OK folks, my garden is full. Not many places that I COULD expand and to expand more would be detrimental to the resale value of my home unless I found another gardener.
SO, if I add more, something's got to go. I have some good ideas of which hostas I'm willing to give up to make space for new ones, but I wondered what YOU would give up in the same situation.
I'm asking first. I'll weigh in with pics of the losers later - they are on my other computer.
Ann
Hmm - some of the plain green self-seeded plants that I use for fill-ins. 'Spilled Milk' was a dud for me - only markings were on a small off-shoot. Although the markings on 'Janet' are nice, I get some off-shoots that revert to solid green. 'Witch's Brew' was a weak plant that has dwindled away to almost nothing. I have a yellow one - can't remember which one it is - scorches every year as does 'Frances Williams'. Those would be my candidates.
I am ready to get rid of Geisha, (aka Ani Machi). It is kinda pretty when it first emerges but then it just keeps getting uglier as it gets older. I have four and I am over it, they gotta go. I hate them. :(
edit to add,
They hate hot weather so not a good choice for zone 8.
This message was edited Nov 18, 2014 2:10 PM
If I had to choose which ones to get rid of, 'Christmas Pageant' and 'Lakeside Kaleidoscope' would be at the top of my list. They always get the "saw-toothed" edges, and look pretty ragged.
Definitely:
Big Daddy - doesn't grow
Blue Angel - never been impressed with it
Halcyon (just the first one) - doesn't grow
Fire Island - leaves too thin, has burned 3 years in a row and this year has lots of insect damage
Guacamole - grows great and the flowers smell nice, but I hate the way it looks all floppy
Little Patriot - eh, another small green and white
Mountain Snow - eh, another green and white with thin leaves
Night Before Christmas - hate the messy growth form, leaves sometimes split for me
Wide Brim - doesn't grow and looks blah
A few hundred of the U Albomarginata
The last 5 big U Erromena
And all the noids that I keep for no good reason
Maybe:
Aomori Select - so far it's just another green, might take it off the maybe list when I see the flowers again (was blooming purple when I got it last year)
Frances Williams - it gets spring dessication about half the time for me
Just So - hasn't done much for me yet, not sure about this one
Maraschino Cherry - just looks green and the red doesn't show up well in the petioles for me, might change my mind after it blooms this year
Minuteman - so far, I like Patriot better
Pilgrim - nice color and habit, but the thin leaves show more damage than most of my hostas
Sum and Substance - just the smallish one =) no need for duplicates
Twist of Lime - not impressed with the green on green look, am trying one division in the sun to see if it looks better
So maybe we should have a huge hosta swap late in the fall or early next spring =) Choose newbie volunteers to get the ones we don't want anymore, LOL. Who knows, they might have MUCH better luck then we have.
Edited to add that I haven't gotten rid of any of these hostas, and I don't plan to anytime soon. I'm not out of space yet, but these would be the first ones to go if I were.
This message was edited Jun 29, 2012 9:03 PM
Eleven, I am soooooo with you on big Daddy! I just bought Abiqua Drinking Gourd to try as a replacement. Big Daddy is one of the oldest in my garden and it just does. not. GROW. Everything else does, so I am blaming Big Daddy. It's pretty bad when you have it next to Little Sunspot and LS is catching up fast!!!
I gave away a few this year, but mostly because I have things that are sort of similar and like better. One was Elvis Lives- not great color and I have too many wavy ones as it is, I think. And Rootin' Tootin- I like Chain Lightning better and have better luck against the slugs with that. If it came down to giving up Stained Glass and keeping Cathedral Windows, I'd be ok with that. Nothing wrong with SG, but eventually I will have to make some choices based on space.
Oh, Paul's Glory. Gonna go live at my FIL's next year. That one just doesn't catch my eye and it's in a spot that the slugs frequent and is difficult for me to get to with my ammonia rounds.
So Ann, I'm in pretty much the same situation as you. I have been starting the culling process and will just see how things go. I've got a couple duplicates that will probably be on the chopping block at some point too.
This message was edited Jun 20, 2012 8:19 PM
Before I put my answers out there (and it might be a couple of days as I've got to make a fast trip to Calgary for a memorial service for DH's aunt (94) who died 2 weeks ago) have any of you already tried moving around some of the ones you don't like?
I was a bit surprised to see 'Fire Island' on a list as I LOVE mine. But maybe I've been lucky in where I put it - lots of morning sun and it stays yellow most of the summer.
