This is my seventh year with hosta. I have been waiting rather impatiently for my hosta to grow up and I think this may be the year! Have been out doing preliminary eye counts and am just thrilled with what I am seeing! One of my original 6 hosta, a Gold Standard, now has 95 eyes! An Erromena and a Honeybells are both over 100 eyes now!
And even on this preliminary count, a lot of my hosta have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled their eye count since last year!
Potomac Pride: 19 to 38 eyes
Fried Bananas: 8 to 17 eyes
Winfield Blue: 8 to 18 eyes
Striptease: 38 to 55 eyes
Permanent Wave: 28-53 eyes
Lemon Delight: 25 to 65 eyes
Grand Tiara: 25 to 55 eyes
Lakeside Shadows: 3 to 12 eyes.
Plus I found my first new sport of the year!!! One of my Wolverines is doing something cool! Rather than yellow outside and blue-green inside, one eye has yellow outside (about 1/3 the leaf width on each side), then 1/8-1/4” blue-green stripe all around, then yellow inside. It is just loosened from the eye enough to see the pattern - can hardly wait to see it unfurled!
So, IF I can keep them protected from frosts/freezes until the middle of June, it should be quite a show this year.
wanda
This is the year I have been waiting for...
Moderators: ViolaAnn, redcrx, Chris_W
Ain't it thrillin'? Now, be sure you get out there and get some pictures for us!!!Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Latitude: 41° 51' 12.1572"
My Hosta List
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Latitude: 41° 51' 12.1572"
My Hosta List
Sounds like you'll have some great looking beds this year....
On the inverse.... I can let you know what to expect a few more years out.... I've been waiting and watching my hosta start to come up.... I'm suprised how many fairy rings I have developing. Time to dig'm up and divide. lots of work ahead of me in the garden this year and maybe a sale or 2.
On the inverse.... I can let you know what to expect a few more years out.... I've been waiting and watching my hosta start to come up.... I'm suprised how many fairy rings I have developing. Time to dig'm up and divide. lots of work ahead of me in the garden this year and maybe a sale or 2.
Mike
Milwaukee
Milwaukee
Congratulations
Glad to see you Hostas doing so well....THANKS for letter us know. OC
There may be snow in the garden, but there will always be eternal springtime in the heart of this old gardner - Saying of Old Coot
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hummingbird
- Posts: 2024
- Joined: Nov 07, 2001 8:00 pm
- USDA Zone: 9b
- Location: SW Florida, USA
- Contact:
Sounds great, Wanda!! 
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Nathalie23
- Posts: 1031
- Joined: Feb 17, 2006 10:08 pm
- Location: Quebec, Canada (zone 4) 46 25'/-72 35'
)but I'm crossing my finger they will show me some appreciation Thanks, guys! I appreciate your support and kind words more than I can express.
I thought I would share some good news after all the earlier frost-related horror stories! Of course, now that mine are coming up, there is still a month and a half before I can hope to be totally frost-free - so now is the scary time for me! Have to make time to set up all the hoops and plastic this weekend.
You know, the gods really have a whacked sense of humor and cosmic balance...
GOOD: lots and lots of new eyes.
BAD: lots and lots of new eyes to protect from the frosts/freezes that WILL happen between now and full leaf-out in mid-June.
GOOD: finally reached the “wow” point...
BAD: and I can’t get outside to garden. I am caring for my MIL with dementia 24/7, and she will only go outside with me an hour or two a week. And flatly refuses to go to the free respite day care center in our county.
GOOD: So, starting today, we hired one of my sisters to come over and sit inside with MIL so I can get out a few hours a week and get a bit of mental respite along with gardening time.
BAD: waiting to see...the day isn’t over yet (hehe).
With my dear sweet sister coming over, I should at least be able to keep the weeds down and take a few pictures. Today I finished the lowest level of the small water feature I started last year (3 ponds on 3 levels with 3 waterfalls and a tiny stream) and put in the planting bed around the perimeter. Now I just have to finesse and tune the waterfalls, add plants to the planting beds and put a couple water lilies and marginals in the ponds. And tuck some moss in among the rocks. Need to find/trade for mini/small hosta that can take some limited sun for the planting beds...I have very few. This will make a great showcase for the little ones - the scale will be perfect for them. Already have a big fist-size bullfrog in residence!
