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altheatime

My "winning" order from In the Country Gardens!

altheatime
9 years ago

A while back I won a Facebook photo contest after a lovely visit to In the Country Gardens and Gifts, and my order arrived today! I used my winnings, and some extras just jumped into my shopping cart :-) Such beautiful, vibrant, healthy plants! Thanks to all I've learned from you all, I wrote their names on a leaf with a Sharpie, tied the leaves together and they're getting a good soak.

Heartfelt thanks to Josh Spece and his wonderful family!

I got:

Irish Luck
Kiwi Full Monty
Joy Ride
Blushing Blue
Raucous Ruffles

Comments (24)

  • BungalowMonkeys
    9 years ago

    Very nice picks! Have my eye on Raucous Ruffles and Irish Luck. Never thought about the spaghetti pot to soak the roots in. Will have to try that next time. It's the perfect height to keep them from falling over and out. I've tried large beer mugs, and tupperware, not happy with either.

  • altheatime
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks- it was a tough decision- hard to narrow it down! Oh well, there's always next year :-)

    And the pot did seem to work better than the bucket I usually use - they fit in nicely!

  • User
    9 years ago

    I just planted an Irish Luck I got in June from (I think) Land of Giants. I like it - shows the curly edges early. I don't know when it's supposed to bloom, but mine is blooming now in August.

  • altheatime
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Hi Thistle! Is your Irish Luck fragrant? Glad you like it. I'm really getting into the ruffled and curly edges ones!

  • DelawareDonna
    9 years ago

    Your gonna love Raucous Ruffles. Here is my first year plant. Already starting to say "look my way."

    DD{{gwi:1078578}}

  • altheatime
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Wow, DD, that's gorgeous, and just a year old!! I can't wait!

  • User
    9 years ago

    Hi :)
    I don't think it's supposed to be fragrant, but I could be wrong. I *thought* it was supposed to bloom mid-summer. However, mine is new and it's been a WEIRD summer - cool with just a few scorching days then back to cool. So my entire garden is just confused! I have other hostas that are trying to grow new leaves even. I chalked up the August bloom to new planting and weather confusion.
    Oh, by the way - In the Country is just up the road from me a few miles. Glad you got a great prize order from them. :)

    This post was edited by ThistleAndMaize on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 17:25

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago

    Irish Luck "should" be fragrant. It's a seedling of Invincible, which is considered fragrant (not very at my house).

    bk

  • altheatime
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Wow, Thistle, how lucky you are- what a beautiful area - and great hosta growing country! Do you get to visit them often?

  • altheatime
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Interesting, BK- it'll be interesting to see how it does in my area

  • mac48025 ( SE michigan)
    9 years ago

    Irish Luck and Raucous Ruffles are new for me this year and I have high expectations for them. I've had Kiwi Full Monty a couple of years now and like most hosta's it just gets better every year. Sort of like me. Just agree with me, someone has to!

    Enjoy your hosta's allthetime. How can you not with such a selection ?

    Kiwi Full Monty

  • gardenweed_z6a
    9 years ago

    Congrats on your winnings!

    I've had Kiwi Full Monty a number of years and have twice divided it as it outgrew the space I originally gave it. Most of the divisions found new homes with friends and family the first time and this year I "repurposed" them around the base of a large, mature oak tree. Mine came from O'Brien Hosta in Granby, CT along with Gold Standard, Captain Kirk, El Nino, Middle Ridge and a few others.

  • altheatime
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the great photo, Mac- love it! I've no doubt that you keep getting better, too! I'm sure the gardening is keeping us young!

    Gardenweed, glad to hear Kiwi's a good grower! Sounds like you got a really nice selection!

  • don_in_colorado
    9 years ago

    I think Irish Luck is a medium hosta...Unless they are grown in certain gardens in Michigan.

    This is from Don Rawson's garden; Don's lovely wife is the human scale object, intended to show true size in a photograph.

    This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Thu, Aug 28, 14 at 22:22

  • BungalowMonkeys
    9 years ago

    Wow, that is a huge awesome hosta! Just can't help it, this one is getting added to the last order of the year.

  • altheatime
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Holy smokes, I need to rethink my location :-)

  • User
    9 years ago

    Oh boy, you have some winners in your spaghetti pot tonight!
    I have Irish Luck and Kiwi Full Monty, both growing nicely here.

    Irish Luck is one of my favorites. I never realized its glossy leaf came from Invincible. The leaves have a rounder shape to them with so many ruffles on the edges, and it is a good looker.
    It may be a greenie but it is not a bashful hosta--you cannot help but notice it.

