| I John 4:7-8 Dear friends, let us love one another, be-cause love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God. The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. |
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June 1998
Hosta & Ornamental Grass Enthusiasts Newsletter Note: If you no longer desire to receive this newsletter, just reply to the newsletter indicating that you desire your subscription to be cancelled.) Sorry, a little late, but the end of May was extremely busy! We have just concluded a trip to Indianapolis visiting with Clyde Crockett and visiting other wonderful hosta gardens. Clyde, by the way, is the major contributor of pictures in our 'Other Gardens' section available from our homepage. Clyde has a delightful garden boarding the south edge of his yard. The border is heavily shaded. Clyde's garden as an island bed that parallels another bed leaving a narrow walkway between them. This seems to be a great way to expand an existing garden without making the existing bed look extremely immense. Island picture http://www.hostas.com/other-gardens/clyde/clyde2.jpg Clyde had an area called the 'Jungle' which was a jungle. Actually the hostas present looked as if they were in their native Japanese landscape and presented themselves very naturally. Clyde says he needs some work in the 'Jungle', but not too much I hope, it looked very cool, inviting, and naturalistic. Side view of house with 'jungle' in background http://www.hostas.com/other-gardens/clyde/clyde1.jpg I will talk briefly in upcoming summer additions about the other gardens we visited and hopefully the landscape design that you see will inspire you on your personal gardening adventures! Hosta Collector's Sale I am offering the following five collector hostas for only $50 (normally $80.00 or more retail). Please refer to 'Specials' for mail-order information if interested.
Hostas Hostas and shade -- too much is too much for golds!!! Several gardens we visited had some areas where there was substantial shade. Hostas with gold coloration like 'Kabitan', 'Gold Standard', 'Paul's Glory', 'August Moon', 'Golden Scepter' instead of being yellow to gold were a light to dark chartreuse. This further emphases my point that hostas are shade tolerant plants. All golds need some level of sun to bring out the gold coloration. Other hostas which I usually call white-edged, were cream edged because the sun had not bleached away the cream coloration. This is not as dramatic a difference as in the gold issue stated above. I think that a cream or yellow edged hosta is rather sharp looking. Place these varieties in more shaded regions if you prefer the cream edge. Hosta transportation. I collected 29 new varieties of hosta this weekend, 22 were freshly dug and divided. They were not potted for about 24 hours after the digging. How is this accomplished? Well for starters, don't use the spade and shovel method of division. Carefully inspect the plant by removing the dirt lying on top of the crown. Cut the crown trying to leave as much crown as possible attached to the portion to be removed. Gently lift the earth surrounding the piece to removed. With your hands, firmly grasp the isolated root mass, and pull horizontally away from the plant. This motion will allow the roots still attached to the remaining crown to slip through the removed portion. Place root mass at the top of a folded sheet of newspaper. Begin rolling up the newspaper around the root mass with enough moist dirt to cover the roots. Half way though rolling, fold up the bottom. Finish rolling, label, and rubberband the paper pot together. NOTE: If the plant is small and you cannot determine where to cut the crown, it is far better to dig up the plant to make a more informed decision. For larger plants, they are more forgiving if you make a misplaced incision. Grasses Grass check! Your calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster', calamagrostis 'Overdam' should be in the process of beginning to plume. Other miscanthus varieties are probably at about 1/3 their fall height. Did you remember to clear away last year's dried foliage? Clumps are much more attractive without last years dead material. Deschampsia cultivars are most likely at their full height awaiting their plume. This weekend I collected 3 new carex and one rush. The carex are highly variegated with white margins, the rush has 1/8 - 3/8 long fuzz along all of its leaves! I will definitely have to highlight this rush one month, it is really cool and unique looking! I have another 6 different kinds of grass that I have collected during the spring months that have yet to be planted. I think the varieties of grass will one day overtake my hosta collection. On well, lawn mowing just takes shorter and shorter and shorter . . . I am really excited about the number of gardeners who purchased grasses during my spring open house weekends! Most do not have a single ornamental grass in their yards and are reaching out into a new frontier. I do believe that the great form, texture, and motion that the grasses provide caught their eye and they can visualize the impact that the grass with make in their own gardens. Have you tried an ornamental grass yet? I am going to have to experiment with other miscanthus varieties growing in half day sun. All of mine get full day sun. Any testimonials from gardeners with miscanthus in part sun will be greatly welcomed!!! What's New on our Web-Site? The server which is hosting my web-site is shutting down. Thus, I am searching for another domain host. Please be patient if in the future you have difficulties. It may be the day we are transferring out site 8-). Nothing new until fall, too busy outside at the moment. But great things are planned. Any suggestions are also welcome! Tidbits Don't be afraid to put your hostas in some sun. Most hostas do great in morning sun. And again, it is really not the sun which is the issue, but the combination of sun and heat in the afternoon. Your gold hostas will never be the same if they get the proper amount of light. Hosta Pick of the Month
Next month will be featuring Hosta 'Regal Splendor'. Ornamental Grass Pick of the Month
Next month will be featuring panicum virgatum 'Rotstrahlbusch'. Wisdom from the Garden No matter where you put a hosta, it blooms and shows forth its beauty. Humm. Bloom where you are planted? I think I have heard this before! |
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