mac: Love your curvy pathway and all the Heucheras. Not to mention the beautiful hosta. I'm not exactly SE Michigan but I am just outside of Windsor - across from Detroit in Ontario. I think that kinda makes us neighbours. Please post more pics of your garden.
Barb

Hello neighbor barb. Just across the river, eh ? Thanks for the kind words. Here's another pic. Feel free to add any of yours.

It is raining cats and dogs here right now but I will have to get out soon and take some pics of my yard. That is an impressive Sum & Substance?. I see a few of my favourites in your garden. I hope my fills in like that in a few years.

LOTS of rain today. Most of my hosta's are less than 3 years old. The big S&S is 6 years old though.

get this....

i have an adrian mailing address.. the real SE MI ...

i am so south and east ... that i can spit on OH to the south.. and lake erie to the east.. presuming proper winds.. lol ...

ken

Mac, you have a beautifully designed hosta garden...love the curvy pathway, the well sited rocks, the variety in height of plant material...and of course your happy looking hostas, small,medium and large, growing in perfect harmony.

Thanks irawon. The garden is still young but I'm liking how it's starting to fill in. Many of my hosta's won't come into their own for a couple of years, but its fun watching them develop. With a degree in horticulture, 30 years experience in the landscape industry and most importantly 20 years of being an avid gardener I've had a lot of exposure to many different plants and hosta's are by far my favorite. As much as I enjoy sharing my garden here I'm enjoying seeing everyone else's even more!

Mac, I was going to ask whether you were in the landscaping business...your garden looks so professional.
Just beautiful. Thanks for explaining your background.

Too beautiful to say the least

Gorgeous property, Mac.

Don B.

Okay Mac ,you asked for photos. This one shows why my garden is a little different than probably anyone else's on this forum - and sadly it is not because of my beautiful hostas :(

Here is a garden shot.

Hey barb, your pterodactyl puts my hosta t-Rex and Jurassic Park to shame! Thanks for sharing and how do I get one of those pterodactyl's?!!!

Hubs is a welder and a very cteative guy and built him out of a garden shovel, a cultivator, propane tank, PIC axe etc. We had to cut down a tree that was constantly raining debris into the pool so DH put the pterodactyl on top of the tree stump. The kids and their friends oved it. We also have a dinosaur guarding a garden path. Now I guess I really should get some Jurassic park themed hosta.!

As Ken says, he's in SE Michigan (Adrian). Would you please visit him with your camera and take a photo of his Empress Wu with yellow leaves?

-Babka

Ken is getting grief on two threads for not having a pic of his yellow empress wu! Next time I go to visit Jackson to visit my friend tom schmid ( who introduced the wonderful hosta 'tom Schmid') I'd be more than happy to visit ken if he allowed.

some beautiful hosta gardens here! lesley

I think a Jurassic Park prehistoric world garden would be fantastic. You have children, don't you, so this could perhaps lead them into the world of gardening. Involve the whole family, even DH might make his welded sculptures for other hosta names....Thunderbolt, King of Spades, ....garden ART is more precious when it is original.

Barb, you could create the perfect Jurassic Park with your great dinosaur sculptures emerging from giant hosta's and ferns and maybe some big tropical plants. Maybe something like this.....one of your hubby's creations would be right at home here.

Can you please tell me which purple heucheras are in the first picture? I think heucheras in general, and purple ones in particular, could come to rival hostas for usefulness for variety in colour and size, plus sun tolerance if the breeders would put more emphasis on increasing leaf size I planted a 'Magnum' this spring, which is supposed to get leaves up to 10". Unfortunately the leaves also are supposed to get the silver overlay and I prefer the more intense purple like the ones in your picture.

There are two types actually. Obsidian is solid deep black purple. Midnight rose is deep purple with magenta specks. I'll take close up pics of each tomorrow.

Mac: Hadn't thought of putting him amidst the hostas. I have had no success with ferns but I can try again. Where the dinosaur is right now is under trees and it is so dry and filled with roots that no perennials will grow. I may try some container gardening there. But maybe we will move the dinosaur.

Woodyoak: I just planted Heuchera Fire Alarm. It is a gorgeous shade of red and the leaves are quite large. And I have it in full sun. I have read that the darker colours do better in the sun.

