Hosta La Vida Loca - The Emails Are Arriving

Touch of Class Hosta - loves shade.

I was telling Mrs. Ichabod about my gardening plans. She said, "Don't go crazy." However, she suggested setting up the sitting area on the porch, to view the roses with our friend and neighbor.

One speaker at an LCA conference told me about running into the Hosta Society's gathering. That was my first alert about gardening fanaticism.

Today, Wayside Gardens (Southern, speciality gardening) sent me an email about hostas. I never cared for the ordinary ones, but now they have tetraploid (double DNA) plants that are much hardier and showier at the same time.

Dancing Queen Hosta - for contrast.

You can see how they tempt us. Each plant is $20. They will spread, but why not start out big? That is quite a price to pay for a plant that has insignificant blooms. Hosta likes shade, so they are better than a bunch of ferns or that hideous bishop's weed, often called Snow-on-the-Mountain, the most deceptive name since Tree of Paradise, the Chinese garbage tree that stinks and spreads.

Another answer to partial shade is Gruss an Aachen rose.

Gruss an Aachen Rose - blooms in the shade.

I grew this rose in the periwinkle (shade-loving) patch in Midland. The rose bloomed in fairly deep shade. It is especially beautiful and productive in the sun. What would a rosarian do - plunk down $20 for a bleached hosta or $30 for a rose that will boom and make people say, "How did you do that?"

Another question easily answered - "Would you rather have a dozen hosta leaves or six roses?"

My current solution to the area under the maple is - two Touch of Class hostas, several roses, and periwinkle for ground cover. I have to use circumvallation to contain the soil needed for the maple tree re-development zone. That requires 30 feet of something to fence in the soil, plus bags of used mushroom compost for the plants.

My neighbor has a long-handled pruning saw, so I am eyeballing how much more of the maple I can trim to get sunlight into the front yard. That goes double in the backyard, where I once had to duck to mow the grass. More pruning will mean better plants, although it will be hard on the moss.

I have a dead tree in the backyard. I use the branches to store hose over the winter. Next winter it will probably carry some suet as well.

Fragrant Cloud is a world-wide favorite for its perfume.