Phil commented recently that where I live (view shots thread) must be the best place to grow hostas. Actually I don't think it is. I think the Pacific North West must be the best. The winter and spring can be fickle here and I've lost many that have been in pots no matter what I seem to do. I don't think my sister has ever lost any in pots at all. What a relief that would be.

Enjoy the garden.

Paul

Very cool that you and your sister share the hosta hobby!

Deanna

Gesila

Steve

Vivian

Yowsa !

Well, if you have silver hair like your sister, you were not short changed too much. My bro and I have hair alike, and we got it from our grandfather...runs in families I think.

Sure have missed your pictures and inspirational posts. Your plants always perfect, and good to see your sister's plants AND the whole garden are awesome as well.

Somehow I get the feeling that the Pacific NW makes hosta feel right at home, like in Asia where they come from. Sure was impressed on my one trip out there by the mega ferns and damp prolific woodland areas always fecund with plant life. Yes, I can see how hosta love it there.

I'll be paying attention to these photos, hope you keep them in your Flickr account for a while, so I can study the containers and arrangements. I like the fact she does not regiment things with all pots have to be alike. I see no reason for all alike, unless you wish a formal row and then heaven help the little hosta that tries to grow an extra leaf and mess up the symmetry. Love reckless abandon myself.

Linda

There is simply too much beauty in your pictures for me to find words for. So for once, Les has little, or less, to say.

Les

to answer some questions:

Paul, yes there is no grass. I had her get rid of all grass, front and backyard years ago. More room for hostas and it was full of moss most of the time anyway.

Deanna we do feel very blessed that we share this passion. It's just too bad she's a days travel away. We'd like to stop over at each others houses several times a week and check on the growth.

leafwatcher, There are two huge one's by the two back doors to the deck. One is Beauty Substance. That was posted on Vase Shaped Hostas along with a close up of the leaf size. It is truly enormous. The other is Dream Weaver which is also huge. She's had that one longer. It stays blue and looks georgeous right until fall. I think that soon those two are going to walk right into the house and take over the kitchen and dining room.

Moccasinlanding, no, unfortunately I don't have silver hair. I don't even have grey hair though I'm two years older. Now that I'm older it just looks like I dye my hair which I don't do - weird. I will be putting more of her pictures on my Flicker account. Neither of us are into anything formal in the garden. The big blue ceramic pots in the front yard were bought last spring at a wonderful price on Craigs List. We will use anything to plant in. You can barely see but in the front yard we used blue rubbermade type storage bins. They are large and a lot less expensive than actual plant pots. We had done this before in the backyard with light greenish ones. I think you can see those in the backyard pictures that show the ramp off the deck.

Jan, she might be interested in joining the forum at some point but she's got too much going on right now. She and her hubby own 2 businesses and she works part time in the office. She is not interested in spending much time on the computer when she's at home.

Linda, glad you like the pots. Your zone of 6 should be much safer with pots than mine is at 4/5. I've lost too many in a bad year not to be paranoid about it.

Again, thanks everyone, Myrle

I brought a h. Liberty through Winter here in SE Michigan in a whisky barrel but don't know if I will be that lucky again.

If ever we weren't so busy when I was at her house I'd get her on the forum herself. Maybe that will happen. Meanwhile I'll post more of her pictures as I get them.

Hey Phil, Yes, I'm in BC but I'm 300 miles inland from the coast and in between two mountain ranges. Our elevation is 1100 ft. The Interior (?) Columbia (?) mountains on the west of us and the Monashee and Selkirk to the east of us. It is about 300 miles from here in the other direction to Calgary, Alberta which is past the Rockies.

The coast, Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle etc. is zone 8 or so. We are considered 5 or 6 but that's optomistic in my opinion. I call myself 4/5 because of the tender plants I've lost over the years that will usually grow in zone 5 successfully.

We are roughly north of Spokane, and are in the same general modified desert like valley. It is very different here than on the coast.

Many thanks.

hh

Such a treat. In the first photo I noticed this time how many scapes that plant in the lower left corner has. Until I noticed this, I was content with one scape--now I will ask my hosta what's the problem........get busy..

moccasinlanding..i think the 'scapes' you are refering to are from a clematis about to flower

Faye, I guess you're going to have to forgo Arizona this winter and just go down to Judy's with me!

She does have a timed watering system in place although, if anything, we've discovered she may be watering too much.