I finally got my corner hillside planted today. I had put in some hosta and daylilies last year and this spring. The daylilies bloomed beautifully and a couple of 'Frans Hals' are still at it out there. I had begonias and impatiens and a few dusty millers left from my container project this spring. I put them in the space my son just turned over. This area was used previously as a staging area for two major DPW projects. It took my son and I a couple of years to get the majority of the gravel and chunks of blacktop out of this corner so we could plant. He got a bunch of compost from a neighbor's yard last week and we threw in some cow manure from a bag. I left a huge wide space at the bottom by the large boulders that edge this area. This is for sections of my giant no-name green hosta which is currently taking over its own space and several others in another bed. my son and I have to get together to get this one out of the ground and over to the other side of the yard. It has looked scraggly and ugly for too long and now with the plants in and mulch, I think there is hope!
I will go out tomorrow morning and take a picture.
Martha
I did it!
Congratulations!
Time to begin scouting around for some new plants - the sales are good this time of year. Trading is always a good source for plants too-
Julie
Dear Julie,
I have sufficient hosta to populate my immediate neigborhood. Same for siberian iris. My neighbor across the street has at least 4 hosta varieties growing in his yard that I gave him, daylilies, too. In return, he has a bobcat that he uses to help move giant stones and remove snow in the winter when the town plow blocks our driveway. I had over 2 dozen annuals left over from my container project this spring {they look kinda sad right now, but they will perk up} and I got an order of daylilies in from Gilbert Wild and found a new hibiscus on a yard sale trip two weeks ago. Buying sale plants is not a problem! I am thinking I will harvest the sales for some pretty hydrangea or other summer flowering shrub.
Martha
Thanks, Dave!
Your Welcome Martha.
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Julie. She has a ton of plants and she was very generous to me.
That's great, Dave! I went to the NE roundup out in springfield and I met some of our great folks too. And there were plants involved as well! You can have some of the mega green hosta when we dig it up if you want it. No name, but it is huge and it increases quickly.
Martha
Thank you very much! I think I'm set with hosta but I appreciate your offer.
Have any money ;^)
I have money plant seeds if any body wants some. Closest that I can come to money for you Dave.
Martha, good for you! Can't wait to see a pic. I think 'Mega Green' is probably as good a name as any for your hosta. sounds like you're making the most of it.
gram
You can see Mega on the right at the edge of this picture. I have to take a better one.
Martha
I did it! I finally moved the last of the 6 yards of humus off my dirveway! Almost all of it got "put away". There is only one small pile waiting for inspiration. I used some logs and stumps left over from taking down a red oak two years ago to build raised planters. I know that they will eventually rot - but for now they look really good and the yard looks so much better without my "wood pile". I'm tired and sun burnt and my arm is sore from patting myself on the back - but I have my driveway back!!!
Good work! I have to go water the corner this morning and take some better pix of mega hosta.
And no, Dave, haven't got any money today since I went out yesterday and bought 7 new hostas including Revolution and 5 minis. The seventh is a mini whose name I was told but now forget. Sigh.
I came across one of my flower show friends selling his miniature plants at a farmers market in Rowley and he had scads of cute little hostas. Another guy had a selection from his acreage in Gloucester and he didn't have name tags, just his memory. I spent about 2 hours at this farmer's market discussing plants!! After that, I got to the flea market up the road {my original destination} and picked up three Redoute flower prints and a set of Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt blocks. These are off to my sister the quilter for assembly into a quilt. Did you notice a gardening theme here? What a great day!
Martha
Martha, sounds like my kind of a great day, too. and you said you had enough hosta...does anybody ever have enough? I planted 2 new ones yesterday LOL. I'm a quilter and grandmother's flower garden is one of my favorite patterns. I'm making a block in that pattern from scraps from every quilt I make to give away. this way, some day I'll have a whole quilt to remind me of the special people. were they antique? you deserved a good day after all that hard work.
The blocks were assembled from what they call "vintage" fabric. I am leaving it to my sister to let me know how old she thinks they are. The man said he found them in a cedar chest he bought. they were pressed flat and in excellent condition. I don't know if it's because of the way they were stored, or because the fabric is a newer reproduction type. She can tell me and I will let you know.
I will never have enough hosta, I just won't have space to put all the ones I would like to have! Hence my fascination for the minis.
Martha
I believe Grandmother's Flower Garden is a depression era quilt pattern. Since antique is defined (by my local antique store) as anything 60+ years old -- original GMFG blocks could be considered antiques.
I'm glad of that designation cause I am getting up there age wise {54} and I don't want to be in the same category as 60 year old antiques! But I priority mailed them to my sister yesterday and she will let me know.
Martha
well, it's a fun find either way, Martha. and I love those mini-hostas too. I don't have any, but give me some time LOL
I bought them from a dear friend who I happened to meet at the farmer's market on Sunday. He is a cactus and succulent expert and he also is very active in the local rock garden society. He cultivates and sells lots of miniature plants for this purpose. He just happened to have about a dozen varieties of mini hosta. The last few times I caught up with him and his plant table, he didn't have quite so many hosta but he always has something unusual. I also bought an interesting red bromeliad which I am going to make into cuttings and a cute mini geranium called 'Swan'. It was a good day all around.
Martha
Is Stiletto considered a mini? (Or is mine just puny?) It is adorable, but I planted in amongst the other (larger) Hostas, so it is now crowded out. I thought it was just an immature plant.
Julie
I would consider stiletto to be on the small to dwarf borderline. the leaves are small, but when fertilized and getting good light, they reproduce quickly to form big clumps. I just divided one up this spring and I got about 20 divisions out of it. I gave away about 10 and kept the rest that were small and/or ratty looking and I planted them up in a window box. All are making a comeback and I intend to plant them out soon. A few will go into pots for the garden club Sept plant sale. They are always very popular. People stop and say "That's a hosta?" and then happily buy them all up. I never have any left over. I have minis that are truly mini and next to them, stilletto is a giant.
Martha
I ripped out my old concrete sidewalk - all 25' of it and wheelbarrowed it around to the back to use for a raised planting bed - someday. I had to stop once and get ice cream for strength - but it was only one scoop. My friend's husband is a contractor and light on work this week - so he is going to use all the reclaimed bricks I have been digging up here and there to make me a new sidewalk! I have two buckets of bulbs packed in peat moss waiting to go back in the ground when he is done. I culled the bricks and made a nice edge for my blueberries! It just doesn't get any better.
Yankee, I think you deserved a double scoop!