2012 Hosta of the Year Nominations

Aardvark Alex Summers
Atlantis
Blue Hawaii
Blue Mammoth
Cameo
Deep Blue Sea
Fantasy Island
Gentle Giant
Ginsu Knife
Guardian Angel
Indigo
Journey's End
Leading Lady
Liberty
Mango Tango
Marilyn Monroe
Millennium
Nate The Great
Orange Marmalade
Pandora's Box
Rainforest Sunrise
Stitch In Time
Sum Of All
Titanic
Touch Of Class
Victory
War Paint
Whirlwind

Which one would you pick off this list? I personally, would pick Atlantis, it's such a beauty and a great grower. See pic above.

Worldless Wednesday - Late Fall

How to Collect Hosta Seeds

First I start by labeling some paper envelopes with the names of the hosta I am collecting seeds from and the year. I don't use plastic bags because the seeds still have some moisture in them, and if you put them in sealed plastic bags they will mold and rot.

This is what hosta seed pods will look like when the seeds are ripe and ready for harvesting.

This is how ripe hosta seeds look. If you shake the hosta seed pods, the seeds should fall out.

Seeds gathered from my hosta 'Dragon Lady'.

Hosta Seed Tips

• Hosta do not come true from seed, meaning if you plant a hosta seed it will more than likely not look like the parent plant.
• A green hosta will more than likely produce a green hosta. There is a 1 in 100 chance that a green hosta seed will produce a gold, variegated, or depending on what it was was pollenated with a blue hosta.
• Blue hosta seeds may result in blue, green, or gold hostas.
• Seeds from a streaked hosta may give you streaked hosta babies.
• hosta 'Ventricosa' is one of the only hosta that comes true from seed.
• Hosta seeds should be stored in a cool, dry place once they are gathered. I sometimes keep them in paper envelopes in my unheated garage or the refrigerator.
• You can start hosta seeds indoors. I usually do this around January. I start by putting them in damp paper towel placed in a ziploc bag. Label bag and put it in a warm, dark place (like on top of refrigerator). Once the seeds start to sprout I place them in small cells of sterile soil with a plant light. You can skip the ziploc bag part, but I like to do it so I know which seeds are fertile.
• You can also winter sow hosta. I wash out plastic water/soda bottles and cut them almost in half in the middle. I drill small holes in the bottom of the bottle. I then fill a portion of the bottom with sterile soil and place some hosta seeds in the soil. Lightly dampen the soil. Duct tape the bottle back together where you had cut it almost in half. Take the cap off the bottle (so rain and snow can get inside of bottle), and then place outside in a sunny location. I usually place the bottles outside in January/February/March. The bottle acts as a miniature green house, and as the weather starts to warm up the seeds should germinate.

Would you like to try to start some hosta from seed? The first 5 people to email me (see view my complete profile) and send me a self-addressed stamped mailer will receive hosta seeds from my garden.

Worldless Wednesday -Bring your rake!

Why are there so many variety of hosta?

Tonight we had a friend over for dinner, he is a regular at our house on Tuesday nights. He glanced over and saw my Hostapedia sitting on one our end tables. At first he asked me if it was a joke, but when he realized it was the real deal he glanced again at it. For those who don't know, the Hostapedia is 1125 pages long and weighs a little over 12 pounds. It's huge, and I'm surprised my end table hasn't collapsed under the shear girth of it. After his laughter cleared over my owning a Hostapedia he asked me a really good question. He asked me why there were so many varieties of hosta compared to other plants. I'm sure he doesn't know or care that daylily varieties are also numerous (and I'm sure other plants), but it also really made me think. Why is it that there are so many varieties of hosta? I am not a scientist, I am just a home gardener (with a hosta addiction). But here are some of the reasons why I think there are so many varieties of hosta.

1. Hosta do not come true from seed, so if you plant a hosta seed, it will likely not look like it's parent plant. So hostas create their own different varieties without human help.
2. Humans step in and purposely cross pollenate flowers to try to create new breeds of hosta. Even though you never know what you will get when you cross pollenate, it's easy to do.
3. Hostas will create their own sports.
4. The science of using tissue cultures to create even more new, unusual hosta varieties has progressed far over time.
5. Hostas are a very popular and easy to grow plant, therefore there are lots of collectors always looking for new varieties.

I know I am overlooking some obvious reasons, so why do you think there are so many varieties of hosta?

Even small trees are beautiful in fall

Today I took a peek in the backyard. I wanted to see just how many leaves have fallen in the last couple of days. It had been raining on and off for days, and I figured (and was right) that quite a few leaves would have been knocked down by the rain. However, it wasn't all the leaves that caught my eyes...it was this bright red pop of color amongst all the yellows of fall. There amid the hostas lies a Japanese maple. When I think of fall, I think of all the large maples and their beautiful hues or orange, yellow, and red. However, I forget that my little Japanese maple puts on a beautiful fall display of color that far outweighs some of the large trees. So what beautiful surprises have you found in fall?

Worldless Wednesday