Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
donrawson

A visit to Phil's garden...

donrawson
9 years ago

Here are some pics of my visit to Phil's garden last week (aka "hosta freak"). He lives near Franklin in southwest North Carolina and the hostas were just coming up. Phil has many nice hostas...many of them were sending up eyes and getting ready to leaf out into large clumps. He also has a beautiful acuba.

The entrance to the "Hosta Vista"



The three gnomes at the garden entrance...these little guys were crafted by the gardener himself!

{{gwi:960332}}
{{gwi:960333}}
{{gwi:960334}}

I think this is a sport Phil is watching...


This is the beautiful acuba...I wish it was in my garden!


And here is the gardener himself...


Thank you, Phil, for giving me a tour of your hosta garden!

Comments (27)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    the scariest gnome.. is in the last pic... rotflmbo .....

    thank God don got there.. before phil quit for the year .... today .. or was that yesterday .. lol ..

    is that sign new .. looks like some winter hobby work ...

    lets make a list of who don visits on his odyssey ... lol ..

    thx for the pix don ....!!!!!

    ken

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the photos, Don. I predict that although things have turned to mush overnight for Phil, he will be happy once again in a couple months.

    Dormant eyes are hearing the bugle call and will sprout in warmer weather and he will once again have a forest path of delight. Hosta Strong!

    -Babka

  • hosta_freak
    9 years ago

    Don, It was very nice meeting you and your wife Pam. I knew hosta people were strange after meeting Ken last year. However anyone who take their vacation to pick-up large rocks (verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry large) fits right in with hosta people. Phil's wife Diane.

  • User
    9 years ago

    Hey hey, nice to hear someone else is a rock lover. In places with lots of rocks, they are not coveted as much as they are where no rocks exist...like along the Gulf Coast! All our rocks were ground down to powder sugar sand eons ago.

    Thanks for the different views, DonR. I knew Phil's garden was on a hillside, but that shows some pretty steep slopes. Whole different set of problems keeping hosta from rolling downhill!

    Yes, Phil has strong stock, and they will rebound before the end of the season.

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago

    I knew hosta people were strange after meeting Ken last year. However anyone who take their vacation to pick-up large rocks (verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry large) fits right in with hosta people.

    ==>> double touche diane... lol ...

    i was wondering if rocks were involved.. somehow or another ... lol

    ken

  • hosta_freak
    9 years ago

    I have lots of rocks here too,mocc,but mine are all from right here on the property. A lot of them were from digging a hole to plant a hosta. Dig a hole,and there's another rock. A lot of my hostas have a rock right in front of the plant. That very rock came from where the hosta is planted. Phil

  • hostasmith
    9 years ago

    Don, how about a picture of your rock garden?

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    9 years ago

    Rocks aid in drainage...;-)

    -Babka

  • bragu_DSM 5
    9 years ago

    tring to remember where i've seen that mug before ....

    gads, it wasn't the post office, was it?

    or was it?

    *gardner gives up on season, turns to life of stealing gnomes*

    _~

    dave

  • Jon 6a SE MA
    9 years ago

    Eat your heart out Don.

  • User
    9 years ago

    Yeahhhh, now yer talking, JonnyB!
    I'll take a truck load of rocks like that big dude down front!

    Love the way you are planting the hosta along the embankment.

    What is that green on the right? Ventricosa? It has the characteristic cupie doll spit curl on the leaf tips. And do you have some Masquerades on the embankment? I think it would be a good choice, and maybe something rhizomatous as well. They spread and hold the dirt.

    Plus, on a slope is a good choice for hypoleuca, the white backed hosta. In the latest Zilis book, he shows them growing on a steep embankment. They can have big leaves but sometimes only one per plant, if I remember correctly. In my case, I have 2 hypoleuca and one I noticed had only 2 leaves. If I had not read what Zilis said, I'd have been distressed at the scarcity of leaves., but now think it is normal for the hosta.

  • Jon 6a SE MA
    9 years ago

    Moc,

    Sorry to take so long to reply. That is a Blue Angel on the right; 6 ft or so across. I have all the big rocks you want, just bring a big truck and a backhoe.

    Pips are just starting to break through here. Picture was from last year.

    Jon

  • Steve Massachusetts
    9 years ago

    Interesting that Phil made those figurines in the image of Ken's children. Is that the driveway they're on?

    BTW, Don. I don't have to go far to find rocks. The glacier brought them to me. Like this one.

    Steve

  • hosta_freak
    9 years ago

    Sorry,I've been gone a little while,but my computer has been in the shop for repairs. Since Don was here,a lot has happened.The Monday after he was here,the garden looked fabulous,then on Tuesday,a madman with a flame thrower visited the garden,and almost totally destroyed it! All the big hostas,included my big Sagae,were almost totally destroyed. I have cut off all the worst leaves,and now they look like early spring. The common ones like Golden Tiara, Gold Standard,Francee and fortunei Aureomarginata,were untouched! Also my QOTS,only three feet away from T-Rex was untouched,yet T-Rex and Dino look really bad,but they will grow back. Many hostas were spared,and I won't list all of them,but Orange Marmalade;and my new Ice Follies were like nothing happened! Yeah,I know it's early in the season,but it really looked like a great season for awhile,but now it will not be good 'til next year. I will live,however. All the plants that were just showing eyes were not affected. I think I may plant more Tokudama types,because they never come up early in the spring! That's the latest from cold NC! Phil

  • User
    9 years ago

    Now THAT is a rock! Steve, DH always calls it "glacial junk" and I see you agree with that term. He had a small version of yours in the middle of his front yard, a piece of ledge that he tried to cover up, but which I uncovered and tried to emphasize. I mean, if you got rocks, flaunt em. Then rows and rows of rock walls going 100s of feet, all removed from the ground. You'd be surprised how you can clear a piece of land given 50 years and determination to do it.

