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Hostas we covet

DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
in The potting shed
I've just seen this one https://dorsetperennials.co.uk/comparisons/genus/hostas-comparison/

Do I have any more space?

Dare I continue to browse through that website ?

Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    Hello Dove, tried to get a message to you, thanking you, you said my comment was on the June site, bub I have no clue how to send a private message anymore, used to be a case of just clicking onto "message".  I am always very intreagued when it says "post deleted, all posts deleted" I so wonder what the person wrote!!!
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    You've sent me a perfectly good PM NannyB and I've received it and replied  ... thank you  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    I like the really big ones. I have 'Sum and Substance' only young though so not very big at the moment. I'll get an Empress Wu someday  :)

    On the GW piece about hostas the other week, 'Jade Cascade' made me sit up and reach for a pen 
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    I had loads of hostas in my Belgian garden, in the ground and in pots.  Brought all the ones in pots plus a couple more with me.    I was convinced one was Sum and Substance with big, fat, quilted leaves and another was Naegato with tall, sturdy stems and pointed, ribbed leaves but they have all been massacred by voracious snails.  Never seen anything like it, not even with all the slugs in the damper Belgian climate or after they were shredded by a hail bearing tornado.

    No big leaved hostas left here, they've all got small leaves as tho they've just been divided.  Just one left in the ground cos it was doing OK but now that too is being munched so out it will go.   All are now in pots on the north facing terrace or in the ICU for hostas.

    Until I get a dedicated, protected, raised bed for hostas I won' be lusting after any more.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I've got Sum & Substance but the area where it lives is too dry for it to do its best.  

    One of my favourites is H. Fireworks




    And another is H. June Fever



    but my most favourite of all (so far) is H. Stained Glass



    a gorgeous mix of Chartreuse and butter yellow, with dark green edges and feathering 
     <3 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Dreamweaver is my current favourite and Fire and Ice and June.   I asked a local hosta chap at a plant fair about Sum and Substance and he'd never heard of it.   Not really hosta country I expect.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2018
    I was given a substantial Fire and Ice in a large pot by a very kind friend just a few weeks ago ... I'm a very lucky gardener.  :D

    And my June Fever is a sport of June  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    June Fever is lovely - I bought one a few weeks ago and it is lighting up a shady spot beautifully.

    I rather like the red stemmed hostas (they're called something else other than stems aren't they? - something beginning with 'p' I think). I've got a sport of Paradise Island. Lovely colouring - but it's in the ground and I think it would be better in a pot raised up to appreciate the unusual colouring.

    Mickfield Hostas have been doing displays of hostas in hanging baskets and using custom built pot-stands that display the pots at several different levels. This means you view the hostas at eye level & can really appreciate some of the finer details of the plants - especially good for the miniatures. 

    My hostas are being munched to death too @Obelixx . There's always a bit of damage because all the hostas are in the ground in mixed borders - but I've never seen anything as bad as they are this year. Usually I can get away with just removing the odd badly damaged leaf - but there would be nothing left if I did that this year. Only the really thick, ribbed blue varieties haven't succumbed.

    Will definitely be using lots of sheep wool pellets next year - suspect it's too late to do much good this year :'(

    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2018
    Petioles @Topbird ?  :)

    I daren't go to Mickfield ... it's sort of on my way to visit Wonky but I'm sssssssscared .... scared

    I'm keeping almost all of my hostas in containers now ... I've got Blue Angel, Hadspen's Blue and Sum & Substance in the ground, but this year they're getting badly munched. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Joyce GoldenlilyJoyce Goldenlily Posts: 2,933
    I have a hosta, name not known, blue grey green leaves, deeply ribbed, in a border. It was massacred early on so I distributed slug pellets throughout the border. I could not believe how many snail shells were revealed. The ground was thick with them, due in part to my many stone walls. I removed all of the damaged stems, there were no leaves and gave it a bit of a feed. It now looks like a new plant with flowers appearing. The rest of my hostas are in pots standing in dishes which seems to help deter slugs and snails but still need some protection. I almost lost my Fire and Ice to the weather earlier but moved it just in time and it is slowly recovering. I love hostas but having browsed an American catalogue realised there are just too many of them out there for me have all of them. I think they must be one of the top plants for new varieties each year.
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