I'm interested in the replies here because I recently had the loan of a copy for a few weeks, and I have never encountered a book that was more uncomfortable to read! It weighs a ton, and just holding it seemed a chore. I live in hope that it will someday be republished in three or four volumes, perhaps in paper cover. Because the info contained therein is amazing, and I would love to own it, in a more user friendly format!
Jan

I received my copy for Christmas last year. I love browsing through it. I wish there were even more photos but that would make the book even thicker, wouldn't it? Most of the time the hostas I want to look up do have a photo (maybe they are just the more available ones?) I've put little pink sticky notes jutting out of it everywhere for those hostas that call out to me. True, it's a monster - not something that is comfortable to read in bed for example - so when I feel the need to browse I make a pot of coffee, settle in to my favorite corner spot on the couch and lay a cushion on my lap, then place the tome on the cushion. It's a heavy yet comforting weight. It's great winter reading when hostas are sleeping under the snow. I'm really glad my husband listens when I mumble about hostas...

you buy at least one tome on a subject.. and devour it ... to learn all kinds of stuff ...

and then you use the web for looking for the newest and brightest ....

i give you guys what i recall of the history of plants ... of species .. ... and i did NOT learn any of that online ....

you always need one good book to curl up with late at night.. AFTER YOU TURN OFF THE FREAKIN COMPUTER ... lol ..

i actually studied the schmid tome.. while watching hockey games .... lot of down time in some games.. lol ...

demand it for xmas.. and threaten the loved ones.. should they let you down ...

but be careful on the british books .... in the sense that the cultural information will be useless to anyone in the US .... i hope you know what i mean by a plant culture.. i am not talking about tea ... lol ... they are at 60 degrees north ... 2/3 of the way to the north pole ... and can grow most hosta in full sun ....

do it

ken

Thanks Jan and Hostanista for your comments. It does seem like the size of the book is a bit of an issue, but that the wealth of information supersedes that.

More photos would be great Hostanista---there can never be too many photos!

I like your idea Jan of the book being published in three or four volumes. Or maybe like an encyclopedia with several volumes.

Ken, I have to chuckle when you wrote "you always need one good book to curl up with late at night.. AFTER YOU TURN OFF THE FREAKIN COMPUTER." How did you know I was on the computer until bedtime?

Sounds like a special book. I have put it on my Xmas list (if I haven't gotten it before). And thanks Ken for the warning about British books.

Anyone else have any comments on the book?

How did you know I was on the computer until bedtime?

==>> and then what.. twitch for an hour... lol ...

thats why you need a book ... so it will gently slip out of your hand.. when you pass out ...

ken

First - a tip about how to buy it... get together a wholesale order from Q&Z... I'm not sure about the minimum on the books - I think it was 5 when I bought them.. was able to get copies for me and for hosta buddies at a serious discount.

I enjoy it as a reference. I also enjoy the Zilis book - the Hosta Handbook - and that one I will carry along when doing garden visits, conventions, and such.

I also enjoy the Schmid book - and I've probably had that for 15 plus years.

none of the other books were of any use to me... got them from the library, paged through, and returned. The exception might be the Shadrack book on small hostas - but I don't find it terribly useful due to the odd organization... The British books were useless to me, as Ken has described... so different in nurture there... plus the first Grenfell book organized alphabetically by Color.... just too wierd!

We kept hassling Mark to do a supplement to the Handbook, but his vision was the Hostapedia. It kept getting put off... several years after the proposed date for publication... because he kept getting new information and incorporating it. At some point he finally drew the line on new input... and the book came together.

It's got close to 7000 hostas... that doesn't include the very newest - but it sure does include a lot.

Don't wait for it to be published in volumes... Mark spoke at our Mn Hosta Society meeting when the book was first released and he described the amazing detail that went into the printing.

He had it done locally - and it was a big deal. Each print was 4 pages of the book... and he'd get a proof of each print. He'd have to approve it... which included checking all the text, but also balancing the photos. Often it was a compromise... to make one yellow as bright as he'd like he'd have to mess up the color on another picture on a different part of the 4 page print. Lots and lots of tinkering.

When it was published, I expected to hear that Mark would do a supplement every two or three years. I still think that would be a good idea, but I'm not sure he has the time or inclination... it is a pretty all-consuming task.

Though I like books, I find it so easy to use three sources...

the AHS Hosta Registry, with its easy search feature...

the Hosta Sport listing

and the Hosta Library

that I often use my keyboard rather than lifting down the "big book" from my bookshelf.

I'm glad I have the Hostapedia... I'm also glad I didn't pay full retail on it...

I have the Hostapedia and highly recommend it. It's a reference book, not a light reading book. Heavy? Yes, but I'm not taking it on vacation. ( I have taken it with me on hosta buying day trips so I can look up ones I'm not familiar with but thinking of buying) I use it look up hosta I have and ones I am thinking about. I also often just sit and browse through it, over and over again. Each time I learn something new, or am reminded of something I had forgotten. Wonderful in depth information. Not up to date? True due to the speed at which hosta cultivars are growing, but it is a wealth of information. Perhaps Zilis could do an update with hostas that were not included in the first edition. I'd buy it.

It's a good reference tool.... but then again, so is the internet. Sometimes it's nice to sit down with a book vs the internet.

That said, mine is out constantly during the garden season and a good bit of the other 51 weeks in MN (har har).

If you're tight on cash... no, don't buy it.
If not, and you're hungry for info, yes, buy it.
Zilis takes a while to publish his stuff, so it's likely to be several years before the next iteration of his work comes out.

I agree it is a bit too heavy to read in bed without injuring it....and breaking something when you put it on your nightstand.