Actually, yes, Ann. Is the pic in your first post Diana Remembered? My inlaws and their friends were here last weekend and I told my FIL Diana Remembered was up for grabs. Nothing wrong with it- it's just too slug prone. Then I happened to move it over near Stained Glass and decided it looked good there, with a good shot of morning sun. So now I am going to live with it the rest of the season ( it will get a copper collar for slugs), and then I may cut it in half and give half to my FIL and keep the other half.
No, that's 'Sweet Innocence' - a supposedly "improved" version of 'Fragrant Bouquet'. 6th year in my garden and it's doing squat.
Ann, I moved Fire island to a different bed last month, but it had already burned beyond belief in the spring sun. I hope it does better here. I wouldn't actually get rid of it for a couple years anyway. Here it is now three weeks after the move:
I don't have many slug problems here so that hasn't been a real issue for me. 'Geisha' and 'Fire Island' are keepers for me. The latter doesn't get any direct sun but still keeps the yellow color. 'Diana Remembered' is one of my faves and 'Guacamole' does okay. I like the color of 'Parhelion' but it's slightly floppy for its leaf size.
I LIKE 'Ani Machi' (aka, but incorrectly, Geisha), but find it hard to photograph as it's always moving in the breeze.
But I think 'Outhouse Delight' is a goner. There are others too, but will have to wait. I should NOT be on the computer.
This message was edited Mar 7, 2013 11:10 AM
A new edit to say the 'Ani Machi' tested positive for HVX in 2013 and was destroyed. It had probably been infected all the time I had it and the symptoms were extremely subtle - so much so that the leaf stayed in my kitchen for a couple of days before I ran the test and I was surprised to see the positive.
This message was edited Nov 29, 2014 4:37 PM
Oh dear, I never give up on ahything until it is dead (except for invasive junk I bought early in my gardening years). I have tons of green/white and white/green hostas that I just keep spreading around. Of course, if I forget about where they are, they sometimes die on their own. :-)
About Frances Williams: I tried three of these - in different sites - and they all just disappeared (not dead, vanished). Now, for some reason my last attempts appear to be quite happy. I cannot figure it out. I am happy, however to hear that others find it a pain; I always thought it was supposed to be such a star and there was something wrong with me for not being able to grow it!
I actually bought two large size FW my first year gardening and lost them both the next Spring- no idea why! I think it's popular because it's an old classic, widely available and the color combo is so nice, when there aren't dessicated areas. The dessication for me is a deal breaker, though. Too many other newer similar ones to use that don't do that.
We are still waiting on your list of losers, Ann!
I'm working on it. Becoming more apparent as I'm posting hostas by letter of the alphabet. I went out of town last week and couldn't remember which list I'd posted it on.
As far as FW is concerned, I could live w/o it. But it's in a very dark corner where virtually nothing likes to grow. So unless you can give me an alternative, it stays. Here it was June 12. I forgot to take a picture the last time I was out in the garden with a camera (I try to get them all about once a week).
Other losers - I'll post a few, but it's after lunch time and I need to go out and licence my car and myself before an afternoon appointment. And then there's that pile of mulch on my driveway ...
Unless it takes off and improves, 'Blue Ivory' is a loser in my garden. 3rd year and I'd like to see some growth.
'Cherish' of the 'Baby Bunting' family is a loser too, but it takes so little space, I'll likely keep her until she disappears altogether.
'Full Moon' is another loser. At least it didn't cost me money - was a bonus plant some years ago. Just doesn't grow much at all. I can think of better looking blues.
I gave 'Full Moon' to a friend who just wanted a blue hosta in 2013.
This message was edited Nov 29, 2014 4:39 PM
'Ginko Craig' is not really a loser. Just doesn't turn me on. I've had it a long time and used to have a full border of it, but it's being phased out.
'Gypsy Rose'. Mine is a dud. Have had it since 2009 and it's not doing anything. I know it CAN be a lovely plant - I had one which was drop-dead gorgeous - but it had HVX back in 2007.
Guess I should move this and see what happens.
This message was edited Jun 29, 2012 9:42 PM
'Island Charm' - mine keeps getting smaller and smaller and will likely disappear altogether soon.
'Lonesome Dove' - another which doesn't do anything. I think it's a goner next year.
'Moonstruck' is a prissy little thing that melts out at the slightest sun and is a slug magnet. The year I divided it in the spring, it sulked all season long. I have it in two spots to see if it does better with different light, but I doubt it. My patience with really fussy hostas is wearing thin.
Ann, my Blue ivory is the same size and age as yours. At least it's not taking up much room, lol.
I'll give it another year or two.
I for one am very glad about this compiled list of hosta duds. Will help me get over the commercial PR.
