Newly planted Stiletto

[boops]

Planted my new Stiletto (thanks chris) with my moved High Society and near Fragrant Blue.

Stiletto


Group picture

[ShortShadows]

Stiletto is such a lovely Hosta. I think it is underated!

[boops]

Its so cute, can't wait till it gets bigger. I'm a shoe fanatic and had to have it.

[NancyL]

I love them - mine are in 100% sun in MI and they thrive. They are a rapid grower forming a nice clump quickly and their purple flower scapes are showy. Mine are beginning to bloom right now. The ones behind them along the wall are Great Expectations. They were not meeting expectations so I moved them to a dryer spot in the garden and they seem to really be perking up after getting torn up by the 3" slugs we have here.

[boops]

I put mine in part shade for a little texture in that particular garden. Its a very small garden and was kind of boring as it only had Blue Angel, Fragrant Blue and Pineapple upside down cake-so adding Stiletto and putting my High Society there did the trick. You have a lot them! They look great!

[NancyL]

Thanks boops! I stole them in a clearance sale in August a few years ago. They have increased so much that I have been able to pull of a few offsets for our 2013 Master Gardener plant sale. Nobody will buy a hosta at that sale unless it is variegated. Their loss.

[boops]

Wow yo must have some wicked soil over there. I love solid Hosta and variegated. All kinds and sizes. I like variety.

[NancyL]

I thought I would share this photo of the row of Stilettos in bloom. Things bloom late up here in the UP of MI but these guys are stunning. I had no idea when I put this border in that it would compliment the perovskia behind the wall blooming at the same time. Their color is much prettier than in the photo, they gray in the all and the gravel washes out their gorgeous purple.

[boops]

That looks great Nancy-Never thought of putting a row of the same anyplace. Really don't have a good area for that. How did your daylily trimming go?

[NancyL]

Boops, got them all done about a week ago - it was a major project. I have been away from this site for a week because we were in transit back to MD. I have a lot of work to do here now that I am home. I was sad to see almost all my hostas chomped by the deer but saddest was my loss of Korean Snow to the voles. The 25 year old Japanese maple next to it has lost 1/3 or its' foliage with vole holes all around. They are so destructive with little we can do to protect from them. The Stillettos that I divided are planted in the garden here in MD. The made the 5 days bare root transit in great condition.

[boops]

So sorry for the mess those little rats made of your garden. I hate those things. I doused one of my gardens with ammonia right into the holes. Haven't had the problem since. Have you ever tried that? you may save your tree. Luckily I don't get deer-I don't think I would bother with much planting if I did. There are quite a few plants that are deer resistant-but if they are hungry I guess they will eat anything very similar to rabbits. Does this happen every year to your gardens?
I have something digging up some of my Iris plantings. May be squirrels, they aren't eaten just dug up.

[morgansrgr8]

I've had some success catching voles using a rat trap baited with peanut butter and cracked corn. I was after a chipmunk but got 3 voles. Didnt even know I had voles till then. They must have just moved in because I didnt lose any hosta over the winter to voles.

[boops]

Crossing fingers, I don't have anymore voles or moles. I planted over 100 daff. bulbs 2 years ago. all my gardens are bordered with them. supposedly voles/moles don't like them. Maybe they are keeping out the critters. Going to plant another 50 around and interspersed withing my new Hosta garden this year. Just waiting for my local Agway to stock them.

[morgansrgr8]

I have read somewhere the furred critters dont like marigolds. Next year I am going to plant as many as I can among my hosta. But I wont know for sure if its working because I dont get many critters in the hosta bed. My vegy garden is very close and they seem to prefer the vegies. The deer seem to not like my horseradish and have kept them out of the yard. They havent crossed the line of horseradish. They are on the end of the garden where our yard meets the woods. Now the groundhog is another matter. He finds a way around and takes out my melons. Will be surrounding next years melons with the marigolds. Any suggestions to keep the racoons out of the corn?

[boops]

Mint should do it.

[NancyL]

The deer just move into the property since we are gone all summer. We have a fellow that comes in and waters and mows once a week but that means the deer have a quiet, secluded home to hang out all day every day. I hired an young man to come in and spray DeerOut and Liquid Fence once a week and bought him a 3 gallon backpack sprayer to make it easy to really put it on heavy and it didn't make a lick of difference. As soon as it gets hot and dry they start eating the hostas. They really love Liberty and Komodo Dragons. The completely left Cherub, Lakeside Party Dress and some of So Sweet and had completely gobbled the Krossa Regals and Twilights right next to them. This summer they even ate my hydrangea Limelight and kirengeshoma and brunnera leaves which I have never seen them eat before. The deer pressure is so bad in MD. People just don't hunt in this state any longer and the deer population is growing and will until they run out of food. A hunter that is multi-talented in MD can kill around 40 deer per season if they hunt black powder, muzzle loader, bow and shotgun. They allow that many kills per license because of the damage that they do.

The body shops are very happy in MD because the road kill is everywhere. We have a healthy popluation of buzzards and the bald eagles are coming back because there are so many deer carcasses lying around.

They will ruin our forests. They eat every seedling that comes up in the forest floor except for the invasives like euonymos and barberry. When our hardwood trees die there will be no new ones to take their place. Ditto for our lovely mountain laurels.

[boops]

OMG-Can't they extend Deer Hunting Season?? I never knew it was so bad there. I guess your property is too large to fence in. When is your hunting season? I have to tell my brother because he loves hunting and hasn't gotten anything in the past season or two. Sounds like its easy picking out there. Maryland isn't so far away, he may try it out.

[NancyL]

Our property is 4 acres but I only have about a 1/2 acre that is planted. Fencing is prohibitively expensive and doesn't do a lot to knock down Lyme ticks since they come in with birds and mice too. It would save the plants from the deer. At our Ag Center where the Master Gardeners have a demo garden the county fenced our 1.5 acre plot and with a deal they got it for $25,000. More than we can pay. It does keep them out. Our deer seasons start in early October and they run into I think the first week of January. Even with local slaughterhouses processing the deer for free if they are donated to the foodbank there is not enough hunters anymore. If your brother is serious about wanting a buck he should research state lands in Baltimore County where hunting is allowed. He can probably get his limit easy. Here in MD deer hunting is a lot like fishing in Michigan. You get a number of fish that you can catch and that is it - same way in MD. About the same number of deer as for good fish too. It is just a lot harder to haul deer out of the woods than fish into the boat.

[boops]

Wow you have a lot of property. My whole area is 1/3 acre. I have a 5-6 foot stockade fence around the side and back yard from when we moved in and have been replacing every few years. I never see deer here. My brothers yard backs up to a nature preserve-so he see's them all the time. But his yard is fenced also. I will talk to my brother about the hunting.
Good luck with your plants.