    You put your shovel in the ground around here, not a single rock, just tree roots, and the nearest tree is far away.

    JonnyB, I can wait for a new picture of your dry gulch. With the bench down in the glade inviting us to sit down.

  • Jon 6a SE MA
    9 years ago

    Phil, just a minute, you have to explain; 'flame thrower'? Did your Spring clean up get a little out of hand?

    They are giving out free burning permits here, The burning season was very limited here because of snow and very cold weather. I don't know why the permits are free (they only cost $5 usually)...maybe they are trying to warm things up???

    Jon

  • hosta_freak
    9 years ago

    Jon,I meant it looked like a flame thrower was used,because so many plants were burnt by the cold. Cold burns just like heat,when it comes to plants. Spring clean-up was a long time ago. Things are going to get better,because we are getting rain,and the trees are leafing out. Phil

  • in ny zone5
    9 years ago

    Phil always has a great looking garden, I like the sign especially, also those gnomes.
    We had here also glaciers many 1000 years ago which ground down any rocks which were on my lot. I buy them at the nursery now at $28 per 100 lbs of rock. Digging a planting hole for a tree last year, I found a piece of a broken drainage pipe, about 2ft x 2ft, is poor man's garden art now. Bernd

  • paula_b_gardener 5b_ON
    9 years ago

    I would love to have as much space as Phil and Steve and Jonny. The real estate prices around here are crazy so it isn't in the cards...yet.

  • don_in_colorado
    9 years ago

    No rocks here...well, maybe a few...

    Don B.

  • in ny zone5
    9 years ago

    Don, it seems all you have to do is break off a few rocks, shout 'Avalanche', roll them down that hill and cart them home. Whenever I drive into the Adirondack mountains I look at the sides of roads for fallen rocks, rather than at the scenery. Bernd

  • paula_b_gardener 5b_ON
    9 years ago

    Don, that photo is stunning.
    Bernd - I can completely relate! I stop at rock 'fields' and grab anything that I think will look good in the garden :) Last year, I collected them to build a small wall.

  • hosta_freak
    9 years ago

    Paula,I have only 1/2 acre of property,and only a small part of it is planted with my garden. Most of my property is too steep,or too shady to grow hostas. I always find a spot to tuck in another hosta,and those spots are disappearing! This is my last whine for the year! It is,what it is,as people say! I will continue to post here,but mostly lurk. Phil

  • Babka NorCal 9b
    9 years ago

    Hey Phil- You promised a progression photo. Even though it might be a little less lush looking than in previous years, your woodland path is inspiring. How about a May 15th pic this year. Please??

    -Babka

  • paula_b_gardener 5b_ON
    9 years ago

    Phil,
    I would love to have 1/2 an acre, I have a city lot 80x100 and the house is on that, too. Even if you only use half of yours, that is twice as much as mine. That was my whine, too. lol
    I love seeing hostas in a woodland environment, I think it is so pretty. Please post more photos, the more the better. The eye candy is a treat for us northerners. If I remember correctly from last year, Coll's garden is lovely, too.
    Paula

  • in ny zone5
    9 years ago

    Paula, I bet when I would go onto such a plowed field some cop would see me and arrest me for stealing rocks, such are the laws here. I pick rocks up at the side of the road, there should be no complaint. You got a LOT of rocks to make that beautiful wall!
    Bernd

  • User
    9 years ago

    PaulaB, don't give up on expanding your city lot. I know, I did some creative thinking and the result was quite unexpected and a dream come true.

    We got to stay in the same house, and we added to our lot size. Long story short, I realized our backyard neighbor was not using the last 25 feet (or more) of her lot, which was 100 feet wide. So, I asked if it might interest her to sell us a small slice of her 300 foot deep x 100 foot wide lot. It was the only game in town for us. No other piece of land would do. So it was indeed a seller's market. But here I was so fortunate that our neighbor is the best one I ever had. So we made a friendly deal for the land, which is now my Back40 where hosta are KING ... and QUEEN. I put up a chainlink privacy fence now almost covered in star jasmine....and right in the middle included a shorter 5 foot wide "neighbor gate." We visit all the time, my dachshund girls love to play in her yard with supervision, and she is delighted to have visitation privileges with the hosta! She even has one which she frets over, she is an old fashioned gardener yet fascinated with new plants such as hosta! I can see my grandmother in her.

    I'm just saying....this is a possible chain of events. Not only COULD it happen, it really did. Isn't life interesting?