Great choice!

Wow, you got to 501 fast!

Don B.

Congratulations on the new addition! ...now that you've opened the door to Pandora's box......lol

Buying a baby hosta and watching it grow IS different - and so satisfying - from watching established ones grow (inherited). I totally understand why you had to have your own!

Novice, I may have said it before, but you are in for an amazing treat in Spring when all these hosta start emerging from dormancy...especially as the first flush starts unfurling.

Rainbow's End is a colourful and bright hosta. I have lovely dark flower scapes on my one-year-old...the open flower colour against the leaf colour impressed me last year....take a look...pic taken days ago.

Jo

Here it is last year, in flower.

I am wondering what new hosta you might get next...to commemorate the birth of your new baby soon.....:-)

First of all, congrats on a great first addition. Secondly, condolences for the onset of an incurable disease! Lastly, thanks for adding yet another "must have" to my list. What is so frustrating is that the more hosta's I buy the longer my "must have" list gets. That just doesn't seem right somehow! You'll learn soon enough just what I mean! And I hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

No offense, but you misworded your post. You DO need more. ; )

Don B.

Thanks everybody! Those more mature plants look great, very happy with my choice! I was considering frosted mouse ears as well as I seem to be drawn to the mini hostas but I already have blue mouse ears so I chose to add some variety. I have a dumb question, so I have read that seeds when planted hardly ever grow to be what their parents were. So where do all these little baby hosta plants come from?? Does that make sense?

Actually, that's a very good question. To get plants that are the same as their parents, for most varieties these days they go through a process called tissue culturing. Some varieties do not take to tissue culturing well at all, and will come through the process not looking the same as the parent, and must be propagated by dividing by hand. I'll post a link that describes some tissue culturing.

Don B.

Here is a link that might be useful: TCing Hostas by Bob Axmear

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Mon, Aug 18, 14 at 9:06

Novice, you have an enviable garden with so much to delight you next spring. The mature clumps can be watched as they emerge for the presence of something called "fairy ring". I've never seen it, just pictures of it, where a clump which is very old and expanding leaves a circle of no growth in the middle. The time to see it will be the springtime. After the leaves emerge, it sort of disappears in the jungle!

Those with in-ground gardens can tell you about fairy ring, or you can look it up in past discussions on GWeb HForum. I don't think it will happen in my garden, since my 500+ are in POTS. I have enough situations to deal with as it is. :)

Always know that when your family and neighbors grow tired of talking about HOSTA, you find a ready and appreciative audience here on this forum.

And come to think of it, the folks who created the garden you are now enjoying, I'm sure if they are available to visit, would be pleased to know their treasures are appreciated and enjoyed by the new family residing in the home. If they are older folks, they might become "Aunt" and "Uncle" to your new baby. As an older person myself, it is lovely to think of something I did going forward into the next generation. It is difficult to leave a mark on the world, except in the hearts of the people we reach out and touch..