January 2000

Hosta & Ornamental Grass Enthusiasts Newsletter
AAA Ornamentals @ http://www.hostas.com
Vol. 3, No. 1, January, 2000

What's New on our Web-Site?

Nothing new this month. I attended the Mid-American Horticultural Trade Show at Chicago's Navy Pier with my wife on Jan 21. Found some very nice wholesale sources of different ornamental grasses and hostas. Just wait till next spring! 

We will also be unveiling another web-site later this spring www.GardenSignatures.com. We will be specializing in printing garden tags and markers, small signs, potting stakes for smaller growers, etc. Additionally we will also display at tremendous prices other items that will add to your garden's signature (pun intended).

What's Been Growing

Sedums in the greenhouse are already 1" tall even though it is heated to 34 degrees and have not gotten over 42 degrees all January. Remarkable little plants!

In just a few weeks greenhouse production will begin again. This is much earlier than last year so that they plants will be better rooted for those early spring deliveries.

Hostas

I get questioned as to whether or not hostas can tolerate a high PH environment (like under pine, evergreen trees). A short article in the 1999 Vol. 1 Hosta Journal, article by Dan Nelson & Alex Summers, indicates that some hostas prefer alkalinity. A Japanese expedition in 1969 revealed hostas of H. loonies, H. sieboldiana, H. sieboldiana, H. hypoleuca, and H. nigrescens growing naturally in areas extremely high in PH (like limestone caves). US experimentations on H. 'Tardiflora' also showed better growth in high PH soils. So, if you are concerned about a high PH area, it is certainly ok to experiment or use the above listed hostas.

Additional hostas found as needing higher PH to prosper were H. 'Halcyon', and H. 'June'

You know you are a Hostaholic if . . . "You hang up the phone with a sigh of relief after just placing a hosta credit card order because the total was less than $500."

Grasses

Strictly speaking, Carex plants which are listed on my sell list are not ornamental grasses but actually ornamental sedges. Now, the question is begged, what's the different between grasses and sedges, they look pretty much the same (i.e. they have blades just like grass, right?).

There are many differences that I would like to highlight. Since Carex is just a very small part of my offerings, I have found this research extremely interesting, and I hope you will also. I will break this into several articles.

The GRASS family is Poaceae, the SEDGE family is Cyperaceae. Carex is one of the 115 genus groupings in the Cyperaceae family. The several species of Carex that I sell of just a few of the 3500 different species.

Sedges (just because it is easier to say than Cyperaceae), are found in most parts of the world including moist habitats in temperate and sub arctic zones.

Human and animal existence could be probably completely sustained by grasses (wheat, barley, rice, sugar, oats, etc). Sedges not important food sources like grasses are. What are some important worldly sedges??

We will continue investigating sedges next month.

Hosta Pick of the Month

This section will continue in a different mode than in previous newsletters. Each month I will 'beef-up' a selected hosta's information on the internet at my web-site, specifying here the direct link to the page. Being a two person shop, it will be easier to do two things, highlight a selected cultivar and also expand my web-site's information and quality.

This month's Hosta Pick: Hosta 'Allan P. McConnell' (click for web-page)

Ornamental Grass Pick of the Month

This section will continue in a different mode than in previous newsletters. Each month I will 'beef-up' a selected ornamental grass's information on the internet at my web-site, specifying here the direct link to the page.

This month's Hosta Pick: Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum' (click for web-page)

Also, I just posted some great plume pictures of Miscanthus sin. 'Autumn Light'. The plumes have a zigzag plume segments which is really neat. They straight as the plume matures.

Wisdom from the Garden

"Grass is the Hair of the Earth" -- Karl Foerster