guacamole’ and ‘Blue Angel’ (the dark blue/green one behind ‘Guacamole’) are growing larger every year.

The hosta ‘Liberty’ is a slow growing hosta, but worth the wait. It’s a beautiful plant.

DH spread mulch under these hostas under a redbud near the front porch. The larger hosta is ‘Royal Standard’ and the smaller one on the left is ‘Blue Cadet.’ ‘Blue Cadet’ makes a beautifully shaped rounded clump. Very tidy and neat.

Here are a few hostas in the front yard. Different shapes and sizes and colors…more than just “the green one” and “the green and white one.”

I hope you enjoyed the hosta tour. We have many more hostas…I’ll take pictures and share those soon.

~~Rhonda

Between rain and not feeling well, I have missed a lot of garden time this year. Yesterday, I went out and sat in a chair to watch DH pull weeds. It was a sunny day, though a tad chilly in the shade. I “supervised” cleaning under the carport and some garden bed clean up. DH is nice enough to let me use the royal “we” while watching him work in the yard. “We should clean up under the carport…we should clear those empty pots out…we should move the border of that bed back a couple of feet…” Thanks, Honey. You are very 1 Corinthians 13ish.

DH sorted through the potted plants we had leftover from last year’s plant sales. Most had made it through the winter just fine. We’ve had plant sales the past four summers, I think. All proceeds go to the mission fund at church. A fun way to turn our hobby, and God’s gracious provision, into mission funding. If you’re in the area, stop by if you’re looking for plants. “We”…I mean DH…will dig on the spot or take an order that you can pick up later. Feel free to browse the front yard gardens and pick something out.

While cleaning under the carport, DH found that a butterfly had just emerged from a chrysalis. It had overwintered under the carport in the fish tank we use to raise caterpillars. The tank had been left outdoors during the winter so the chrysalis wouldn’t open before the weather was right for the butterfly. Isn’t she beautiful? A few minutes of resting in the warm sunshine and she took off. But I managed to get a few pictures first.

The hostas under the kitchen redbud tree look great this year. The redbud suffered from storm damage and has been severely cut back. These may get a tad more sunshine than they are used to, but they were in such dense shade before that they will probably benefit from the extra bit of light.

The Spanish bluebells are almost done blooming. So pretty against the hostas in this dark corner of the garden.

Hosta ‘Spritzer’ is a very pretty gold hosta with long leaves edged in green.

The ‘Gold Moss’ sedum is taking over the paths in the fenced garden. We’ll be digging some of it out and putting it elsewhere around the yard. It makes a nice ground cover in sunny, dry places. Later in the season, it will be covered with little yellow star-shaped flowers.

Pink double columbine in the fenced garden is putting on a show.

Peonies are a favorite flower of mine. They’ve started to open this week.

I guessed we have about twelve peonies, but when I made a list, I discovered we actually have eighteen different kinds. I’d love to have a few coral colored ones and still want a yellow one someday. They’ve just started to open, so we’ll have peonies for quite a while.

‘Shirley Temple’

‘Buckeye Belle’

‘Flame’

‘Sorbet’ is also open and I forgot to get a picture of it. It’s my favorite peony. I’ll post pictures in a later post.

The irises are beginning to bloom, too.

‘Congratulations’

‘Feminine Fire’

‘Art Deco’

‘Dover Beach’

This is an unusual iris called ‘Brown Lasso.’

This is an exciting time in the garden. Something new to see every day. We have a garden tour coming through next week, and a family weekend here this month, and a church picnic here, too. We’ve had a lot more rain than usual the past month. We are hoping that trend begins to let up so our guests will be able to enjoy the garden and all the beauty it has to offer.

You can visit other gardens at Tootsie Time.

~~Rhonda