Mac - Midnight Rose is my favourite purple heuchera! The Obsidian I tried a few years ago faded away - I think it actually needed more sun. I've planted two 'Coco' in the past month - they are a sort of dwarf Obsidian. I put one in full sun and one in part shade under the Chinese wisteria 'tree'. Both are doing well so far. I've been getting 'into' heucheras for sun, using them somewhat like hostas in the shade garden.

I'm not familiar with Fire Alarm so will have to look that one up.

Mocc: quite agree, garden art is more precious when original. My 'boys' are now young men. One has been in CA working for Google for a year. The older one is still at home but if he gets a permanent job when his contract expires he would like to buy a house. And he has taken an interest in gardening so I'm sure I will be dividing my precious Hosta for him sometime in the future. Who could turn down free plants right?

Wow, with that pterodactyl, who needs a scarecrow or a plastic owl?? I need one of those to keep the herons away from my pond!

That's pretty cool, I sense a H. 'T-Rex' or H. 'Dino' in your garden's future...

Don B.

P.S. I really like your house, Barb. The area in the pic looks awesome.

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Thu, Aug 14, 14 at 3:20

Woodyoak: Here is my Fire Alarm Heuchera. Only been in the ground maybe 6 weeks and already just about doubled in size with all the new leaves that have come up. The new ones are a beautiful red. The older leaves got a little sunburned and are more orange or faded green. So it seems a really good grower. The pic doesn't do it justice - much redder in person too.

HforBarb, when you get another family member interested in hosta, it is like having another gardening space to "spread the glory"....like my DH's daughter in NHampshire bought a new condo, never interested in gardening before, even put out artificial flowers like poinsettia for winter, but her neighbor has a glorious hosta garden, and now SHE SEES THE LIGHT. I look forward to sending the hostas to her in the spring. Might have to go plant them in May if I can stand being away from mine.

Great heuchera barb. I like using heuchera with hosta. Citronelle is one of my favs but it cant much sun

Do you propagate them yourself - or have a cheap source for buying in volume?!

Oh Mac, I just love the peeks you are giving us of you yard. It is phenomenal. Looks like a really pretty neighbourhood too.

I have tried potting up shoots from my established Heuchera and so far I have met with success this year. I guess next year will tell. I have a lot of large pots around my pool that I plant up each year and I put a Heuchera in each one amongst the other annuals and spikes. Pop them in the ground come the fall and then I can use them again ext year. It is called stretching my gardening budget but I also really love them. And then there is more money for Hosta. Yay. And I think I will be trying berry smoothy and mahogany next year

Heucheras are so popular there is a whole forum dedicated to them. I recognize many hostaholic names there.

-Babka

Here is a link that might be useful: Heuchera Forum on Garden Web

As a landscape contractor I can plants wholesale woodyoak. I love going through blocks of hosta's of 300-500 per variety looking for sports.

Thanks barb, you're too kind. One can't live by hosta's alone so here's part of my butterfly garden.

You're so right babka. There are so many new varieties of heuchera's coming out and I think they are great companion plants to hosta's. There are some really nice heuchera's but hosta's will always be king for me!

Mac, it's a pleasure having you on the forum. Your gardens are beautiful and bountiful! I recognize many perennials that I also grow. I just spotted your Green Jewel echinacea :-). Please keep the pictures coming...it's like visiting with old friends! Thank you for sharing with us.

Jo

What awesome gardens! I'm from SE Michigan too.

Thanks so much for the kind words and welcome Jo. You have a keen eye as I have quite a few echinacea green jewel. I like many of the new coneflowers but I've found that many aren't vigorous so I hope green jewel is. It's been a treat finding this forum. While I have a degree on horticulture and over 30 years experience in the landscape industry I've gained more information and inspiration from the everyday gardener than anything else. To me the most important quality to have to create a beautiful garden isn't
education or training, it's passion and this forum is full of people with passion for gardening in general and hosta's specifically. If only my wife would think of me as passionate instead of crazy!

Hello neighbor Ruth. It would be fun organizing a hosta/garden tour of people from this forum in the Detroit area. If anyone is interested please let me know. Thanks.