My goal this year is to take a pic of every hosta...I am so envious of Hank’s progressive pic over the years!!! I seem to keep taking pic of the same 30 or so hosta. Rest assured...I won’t be able to resist sharing the pic with you (if I can keep the gardens in presentable condition)!!!
wanda
I thought I would share some good news after all the earlier frost-related horror stories! Of course, now that mine are coming up, there is still a month and a half before I can hope to be totally frost-free - so now is the scary time for me! Have to make time to set up all the hoops and plastic this weekend.
You know, the gods really have a whacked sense of humor and cosmic balance...
GOOD: lots and lots of new eyes.
BAD: lots and lots of new eyes to protect from the frosts/freezes that WILL happen between now and full leaf-out in mid-June.
GOOD: finally reached the “wow” point...
BAD: and I can’t get outside to garden. I am caring for my MIL with dementia 24/7, and she will only go outside with me an hour or two a week. And flatly refuses to go to the free respite day care center in our county.
GOOD: So, starting today, we hired one of my sisters to come over and sit inside with MIL so I can get out a few hours a week and get a bit of mental respite along with gardening time.
BAD: waiting to see...the day isn’t over yet (hehe).
With my dear sweet sister coming over, I should at least be able to keep the weeds down and take a few pictures. Today I finished the lowest level of the small water feature I started last year (3 ponds on 3 levels with 3 waterfalls and a tiny stream) and put in the planting bed around the perimeter. Now I just have to finesse and tune the waterfalls, add plants to the planting beds and put a couple water lilies and marginals in the ponds. And tuck some moss in among the rocks. Need to find/trade for mini/small hosta that can take some limited sun for the planting beds...I have very few. This will make a great showcase for the little ones - the scale will be perfect for them. Already have a big fist-size bullfrog in residence!
My goal this year is to take a pic of every hosta...I am so envious of Hank’s progressive pic over the years!!! I seem to keep taking pic of the same 30 or so hosta. Rest assured...I won’t be able to resist sharing the pic with you (if I can keep the gardens in presentable condition)!!!
wanda
Wanda, I'm thrilled that your gardens are going to have a wow year! I can't wait to see your pictures! Potomac Pride was one of those hostas that I kept thinking, well, yeh, so what's the big deal about THIS hosta? 
Mine was absolutely gorgeous last year! I want to come to Hallson's so bad this year and yes, I do remember that I owe you!
Mine was absolutely gorgeous last year! I want to come to Hallson's so bad this year and yes, I do remember that I owe you! "A friend is someone who knows the song of your soul and sings it back to you when you have forgotten the words."
PeggyC's Hosta List
PeggyC's Hosta List
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eastwood2007
- Posts: 3517
- Joined: Jan 25, 2007 12:51 pm
- Location: kansas, usa zone 5b
Great news, Wanda! Congrats! I too will look forward to the pics. 
I wonder...what if your MIL had her own area of the garden and her own plants to love if that would help her get more interested and get her more fresh air and exercise, too...
I wonder...what if your MIL had her own area of the garden and her own plants to love if that would help her get more interested and get her more fresh air and exercise, too...Charla
Latitude 38.57N; Longitude -94.89W (Elev. 886 ft.)
Latitude 38.57N; Longitude -94.89W (Elev. 886 ft.)
PeggyC: You shouldn’t have said anything...I don’t remember you owing me anything? Can you give me a hint? I do hope you can make it to Hallson’s this year! We missed a lot of our regulars last year.
