And so it begins! You have made a very nice start, and having mature plants is a great boost to your garden plans.
I'm pretty sure those purchases won't be your last too!
Welcome to the club, and to the forum. Keep us posted.
Jan

I love it! WW

Looks inviting, like I want to wander through and check out all of the plants!

Welcome to the forum. Nice inheritance!

Gesila

Wow! You should warn people of what an amazing transformation you did. Made me jump back a little in suprise. Very nice. Welcome Paula

That looks wonderful! You are on your way, I'd say. Happy to have you-it is a wild, wonderful ride!

Nice work! I love the wandering stone path - makes the space look bigger somehow.

What a difference....Great work!

You have made a lovely start!

chris

Here's a link to a tutorial on moving fully leafed out hosta.

bk

Here is a link that might be useful: Moving a fully leafed out hosta

That looks fantastic, what a transformation!

Awesome, thanks everyone and thanks bkay for the link. I have nine hosta that size (same variety) that eventually will go into the backyard after I conquer the ridiculous goutweed problem there.

If anyone cares to help me ID all my mystery hosta, it would be awesome. I'm guessing none of them are too interesting.

1. No idea

Leaf

2. Undulata?

6. No idea

7. Lancifolia, I'm assuming? They had a lot of these. Almost 50" wide. Not too glossy.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Sun, Jun 9, 13 at 19:40

5 = striptease ...

perhaps a few less IDs next time in one post.. and dont bury them in the bottom of some other post... once i reply .. i usually dont keep coming back ... so if you dont get replies.. try posts with 2 or 3 per ..

yes on undulata.. the white centered one.. lol ... is that univitta???

patriot or minuteman ....

you did a great job on that small space.. way up top ... congrats

ken

Thanks ken! I call striptease my bird poop hosta - I didn't like it at first but it's growing on me.

I'd say the undulata has too much white to be univitta but what do I know...NOT MUCH. I see it's not too desirable.

The first one puzzles me .. I tried googling "narrow chartreuse margin" and can't get a hit.

Robo, I've been trying to Id #1 as well. I believe I purchased it at a house plant sale years ago. Still no clue though. Hope one of the experts will know. Thanks for posting the pics. WW

Welcome to forum! Look forward to seeing your garden grow. It's already looking good.

The coloring of #1 reminds me of Shade Fanfare, although mine doesn't have that nice ripple to the leaves.

You did an amazing job with your side yard, very inviting!

I'm terrible at IDing mystery hostas, but sure love what you've done to your side yard. It looks wonderful.

Those hosta are lucky to have you as their new caretaker! You've done such a fine job with this little hosta walk.

Edit: Must not have had my coffee yet when I responded earlier, bc I had no memory of typing that post above!

This post was edited by weekendweeder on Mon, Jun 10, 13 at 12:00

I REALLY appreciate all the feedback, thanks everybody! It's very encouraging. I have not YET met any hosta nuts in my neck of the woods but I know they're out there.

Just so you can see what I'm up against, here's the front bed I've been working on (needs help -- but when I got it, contained just a crazy overgrown spirea and a sad sunstarved weigela down to its last two sticks)

And the goutweed-infested backyard we've been tackling. Complete with enormous gravel pool pad and 600sf of raised beds. Good news is, once we break goutweed's back, lots of room for hosta! Bad news is, no Round-up in my city so goutweed still thinks it has the upper hand. Who knew a city lot could be so much work?

hostafrenzy - THANKS for the ID! I see some older plants get that "seersucker" look. I'm going to call it "Id'd enough for me"

Needs help??? No way, that's awesome. WW.
P.S. i'm not sure that is Shade Fanfare. I'm going to keep doing a little investigating. Let ya know if I find anything.

I'm not certain it's Shade Fanfare either. Shade Fanfare reminds me of a rose when it unfurls, if that makes sense. It's a very orderly hosta. Although the pattern and coloring is spot on to #1, SF has a smoother leaf.

I'll try and take a picture of mine for comparison when this monsoon outside stops.

Very nice raised beds, Robotropolis. Once you've worked your magic, they'll be stunning.

Here's my 2 year old Shade Fanfare. Unfortunately, I don't think they are the same.

Hmm, yes, the growth habit on this one is a bit more random. I have seem some photos of Shade Fanfare where the leaves were a bit corrugated (I learn a new word every day!) but not as much as mine. It may take a couple of years to figure out what the habit is. Right now the leaves are longer and less heart-shaped too.

Shade Fanfare at Shadesofgreen.ca

OHHHH robotropolis - what fabulous infrastructure you have in your yard. Those raised beds are just crying out for lots and lots of hostas. Backbreaking labour for sure, but how rewarding it will be for you, and how exciting for us to follow your progress on the forum. Amazing potential there.
And your front yard is going to be a real traffic stopper.
Jan

Those beds were all there! Thank goodness. But totally neglected, goutweed city and terrible soil right out of a construction site. Right now I have one bed dug out and covered wi/newspaper, cardboard and mulch, and another on the way. It's hard though because I'm an impatient gardener and I guess you have to cover goutweed for two growing seasons to kill most of it? I want to plant everything now!

First I am pleased by the change in your side yard. I call it an "allee" (not an "alley" but a narrow pathway) that is a pleasure to traverse. Usually with a focal point at the terminus and you can see it from the beginning. You've done a fantastic job with it.