So beautiful. I'm sure your local hosta society would love to have a walk thru your gardens.

I'm so envious with my very small suburban yard and zero hosta societies in all of California.

-Babka

Here is a link that might be useful: Michigan Hosta Society Detroit area

Wow, what a great pond!! I'm gonna have to send my (2) koi to live with you in a couple seasons.

Don B.

Thanks babka. I just have a small suburban lot ( 80x125) but I don't have any lawn. Luckily there is a good hosta society here but I haven't had them out here yet as the garden is only 4 years old and a lot of my hosta's are small. Plus I don't have my hosta's tagged yet.

Thanks Don. My koi come second only to hosta's as my most prized garden possessions.

Here's an overall shot of the front so that you can see it's not a large property.

Wow mac, you had me fooled. I thought you lived on an estate or plantation! I guess you must be really good with the camera too. This gives me hope - my lot is 75x150 but my hubby likes his lawn so it has to stay LOL.
I think you have a fabulous property and I'm sure your hosta society members would think so too. Big or small I just love looking at Hosta in someone else's garden. It is also about composition, height, colour combos etc. and you have done all of that quite well!
If you get enough of a response to do a SE MI tour for forum members I would love to see the gardens. Honestly my place would not be worth the extra 30 minutes from the bridge. Maybe in a few years ..... We have a pool in the back and it takes up a lot or prime real estate.

"As Ken says, he's in SE Michigan (Adrian). Would you please visit him with your camera and take a photo of his Empress Wu with yellow leaves?"
-Babka

LOL I just fell outta my freakin' chair!!!

Don B.

Thanks Barb. Should you ever be in the Detroit area and want to see some of the areas finest gardens, let me know. I have friends with palatial homes and properties that far surpass my humble homestead. It's fun being on garden tours with their gardens as most people can relate more to my small surroundings. Having been at this home just four years I look forward to getting back on the garden tour circuit when I'm done doing/re-doing my garden. I use my iPhone to take the pics so they only show a small portion at a time so the number of pics might portray a larger property. A pool in your backyard? Sounds like a future pond to me! The pic attached here shows almost half my backyard but much of its blocked by plants.

LOL Don. Didn't you see Kens thread with his pics of his yellow Wu's? Yes, they exist. And yes, I want one! Maybe he'd take an eye of a Gunthers Prize as a trade?

Paparazzi in the hosta garden? Oh wow! I think this will hit all the entertainment channel news. Top of the morning news in the garden.

This post was edited by moccasinlanding on Sat, Aug 16, 14 at 14:17

Mac, My husband just had a truck load of gravel delivered to put around our new driveway and everywhere else, if I'd let him. He thinks it's a great substitute for grass ????

I printed your pictures to show him the garden paths. We're on 1/3 acre in town, with desperate need of landscaping in the back ... 9 oaks (7 in the front yard) and 25 other misc trees. I'm thinking he will love your design ... I hope so, because I think it could be a good compromise for us. I love it ... so not much of a compromise for me ;)

Sounds like my wife. Making "compromises " that always result in her getting what she wanted in the first place! Gravel paths are great for ease of installation and maintenance, looks and the sound they make as you walk. I use a 3/8" to fines crushed gravel, sometimes referred to as decomposed granite as it packs tightly.....unlike pea gravel which rolls around like ball bearings. Have fun with your "compromise".

Very nicely put-together property, Mac. If you hadn't fessed up, I would have thought it was much larger than it is. If I had known about hostas nine years ago, I would have purchased a bigger backyard. : ) We all do what we can, though.

This is the South side of my backyard, taken today. I'll have to do a little rearranging in the future, but until then, WOO-HOO!!

Looks great Don. As you know it's only going to get better with time as your hosta's mature. My side yard is similar with nice hosta's that will need to be moved as they grow.

Well, mac, here's the problem with touring a bunch of our SE MI gardens. :-) I don't know about everybody else, but after your garden, mine would be one very big yawn. Seriously, yours is absolutely stunning. I'd love to visit it sometime if you open it to gardenweb visitors.

Do I see bananas in your backyard? If so, do you cover or take them in during winter?

Hostas_for_Barb, if you're still reading, I think that dinosaur is so unique and cool.