Garden thread

AnnPT77 wrote: »

moonangel12 wrote: »

How have I never heard of mini hostas? Maybe I have seen them and just not realized what they were...

Reviving this old sub-thread, and begging your collective indulgence, because hostas really are not food.

Why revive? Because I couldn't find photos when the subject came up, but the the minis are nearing their regular mature size, so I took some photos to share now. (I still don't remember the variety names; they're lost somewhere in my planting records). I have a few others, but this is a sample. If you want minis, and look at the tags on smaller-looking plants at bigger, more diverse nurseries to find the full-grown size designations, you can find some. The strappy-leaved one, I admit, is a little borderline for mini status, but it's still not big, plus kind of interestingly grass-like for a hosta (I have a sedge that looks remarkably similar . . . until they flower, of course ). I particularly like the little green-edged one with white central splashes; it grows in nice little bunchy clusters. (The pinkish splorches here and there on all of them are fallen double cherry blossoms.)

Thank you @AnnPT77 for reviving, and the added pic @earlnabby! Those are so fun!! I love anything variegated so those white centered ones would definitely come home with me if I found them somewhere!

I have never had shade to grow in so this is my first time with hostas (ones the previous owners had planted)... I have several colors, and one that even makes it in the full sun! I dug some of the roots out this winter because the pot was getting too crowded, tossed them under a bush to replant “later” and forgot about them until I was mowing earlier this spring - the bare root balls were growing! I gave my father in law a chink of them last year because he was talking about wanting hostas in this one area but they always die because of too much sun (central N.C.) - the ones I gave him came back this year! He was excited 😊

I probably need to thin some out later on, they are starting to crowd out other plants in the beds...

My garden isn't nearly as pretty; I don't have an eye for landscaping, I'm afraid, but I still love to plant!

Since winter FINALLY decided to go away, I was able to get my plants out - I grew broccoli, brussel sprouts, egg plants, various squashes, cabbages, and peppers from seed, along with tomatoes for my mother. The squashes didn't do well - except for my one lone heirloom banana squash (thank goodness!) and the argonaut butternut squash plants. I've tried for several years to grow butternuts and never got anything as the plants would just sit, so I'm very happy with how quickly this kind is growing. I can grow about any other kind of squash, and I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the butternuts to grow; hopefully this year, I'll have them! And the banana squash; that sucker you only need one plant because the squash that it produces is the size of a good sized seeded watermelon; and it lasted clear to March before I finally cut it and roasted it and ended up with like 14 cups of roasted squash!

I'm especially thrilled that my six egg plants look fantastic. I grew eggplant in 2018 and loved the homegrown flavor, but my plants in 2019 took too long and were spindly, so I didn't get any last year. This year's plants are healthy and full, so I think I'll get all the eggplant I want and then some this year!

Last year I learned a hard lesson - I used the Black Cow compost from Lowe's to top off my garden boxes, and everything was spindly and small and just didn't do well. This year, a farmer near my brother was giving away the seasoned manure from his horse barn, and my brother got there late so he actually got the well seasoned stuff from last year (even better). I got 5 buckets from my brother to top off my garden boxes, so I'm hoping this will boost my plants this year. I also have fertilizer to build into the soil as well.

The only thing I haven't planted yet besides my herbs is my parsnips. I found last year that I had to pre-germinate them to get them to grow, but all I had was last year's seed and I've heard that parsnips seed doesn't do well when its more than a year old, but I put my old seed in wet paper towels in a bowl anyway to see what I could get, and I'm very pleased to find that I already have a few starting to germinate. The only problem is I'm going on vacation next week and won't be back until Saturday, so I don't know whether to go ahead and put my seed in and hope for the best, or wait until I get back!

@AnnPT77 there is a phone app called plant net, its free, but you snap a photo of the plant, be it leafs/flowers etc, and it looks globally for them and identifies them I used it this weekend on one of my shrubs and found out its actually super invasive lol!

The hostas with the white are super hardy- the survive in our zone 2 area. I cant remember what they are, but this app should find it for you. If it comes to me Ill let you know- I actually want to buy two so if you havent found out by this coming weekend I will let you know!



@la_nanita I love your front flower bed !

@mbaker566 - can you let me know how you like the trimmer? We are looking into that one for our massive hedge.

i like it. i charged it last night and got about 30 min out of it. but i did not get the whole yard done. but i let it go pretty wild. got about 3/4s done. but it charges in an hour. so do some, take a break, go again.
not super powerful but for basic urban trimming it's not bad. they had more powerful trimmers but this was about 70 dollars or so and all i really needed. good reviews. decent company. easy to assemble.
bought at home depot here

mbaker566 wrote: »

i'm not a huge fan of hostas but do like the mouse ears and fire and ice varieties

It is funny because I am not a fan of hosta either. Many years ago I spent the day with my hiking club walking the Chicago Botanical Gardens. We timed it so we could finish up at a cooking demo and, when walking into the demo area, I saw this tiny plant and immediately fell in love. I had no idea it was a hosta until I looked at the ID sign. One of the docents said it was a brand new variety called Mouse Ears so this must have been 2008 or so which is when it first became available. BTW, the demo was for a tomato dish and we were all given a tomato plant as we left.

Fast forward 9 years and I moved into my condo with a small garden space and the first thing I bought to plant was 2 of the Mouse Ear hostas. I have no other hosta and don't plan on adding any.

The honeysuckle is just on the verge of blooming. Honeysuckle is an interesting plant. It grows with slightly elongated leaves, then when it is going to bloom, it has this pair of lily pad looking leaves just before the blossom cluster. I have lots of clusters all over it. This is its 3rd summer so it will be blooming like crazy for many years to come. I had no blooms the first year, a few last year, and now it is mature enough to go nuts.



My Forget Me Nots are the first thing to bloom in spring and the last to bloom in fall. They are my favorite flower and fit perfectly in the 8" strip between the A/C and the sidewalk.

I love forget-me-nots! And bleeding hearts. Both come very well where I've got them planted.

carakirkey wrote: »

@ReenieHJ @earlnabby I've discovered why forget me nots are called such. The seeds have coarse hairs on them and stick to you like burrs. Reminding you to not forget those flowers!

Do you have a microscope with high enough power to see the hairs? I never looked at them that close. When I first seeded these, I needed a magnifying glass just to see the seeds since they are so tiny.