Hey there Muktowngal! How does your garden grow now?
Are you enjoying the rain?
And I bet you have plans for more hosta? Any word on another good hosta spot to hit?

Hope you come back to show how well the enabling took! :)

Hey, muktowngirl... Now I get to be an enabler, too!

Did you know that even if you aren't registered to attend the American Hosta Society convention, the vending area is open to the public? (At least it always has been over the years...) The leaf show and containers are also open to the public after all the judging is done.

I'm cheap - if I'm going to buy hosta I usually buy wholesale through my small business. But at conventions, if you are there the last hour or so of the vending hours there are usually some bargains to be had. Some of these guys don't mind taking their plants back home, but some will mark things down by 50% in the last half hour. Nice way to pick up some of the hotter newer hostas.

Even if you don't buy, it is fun to shop the sale early to see all the new stuff - and you can start to put faces with names.

Bob Solberg (can't miss him with his huge beard) and his wife Nancy are usually selling from their Green Hill Farm in North Carolina.

Bill Silvers of Silvers-Ebert in Georgia is usually there... they are a source of tissue culture plants and you can often see some stuff that isn't coming out of the dominant tc programs at Walters and Q&Z.

Gary... of Gary and Jack, the Naylor Boyz from Washington State is usually there. They have a close relationship with Marco Fransen in Holland, so they often have some of the newer stuff coming out of the European market. (Tell Gary Jim from Minnesota says 'Hi" - since I suspended most of my business, I don't get to chat with Gary as frequently as I used to - very nice guy!)

Josh Spece and his family usually have hostas and a nice selection of succulents from their In The Country nursery in Iowa. Josh is the editor of the online version of the AHS Journal.

Lots of other folks selling stuff, too... but it is a rare chance to meet some of key hosta marketers.

Convention is this weekend in Milwaukee... usually you only get one in your home town maybe once every 10 years, so a special opportunity for you close to home. Here's a link to the itinerary... looks like vending starts at noon on Thursday. Some of the most "collectible" stuff will sell out by the end of the day but I've picked up some very nice plants during that last minute sale at the end - so I shop every day!

http://www.2013ahsconvention.com/2013ConventionSchedule.pdf

general convention info... location, etc.

http://www.2013ahsconvention.com/

The garden that T.J. sent me to is one of the ones on the convention tour. It is the Owen and Sue Purvis Garden. So if you are going to the convention you will see the garden wher I purchased my plants.

Thanks for the other info.

I can't make it this year... hope all of you there in Milwaukee have a great weekend!

It was a pleasure for me to meet you as well, muktowngal (as well as newhostaaddict). Owen and Sue are genuinely nice people and their garden will be a treat for all who go.

Now, about that enabler stuff, I know you were well enabled long before I said anything. lol

tj