    Here is mine. In 2013 and in 2014, it bloomed in July at my house; it set a few seedpods this year. I got it in 2012. Shown beside Fragrant Gold in April 2014. I love the play of the two colors.

    And Kiwi Full Monty is in its 2nd year here. I really like it, but the structure of the plant is much more open and loose than say Gypsy Rose or Hanky Panky. When you place it in a bed, you might consider that is the way it grows. Taken a couple of weeks ago, next to Gypsy Rose, tucked beneath its arching petioles. I don't know if Kiwi Full Monty will continue this way, I'm judging by 2 years with it.

    Enjoy your new beauties.....
    Oh yeah. Is this your first Striptease hosta? If so, get ready for more. I started with Gypsy Rose, and next thing I know I have NINE of them! They grow nicely I think.

  • altheatime
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks so much, Moccasin- what lovely photos! Does your Irish Luck have much fragrance?

    What a stunning group- I guess next year Kiwi's going to need some companions :-). How do you recommend placing it in the garden with the "loose" structure- in the front or someplace else? I can't have anything in pots- your groups look so eye catching and harmonious.

    Thanks again!
    AT

    This post was edited by altheatime on Fri, Aug 29, 14 at 13:20

  • User
    9 years ago

    Irish Luck and Kiwi Full Monty are both listed as Mediums. But as you can tell from Don Rawson's photo of Irish Luck, it is a very vigorous medium! And, Kiwi Full Monty is also a medium, and it is vigorous too.

    Therefore, I do not know what to tell you about locating KFM. Someone else who planted Striptease near their walkway had to relocate them because they outgrew the location, overwhelming the path. I think that thread is running around on the back pages of our forum somewhere.

    My plants in pots are easily adjusted to their growth and also easily hidden when they look ragged. I can move out to prominent spots the top performers. In that respect, I am lucky. But, eventually, if things do not go right, the lump under the rug where I sweep my mistakes gets to be mountain-TALL. :)

    Do you have ideas where it will go? Fill the bed as you intended and wait for KFM to make its move. Either it likes where you put it and grows like a demon, or it pouts and you move it. Personally, it has grown nicely for me with never a time it did not look good. I'm very pleased with all my Striptease family.

    Another one, as you can see in the family photo I posted above, that grows similar to KFM with that loose open look, is Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. Whether the two remain similar in form as they grow, only time will tell for me....Maybe I can cheat by checking photos of mature plants, eh....(only problem being, no mature YPDB is in the library photos).

  • mac48025 ( SE michigan)
    9 years ago

    Don, are you saying the Rawson garden is in Michigan? It's gorgeous and I'd love to see it in person.....if possible. My Irish Luck is just two divisions but they are large divisions from LOTG and I hope it's not long before it starts approaching Rawsons beauty. Now I just need to plant Rainbows End next to my Irish Luck and I'm bound to find a pot of gold. That's how it works. Right?

  • altheatime
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks so much, Moccasin! Is Irish Luck fragrant in your garden?

    Here's what convinced me to get Kiwi- I took this photo when visiting In the Country Gardens.

  • User
    9 years ago

    Oh yes! That is a gorgeous KFMonty! And it does look more relaxed and open as an adult too.

    Irish Luck has a light spicy fragrance. I may not catch it at the right hour. The blooms are not large ones such as Mama P. produces, maybe 2 inch. It is tinged with lavender in the bud stage, almost white when open. This 2012 picture shows it in bloom in July, which is when it bloomed this year too. It is like a teenager in the awkward stage in this picture, no polish, hasn't developed its ripples nor mature shape.

  • altheatime
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks again, Moccasin!

    I'm glad it's fragrant. Yours is lovely even in the teenage stage! You've inspired me to add more fragrant ones, and I'm becoming more aware of how to savor ones I already have.

    Love your very organized labeling system!

    Are you a writer- your words paint such vivid pictures!

  • User
    9 years ago

    I seek to communicate, Althea, and in that respect I am a writer. Not professionally, but emotionally I am that. How else to share what I observe and think regarding my garden?

    It is rewarding to share with folks who appreciate what I describe. Thank you.

    "Man cannot live by bread alone....he must have peanut butter."
    .--James A. Garfield*
    *NOTE: credited to this President sometimes, but peanut butter was not invented in his time. The first appearance of this quote was mentioned here---

    16 December 1964, Cumberland (MD) Evening Times, âÂÂSomething Extra,â pg. 10, col. 3:
    ST. LOUIS, MO. (AP)�"A sign in a local supermarket proclaims: âÂÂman cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter, 79 cents a jar.âÂÂ

    A great marketing strategy immortalized....I read it in Pogo Possum when I was a youngster reading the comics.