Charla: Trust me, I have tried everything, as I NEED to be outside all day, every day to care for my gardens. Its more a case of “you stole my life and friends, stole my car, have kidnapped me and are keeping me prisoner - I hate you, I hate Jeff, I hate your damn dog and I hate it here.” And since she is not happy most of the time, no one around her is allowed to be happy, either. And since being in my gardens is what makes me happiest...well, that can not be allowed. Dementia is a truly horrible, heartwrenching disease!
wanda
Charla: Trust me, I have tried everything, as I NEED to be outside all day, every day to care for my gardens. Its more a case of “you stole my life and friends, stole my car, have kidnapped me and are keeping me prisoner - I hate you, I hate Jeff, I hate your damn dog and I hate it here.” And since she is not happy most of the time, no one around her is allowed to be happy, either. And since being in my gardens is what makes me happiest...well, that can not be allowed. Dementia is a truly horrible, heartwrenching disease!
wanda
“you stole my life and friends, stole my car, have kidnapped me and are keeping me prisoner - I hate you, I hate Jeff, I hate your damn dog and I hate it here.”
What is that from?? 
I'm sorry you're going through what you're going through, Wanda!! I hope having your sister stay with your mil so you can be outside gardening works!!
BIG HUGS!!
Renaldo: You asked...
Its the dementia, being 83 yrs. old and always having been fiercely independent. She used to live alone 150 miles south of us. She ended up in the hospital last Dec. with another serious GI bleed needing transfusions (the 5th time in 3 months). This is when we discovered just how bad her memory problems were - she hadn’t taken any of her medicines for 3 months, refused to keep her GI appts., was eating only candy, cookies and ice cream and drinking a gallon of wine each night...making the bleeding ulcers even worse and making her malnourished. We had to move her in with us and take away her car keys - it was very obvious to everyone but her (including two doctors) that she could no longer safely live alone and certainly wasn’t safe to drive. So “we stole her life and friends” by moving her so far away, “stole her car” by refusing to let her drive it, “kidnapped her and are keeping her prisoner” by moving her up here and refusing to take her home so she can live alone and do what she wants, and she “hates me, hates Jeff, hates our damn dog and hates it here” because we won’t take her “home” and she has always lived in the city/suburbs rather than this “godforsaken wilderness” (hehe). It is just horrible watching a person’s “self” being stolen from her by the dementia - we all used to have a great relationship. Its going to get even worse when we put her condo up for sale. As it is, I can’t leave her alone for even a few minutes, or she is climbing up the computer shelves to get to the phone to call the police and tell them we have kidnapped her and stolen her car, or finding and hiding sharp knives in her room, or turning on the gas stove and walking away, or plugging the sink and leaving the faucet running. I sleep with one eye open now...
We had called around to the home health care places, but they are just too expensive. So my sister volunteered (an EMT for 13 yrs.)...since it was pretty obvious I needed some help. We can’t afford it, so MIL has to pay - luckily we have durable power of attorney and my husband is on all of MILs bank accounts. I can’t stress enough how VITALLY important it is to have a durable power of attorney and a health care power of attorney set up BEFORE something like this happens...if we hadn’t, it would have bankrupted us to go to court to have her declared incompetent with us as her guardians.
So, with this going on in my life...that is why I was so absolutely thrilled to see so very many new eyes this year! (Nice segue back to hosta, don’t you think?) Little things, like “talking” with you kind folks about hosta (without anyone screaming at me), really brightens up my day. The gods give and take away in a weird sort of balance...
wanda
Its the dementia, being 83 yrs. old and always having been fiercely independent. She used to live alone 150 miles south of us. She ended up in the hospital last Dec. with another serious GI bleed needing transfusions (the 5th time in 3 months). This is when we discovered just how bad her memory problems were - she hadn’t taken any of her medicines for 3 months, refused to keep her GI appts., was eating only candy, cookies and ice cream and drinking a gallon of wine each night...making the bleeding ulcers even worse and making her malnourished. We had to move her in with us and take away her car keys - it was very obvious to everyone but her (including two doctors) that she could no longer safely live alone and certainly wasn’t safe to drive. So “we stole her life and friends” by moving her so far away, “stole her car” by refusing to let her drive it, “kidnapped her and are keeping her prisoner” by moving her up here and refusing to take her home so she can live alone and do what she wants, and she “hates me, hates Jeff, hates our damn dog and hates it here” because we won’t take her “home” and she has always lived in the city/suburbs rather than this “godforsaken wilderness” (hehe). It is just horrible watching a person’s “self” being stolen from her by the dementia - we all used to have a great relationship. Its going to get even worse when we put her condo up for sale. As it is, I can’t leave her alone for even a few minutes, or she is climbing up the computer shelves to get to the phone to call the police and tell them we have kidnapped her and stolen her car, or finding and hiding sharp knives in her room, or turning on the gas stove and walking away, or plugging the sink and leaving the faucet running. I sleep with one eye open now...
