Hosta Miscellany

Memphis is a hosta-loving town!  At this year's sale sponsored by the Mid-South Hosta Society, over 1600 plants were sold - a record number.  Were you there?  I was in line for the opening and you  would have thought we were waiting at St. Peter's Gate!

I've fallen in love with mini hostas, mainly because I've run out of room in this garden.  (BUT - we've bought a new house!  With a bigger yard!  And it's like a blank slate because it hasn't been tended for years!  More in future posts...)

Back to mini hostas.  Here's my small collection:

Clockwise beginning at the bottom left:  Frosted Mouse Ears, Justine, Spinach Souffle, Wonderful, Rainbow's End, Blue Mouse Ears, Green Mouse Ears (the tiny one in the middle.)  I also have Holy Mouse Ears...

...but it's in my Heavenly Garden along with Pilgrim, Cup of Grace, Cathedral Windows, and Guardian  Angel.  And yes, that's a heuchera 'Midnight Rose.'  I know it's doesn't exactly fit in with the heavenly theme, but that's where it had to go.  You know I love heucheras!

But I digress.  I mainly wanted to link you to a great hosta discussion that Margaret Roach had recently with Tony Avent.  You can read about it here and there's also a link to the podcast.  Tony has a 10 foot rule that may intrigue you and there's scientific information that helps you understand about hosta colors and fading and fragrance.

Speaking of Tony Avent, I bought a book recently at Booksellers at Laurelwood called The Roots of My Obsession, edited by Thomas C. Cooper.  In it are essays by thirty great gardeners telling why they garden.  Tony says,

I was born with a fully functional 7.0 horticultural operating system, along with some specialized apps like an obsessive personality, and overactive imagination, an overly logical brain, and a touch of ADD.

Sound familiar?  I'll share more of these gardeners' motivations as I read the various essays.  I'm trying to take little bites of this book so I can prolong the pleasure!

p.s.  -  If you know someone in the market for a zero-lot line house in East Memphis with a great shade garden, let me know!

Weeds of the World - Unite!

Julie M. recently sent us a link to a great, informative website A Way to Garden.  It's the creation of Margaret Roach, who many of us may recognize as the former garden editor of Martha Stewart Living - and before that of Newsday, a newspaper in NYC/Long Island.  Margaret gardens in the Hudson River Valley of New York.  Some of her challenges are different from ours and we won't track her timing, but there's still plenty that we can adapt to "sunny" Memphis.

As you may have been able to discern from the most recent posts, we have tomatoes on the brain!  Returned from vacation Monday, ran out to the garden, and there they were:  little green gems - oh my!  But how to maximize the little darlings?  A Way to Garden has growing tips here and trouble-shooting tips here.

‘Potunia Papaya,’ from German breeder Dummen-Red Fox

And check out these gorgeous petunias!










Finally, from the "Garden Humor" section of A Way to Garden, something we can relate to!

Andre Jordan - abeautifulrevolution.com