Here is my allee, terminating with an arbor for passion vines shading Our Lady of Grace. DH was painting my Teahouse eaves so I've not worked on it this spring. Mine is very confined by high structure on two sides, so air circulation is not so good in the summer heat.

Then the terraced front yard, that's some strong features you have, and when your hosta fill in, only a wee bit of the infrastructure will be in sight. Love what I can see of your home as well. Don't know if the street is right there or not, but the small cement pad at the base of the steps seems a good spot for a wrought iron bistro table and two chairs. Is that a feature of the neighborhood, sitting out of an evening chatting with the neighbors passing by? Camera in hand, of course, for quick photos of the gardens.

moccassinlanding, you have perfectly captured the effect I was going for, except I want the end to be a surprise. I love your arbor - how charming! Right now at the end the only surprise treat is a fence and a bunch of ligularia. If I put seating back there it would be completely unused, so I will have to consider a piece of art instead or a charming vignette like you have created.

my ultimate dream is to extend my front steps and have a few seats at the top of the steps. Husband is super not on board with that until the steps that are there rot off the front of the house...hmmm...wonder if I can hasten that process along somehow!

This is how it looked when we moved in. The side yard is hidden on the right.

PS Can you guess what the dirt patches at the front are? A whole lot of the same kind of plain green, 50" wide hosta!

This post was edited by robotropolis on Tue, Jun 11, 13 at 13:36

Robo, I believe our NOID hosta you tagged as #1 may be So Sweet. It starts out with a yellow edge that changes to white during the season. Says it blooms in Aug. guess we have to wait and see. I'm still investigating though. WW

IIRC, for me that yellow stays YELLOW! But maybe because I have them in too much shade. This year I'll pay attention to the margin and the flowers. I have it in a few different places with varying amounts of sun so I will try to pay attention.

I would estimate that when someone approaches your house now, the allee to the right will be extremely inviting.

I am familiar with the "hidden beyond the bend in the path" way of creating a surprise. Not sure but I think you might consider a wall mounted ceramic piece which is a small fountain....usually a head with the mouth emitting water into a small basin mounted beneath it. If it is an interior piece of ceramic, it is sometimes called a lavabo? which is Spanish for a "water basin." That would be a small focal point, leading the visitor there, and then the bend in the walkway could reveal your big surprise. Not sure what is beyond the bend or around the curved path, but it could be great garden statue, a raised urn with a gorgeous cascading grassy plant .

Think also of a small arbor that marks the end of the allee, and causes someone to pause there, and observe the focal point from that spot. Not sure again, what is beyond.

In the three gardens pictures uploaded by McTavish, her sister's garden has mirrors mounted on the fence, which gives the space an enclosed living space feeling. I'm cautious about using mirrors outdoors though, because my cardinals think the image they see is a competitor, and they attack the other bird.

Have fun. You have an interesting property to deal with. It seems to be responding to all your attention.

I had to laugh when I looked at this picture. I took it because of the delivery truck, but after two straight months of rain up here in Halifax, I think my "big green" hosta are planning to eat my yard! I think I'll name them all Audrey 2.

Now to haul a few tons of gravel, sand and patio stones into the back yard in the pouring rain...

Wow. At least it will be clean gravel and stone. Cannot say the same for you though.

Your hosta look like Mean Joe Green, big and tough.

That they are. Eventually they'll go into the back yard as backdrop for more interesting stuff but for now they can just feel free to keep expanding in all directions.

Great job so far! It was wonderful that you had some good 'bones' to work with.

Thinking about the possible So Sweet id - mine is only in its third year and it looks quite similar to your plant.
{{gwi:1036083}}

Paula

Ah, me! Now I see why BKay loves So Sweet like she does. I have a So Sweet, but nothing impressive so far. I was so concerned about it's failure to look good that I ordered a second from another source and it arrived last week. I want to be impressed.

Paula, thanks! They do look incredibly similar! I'm going to put that as a tentative for mine and keep observing as the plant expands.

My guess for #1 is Lakeside Hoola Hoop. Its been on my list to buy so I've looked at a number of pictures. Now I'm going back to read the rest of this thread. (long one)

Beverly

OK now I read it. Nice house and plenty of room to garden. I like the front of your house, nicely landscaped. Good luck with the goutweed. It took me nearly 5 years to remove landscaping rock from around my house and I still have some under the yew in the front yard. However it was worth it and surprisingly satisfying. Removing the goutweed may be similarly satisfying.

Happy digging
Beverly

This post was edited by BeverlyMN on Sat, Jun 15, 13 at 8:42

Paula, Ah ha, I think you've got it. I was fairly certain it was So Sweet but your picture has me convinced. Case closed for me. Thanks, WW

Robo, hope you got help moving that load. Ouch, my back aches just thinking about it. Take it easy. WW

WILDernessWen,

I didn't id it, you did. I read your answer and realized that I had a pic of mine somewhere and posted it for comparison - so you can take credit! :)

Paula

Quick update - turns out I think my mystery "maybe so sweet" hosta has a virus anyway, it seems to have bleeding veins. So it's getting the old shovel prune in the near future. My only regret is not being able to plant a hosta to replace it!

Backyard progress is good and work on the Deane's Dream bed has started, I think I'll have some pictures to share in a few weeks!

Too bad about the virus :(

Looking forward to the pics though!