We had called around to the home health care places, but they are just too expensive. So my sister volunteered (an EMT for 13 yrs.)...since it was pretty obvious I needed some help. We can’t afford it, so MIL has to pay - luckily we have durable power of attorney and my husband is on all of MILs bank accounts. I can’t stress enough how VITALLY important it is to have a durable power of attorney and a health care power of attorney set up BEFORE something like this happens...if we hadn’t, it would have bankrupted us to go to court to have her declared incompetent with us as her guardians.
So, with this going on in my life...that is why I was so absolutely thrilled to see so very many new eyes this year! (Nice segue back to hosta, don’t you think?) Little things, like “talking” with you kind folks about hosta (without anyone screaming at me), really brightens up my day. The gods give and take away in a weird sort of balance...
wanda
OMG!!! I'm so sorry, Wanda - I had no idea it was so bad for you & the situation you've found yourself in with your mother-in-law.
BIG HUGS!!
My mother has dementia also, but has lived in the local nursing home for the last 4+ yrs and is fairly happy there. But every time we've ever visited she thinks she just got there so you can't ask her anything about activities, etc. because.......she just got there.
She has developed a bit of a quick temper since this set in. And I cannot bear the look I get when I say something & she thinks I'm lying to her. We arrived out there one time early on a Sunday evening & she had just walked out to the dining area with her purse. She was ready for the 'folks' to come get her. [Apparently this is a daily ritual - she goes out to wait for her ride that never comes. But I didn't know that until I was the one who showed up - not to get her.] And she was very unhappy & upset when we weren't there to take her home. She didn't say anything, but was so upset that she trembled, and I got the look. Upsets me far more than her I think.......and I can remember it. Another tactical error on my part occurred when I was driving her home from my nephew's house after a Christmas get-together one evening. It's not far from where she lived for nearly 50 yrs & I made the mistake of driving by there. [My other nephew lives there now.] Not a wise decision... She was upset all the way back to town, & kept asking 'didn't we just go by the house?' 
It started with her asking the same question or saying the same thing 3+ times in just a few minutes [and then repeating the same thing again later...]. My brother [who has power of attorney] thought she was fine at home, but he eventually saw the error of his ways after he tried to be the one doling out her medicine for a year or so. She had a weekly pill tray, but in order for that to be effective the pilltaker needs to have a clue what day of the week it is. Or if they've already taken a pill that day..... Unfortunately Mom didn't. Needless to say it wasn't working. And she wasn't eating well. Expiration dates had no meaning to her whatsoever: 'there's nothing wrong with that!!' But the expiration date would be 6 months or a year earlier, meat that smelled bad, etc. Finally my sil went thru the kitchen & got rid of all the old stuff. Which was a good thing. [The bad thing was that she also discovered the partially used plastic bottle of cooking oil that a mouse had eaten a hole into, crawled inside & drowned.
She finds it amusing now when she tells it, but not so much when she discovered it and let out a scream. 
] In any case, it was not a good situation & she shouldn't have been staying there on her own as long as she did.
Eventually she got to the nursing home & is in reasonably good health, likes the food & eats very well cuz she's put on enough weight that her tummy is quite visible. LOL But that's OK - sure beats what she looked like before she was getting healthy regular meals. And the amusing side of her 'just having gotten there' is that she knows exactly which table & seat is hers for meals. Even when they move her around once in a while. LOL The things that are amusing we just have to laugh at even though it's sad.
Seguing this back to hostas.....you definitely need all the sanity~saving time in your garden that you can get, Wanda!! I'd be pitching a tent out there if it were me.....
MORE BIG HUGS!!
BIG HUGS!!