But what I have in mind ultimately is a dictionary stand, one that sits on a table or desk. Or even on a deep book shelf with a motion sensor light that comes on when you reach your hand toward flipping pages.

If the book was simply an alphabetical listing of hosta with a brief description of the plant, that would be one thing. However, the first big section of the book discusses the history of the hosta and the species and such, so it is filled with information from a North American point of view. Canada included, you know. It was so fascinating, that I read that entire front section, then read down the index in the back.....really fine. Right now, the book is one of only a few of our book collection that is not packed up in boxes and sitting in my Teahouse waiting for a remodel from hell to begin. I have the Hostapedia and the Small Hosta Handbook kept close to hand....

It is very readable. In some places, the Zilis opinion is visible, much like Samuel Johnson's opinion was visible in his Dictionary....and I found that interesting.

Online I use the MYHOSTAS.BE website, the AHS Registry somewhat, and the multitudinous resources available at the HostaLibrary.org, plus a few other specialized sites. Holding a book engages all my senses--the touch of the paper, the visual impact of the page, the smell of paper and ink, and the sound of pages turning. Well, maybe not the TASTE of the book......:)

If you can wait for Christmas to get the book, I think that is a fine arrangement. Folks like to get something you really want, and if you really want this, they will be pleased to know their gift is appreciated. So wait for Christmas, don't get it now.

I have two of them. One is coffee stained, the other is on the coffee table.

Unfortunately, Mark hadn't signed either one. I'll have to lug it to the meeting next time he is over to speak ...

My copy of the handbook is signed.

I find it enjoyable salivation material in the winter, although it is nigh impossible to "curl up" with it.

^_^ --~

dave

Thank you all for your replies. You have provided much information for thought.

Idiothe, thank you for sharing the names of your most important hosta books. (The Schmid book you were talking about is called "The Genus Hosta" I think?) Also thank you for listing your favorite hosta information sites. I have only recently been browsing at the Hosta Registry. It is there that I found out that I had a mislabeled hosta. The hosta sport library---is that myhostas.be that moccasinlanding mentioned as a good information source? Your wealth of information is unbelievable! Also, I can see what you mean when you said that Zilis went through a lot in order for the book to be published. I could understand if he didn't want to undertake such a thing again.

Melissa, I am "hungry for info" so I think I should purchase the book too.

Moccasinlanding, I am considering all the information you have provided. You mention that Zilis' opinion is visible in the book. I like that.

Dave---two Hostapedia!---wow. Want to sell one? LOL!

Just wondering, anyone know:

The Schmid Book mentioned by idiothe = The Genus Hosta?

The Hosta Sport Library = myhostas.be?

I say buy it. The information in it is very detailed and great to have. Yes, with all of the new hostas coming out, it is a little out dated. I have not heard of an update being done. However if you belong to the American Hosta Society, each year you get a complete list, with info, of the year's new registrations. I keep those close to my Hostapedia.

If somebody were to gift it to me, I would be very happy to have it. But buy it? Probably not, for me. I can buy a lot of hostas for the price of that book, and I have several other references that I do use. Besides, there is all that info on the internet, and I can look up most anything I need to know.

But if it is in your budget, go for it. I'm sure you won't regret it.

Sandy

a lot of good answers already

some of us in zone 4 like! the Brit books

hh

Newhostalady, the link below will take you to the website called myhostas.be

They have quite a few features, the most interesting for me is the HOSTA SPORTS. The other part you can type in the name of a hosta, and it will give you the info culled from nursery catalogs, maybe from AHS registry, cannot verify that though, and then on the side a running list (with links where applicable) to the sports and the hybrids credited to that hosta. It is grrrrreatttt.

With the sports section, you begin with a list of hosta which have sports, alphabetically listed, and the number of sports is in parentheses after the name. Click on the name and go to the expanded "family tree". The further UP the family tree you go, the more generations are shown. For instance, begin with plantaginea for all the sports in that species.

Looking up the same named hosta in the NAMES SEARCH, you will find there all the progeny-- the hybrids, as well as the sports.

Don't know about the Schmid book. I usually read the hosta info on the HostaLibrary.org site where he is publishing his updates to species and such. I"d like to see it in print, but that is a costly process with not so much additional benefit.

Here is a link that might be useful: MyHostas Index of Sports

Thanks for your opinions. It is great to hear what others think before I make an investment.

Thanks Moccasinlanding for the link and giving me info on what I could find there. The site looks really good. I appreciate your detail. I can practically even "feel" your hosta passion come through the internet.

Ahhh, you're welcome NHL. It took me a long time to figure out that on most of the Hosta Library photo pages, there is that little LINK in the upper left of each hosta's page. Duhhhhh, it takes me right to its description in MyHostas.be website.
Very helpful.

Bump for Esther!!!

It doesn't bother me that it's dated only a few years. It doesn't bother me that it's huge and substantial. Giant I've been able to skim through thehostapedia personally;, much great hosta info, many many wonderful pictures. A big big book created by a man stricken with a lifelong obsession of hostaholism. It costs, what, 75-80 bucks...WIN-WIN IMO

...I already know I'm getting one for Christmas, Woopeee!! If I'd have been unable to have one swung my way as a gift, I'd buy it, just as happily...

NHL, it's awesome, and I'd buy it...(I still love big big books... when I was a young boy who loved to read encyclopedias, I always loved the books 3/4 my size that were full of Pure Knowledge....Hostapedia is Nostalgic in it's format... yet a massive mound of info regarding my plants of my current passion...

...Just me...I'd buy it Peeps...If it were MIA under the tree on Dec. 25th...But it'll be there.....Zzzzz....