“Teeny-Weeny-Bikini” – Summer 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA – A mini/micro variety that grows no bigger than a fist…
“A Plant a Day till Spring” will highlight one plant a day, starting on the winter solstice (December 21, 2013)… And ending on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2014)… If all goes to plan I will be starting with old Snowdrop photos from 2013… And ending with new photos of Snowdrops in 2014…
Sorry this post is running a little late… I was up late writing… As a result… I kinda slept in… If you consider 5:30 sleeping in… I again want to mention my online Q&A about Plant Guilds on February 14th at 2PM EST… #groundchat on Twitter… This will be my first time doing an online garden chat… Apparently… The audience ranges from 70,000 to a million people… Needless to say I am a little nervous…
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So… You might not know this… But my girlfriend and I are Hosta fanatics… Collectors if you will… Right off the top of my head I can think of 20 varieties we grow… A small number though when you consider the fact that there are around 40,000 named varieties…
A few years ago my girlfriend and I joined the Western Pennsylvania Daffodil and Hosta Society… You may be asking yourself why Daffodils and Hosta… The reason is that the dafs come up early in the spring… The Hosta come up around the exact same time the Daffodils are dying back for the year… The large leaves of the Hosta in effect cover and hide the withering leaves…
“Earth Angel” – Summer 2013 – Whitney Avenue – Wilkinsburg, PA – A larger variet with light green variegated leaves… But the magic does not come from the leaves on this particular Hosta… The massive blossoms are heavily scented… Often reaching the farthest corners of my backyard… Especially after a rain…
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I wrote a poem about this Hosta last Summer – https://chriscondello.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/earth-angel/
Most people don’t know this but Hostas are edible… The tender leaves can be eaten raw… But I suggest you cook them up… The texture is reminiscent of spinach… The taste is really bland… It isn’t exactly something to write home about…
Hostas prefer shade… The large leaves of the plant make it ideal for absorbing little bits of sunlight… This is also the reason this plant does not do well in full sun… The large leaves absorb to much of the light… This results in what I call “sun sick”… Which is when a plant intended for shade is planted in full sun… The plant will actually overdose on sunlight… The result is a thin plant with small leaves… A result of the plant trying to cut down on the available leaf area that is absorbing the sunlight… Plants are smarter than you think…
Hosta propagates readily by seed… Simply leaving the flower stalks on the plants through the winter will accomplish this… This plant will also hybridize freely… The result… The 40,000 (and climbing) named varieties of Hosta we have now…
This year is the year I get my hands on an “Empress Wu” Hosta… The empress grows to 4′ tall and 6′ around… It is the largest hosta… When you see it… It looks like something that grew when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth… Truly a magnificent plant… One that I will buy this Summer… The hard part is finding a place to put it…
plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello
If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosta
For my Hosta related Practical Permaculture Post – Daffodil and Hosta
These “Plant a Day Till Spring” posts are simply intended to kill time until spring when I start writing more… My source (where applicable) is Wikipedia.org… The photography is all my own… And I am adding my own information…
This website and all of the information presented within is provided free by the author… Me… It is my sole opinion and is not representative of anyone other than myself… You can contact me directly with questions at – c.condello@hotmail.com
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