Hosta Obsession

 I got bit by the hosta bug this summer. No, not an actual bug. I found it peaceful to go outside in the spring and work in the perennial gardens. This lead me to working on the shade garden up by the front door. It's really just the big area under the oak tree when nothing else grows. I started looking into hosta's and found there to be thousands of varieties of these beautiful plants. Each one with their own leaf shape and color. They have these cute little names like "Stained Glass" and "Captain Kirk". I started picking up new ones whenever I went into town and ran across one I didn't have. It became a obsession. I started the year with two varieties and I'm up to 51. It's kept me busy and active. 

June

Cool as a Cumber

I even found myself looking at hostas on vacation. Remember how I wake up hours before my family? Well I went looking for nurseries around Bentonville and found the jackpot of hosta nurseries. They had over 25 varieties and I told myself I could only get 5 or 6. Plus we still had to fit all of our luggage in the back of the Volvo to get home. I did find a beautiful Elderberry at a fabulous price that had to come home with me too. I have a very understanding husband.

I even found that you can buy hosta's online! There are several wonderful sellers up north (where hostas grow huge!) that will divide their massive plants and ship full grown hostas to you. It was like Christmas when these two boxes arrived. Some of these plants are known as giants, so they can get 6-7 feet wide and 3-4 feet tall. That would be so cool!

 

Plant on the left is immature nursery plant ($8 Earth Angel) and plant on right is full grown division ($12 Guardian Angel).

Soaking in a bucket of water.

The unboxing of Empress Wu, possibly the biggest hosta available.

Here she is full grown.

When I have the shade garden finished I'll share pictures. It's been a work in progress the whole summer. I'm currently making flagstone steps out of concrete, who knew that was a thing? You can learn anything on YouTube.