Is anyone impressed with 'Stained Glass'? Supposedly a tissue culture plant and it grows ok but the coloring just doesn't do that much for me. On a brighter note, one of my faves for several years is 'Sagae' because the very upright tall stems make such a statement to me. Also fond of 'Moonlight'.
Ann
My Cherish seems to go on the up and down cycle. Last year looked like it was a goner and this year is perking up. Not sure why.
Will get a Photo. I will have to move it as it's being pushed out by Lakeside downsized. My Island Charm looks good this year. Will get both of them on here soon
Alberta Ann
Hve just come in from the garden. Mulching. A job for the long weekend. Won't be here long as my bath is drawing.
I was going in alphabetical order the way my pics are, but I dug out one dud this evening - 'Sweet Innocence'. It's SUPPOSED to be an improved 'Fragrant Bouquet'. NOT! Mine has sat around doing nothing much for quite awhile now - I'll look up the year I got it later.
I dug it out, divided it - it pulled apart easily into 2 1-eye divisions and 1 2-eye division. I planted them in my holding bed in the back yard and I'm doing an HVX test on it, though I think it's perfectly healthy, because I want to plant my new 'Mandy Pandy' in the hole where it was. I bought 10 test strips through the Ontario Hosta Society but they have to be used in a year to be valid. At the moment I don't suspect anything in my garden of being infected, but it's nice to have the strips when you want them.
So 'Sweet Innocence' will be off to plant sales next year.
I forgot to give you the link to the photo at the top of this thread - http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=9173327 (shown last year when it looked pretty good). I'll also post a new pic of it later.
This message was edited Jun 29, 2012 8:36 PM
Here are some more.
'Obsession' - I've never been obsessed with it. Divided it all up last autumn and took most of it to the local hort. society spring sale. It's an OK green, I guess, but I think there are better ones around. I still have these two small divisions in my nursery bed and have to admit THEY look pretty good.
'Outhouse Delight'. I read somewhere a description of it as "the ugliest hosta ever". SO, why do we grow it? It's a novelty since it emerges all white. Then it gets sunburnt and the leaves shred. Doesn't grow fast. I've had mine since Spring 2007. I have a seedling from it that might be a bit bigger, but it behaves exactly the same way.
Jury is still out on 'Peace'. I've only had it a few years and the leaves are pretty, but it's sustained a lot of damage and there aren't a lot of slugs out there this year. It IS reputed to be difficult to grow. I'll give it a couple more years.
'Red Hot Flash' has red petioles and is very fertile though the seedlings so far have been hum drum green. But what a messy mound it makes! Kind of pretty when it emerges as the leaves have yellow centres, but I think it may be on the long list of possible ones to eliminate.
My 'Snow Mouse' looks like its on the way to going solid blue. I'm disenchanted with the BME family. They aren't stable at all (oh, 'Cat and Mouse' is another dud, I'll show both of them to you), and there are too many look-alikes - probably because different people registered or marketed their simultaneous sports which are essentially the same.
#1 - 'Snow Mouse'
#2 - 'Cat and Mouse' - mostly all reverted to blue with one tiny eye just opening now which was chartreuse in the middle last year.
'Stealth' - to be fair, I didn't buy this. It was originally sent to me erroneously as 'Lakeside Mom'. However, they realized there might be a problem and told me to watch it.
When new, it had some streaking, but it rapidly stabilized into this hum drum, margined plant which, as far as I've been able to determine, has not been named. In addition, it regularly sustains lots of damage from slugs and earwigs.
Here's this year's pic of 'Sweet Innocence' which I mentioned above. It was new spring 2007 and is supposed to make a 2' clump. Mine, at 4 lousy eyes wasn't even close to that. It DOES have nice fragrant flowers.
I guess I should note that something has done major munching on many of my hostas this year. You can see it in this pic and in many others if you look closely. Sandy, up the valley, found variegated cut worms in her garden, but I've not found a thing nor have I been lucky enough to catch anything in the act.
This message was edited Jun 29, 2012 9:47 PM
That finishes all the ones I presently have in my garden. Now there have been others that I've eliminated.
Did I mention 'Brim Cup'? Might have at the top of the thread. It suffers in a big way from drawstring effect and mine always looked awful half way through the season.
'Center of Attention' is another that I got rid of. Drop dead gorgeous early in the season, but it tore and then was decimated by slugs and earwigs. I couldn't get it to look nice at all.
sissy - 'FW' always made the "most popular" lists but I can't quite figure out why. It grows ok but the leaves don't stay looking nice through the whole summer.