My mother has dementia also, but has lived in the local nursing home for the last 4+ yrs and is fairly happy there. But every time we've ever visited she thinks she just got there so you can't ask her anything about activities, etc. because.......she just got there.
She has developed a bit of a quick temper since this set in. And I cannot bear the look I get when I say something & she thinks I'm lying to her. We arrived out there one time early on a Sunday evening & she had just walked out to the dining area with her purse. She was ready for the 'folks' to come get her. [Apparently this is a daily ritual - she goes out to wait for her ride that never comes. But I didn't know that until I was the one who showed up - not to get her.] And she was very unhappy & upset when we weren't there to take her home. She didn't say anything, but was so upset that she trembled, and I got the look. Upsets me far more than her I think.......and I can remember it. Another tactical error on my part occurred when I was driving her home from my nephew's house after a Christmas get-together one evening. It's not far from where she lived for nearly 50 yrs & I made the mistake of driving by there. [My other nephew lives there now.] Not a wise decision... She was upset all the way back to town, & kept asking 'didn't we just go by the house?' It started with her asking the same question or saying the same thing 3+ times in just a few minutes [and then repeating the same thing again later...]. My brother [who has power of attorney] thought she was fine at home, but he eventually saw the error of his ways after he tried to be the one doling out her medicine for a year or so. She had a weekly pill tray, but in order for that to be effective the pilltaker needs to have a clue what day of the week it is. Or if they've already taken a pill that day..... Unfortunately Mom didn't. Needless to say it wasn't working. And she wasn't eating well. Expiration dates had no meaning to her whatsoever: 'there's nothing wrong with that!!' But the expiration date would be 6 months or a year earlier, meat that smelled bad, etc. Finally my sil went thru the kitchen & got rid of all the old stuff. Which was a good thing. [The bad thing was that she also discovered the partially used plastic bottle of cooking oil that a mouse had eaten a hole into, crawled inside & drowned.
She finds it amusing now when she tells it, but not so much when she discovered it and let out a scream. ] In any case, it was not a good situation & she shouldn't have been staying there on her own as long as she did. Eventually she got to the nursing home & is in reasonably good health, likes the food
& eats very well cuz she's put on enough weight that her tummy is quite visible. LOL But that's OK - sure beats what she looked like before she was getting healthy regular meals. And the amusing side of her 'just having gotten there' is that she knows exactly which table & seat is hers for meals. Even when they move her around once in a while. LOL The things that are amusing we just have to laugh at even though it's sad.Seguing this back to hostas.....you definitely need all the sanity~saving time in your garden that you can get, Wanda!! I'd be pitching a tent out there if it were me.....
MORE BIG HUGS!!
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Becky in TN
- Posts: 425
- Joined: Oct 20, 2001 8:00 pm
Wanda,
My MIL died in 2005. She had dementia for several yrs. Toward the end, itgot so bad she didn't remember so mant things, like she needed to go to the bathroom or how to use a spoon. It was sad. But her anger was harder to deal with then her diminished functioning. I stopped taking my (10 yr old at the time) daughter to see her because MIL would say hurtful things and my daughter took it personal. So her memories of her grandmother are not great, although we try to help her understand this was just the disease talking. In her right mind, her grandmother was a sweet and gentle lady and how sad our daughter was not here for those years.
My heart goes out to you. It doesn't seem to get better. My MIL was also very angry at us all for "forcing her out of her home".
Becky in TN
My MIL died in 2005. She had dementia for several yrs. Toward the end, itgot so bad she didn't remember so mant things, like she needed to go to the bathroom or how to use a spoon. It was sad. But her anger was harder to deal with then her diminished functioning. I stopped taking my (10 yr old at the time) daughter to see her because MIL would say hurtful things and my daughter took it personal. So her memories of her grandmother are not great, although we try to help her understand this was just the disease talking. In her right mind, her grandmother was a sweet and gentle lady and how sad our daughter was not here for those years.
My heart goes out to you. It doesn't seem to get better. My MIL was also very angry at us all for "forcing her out of her home".
Becky in TN
Renaldo: BIG HUGS back at you! I am so very sorry your mom also has to go through this horrible disease...its hideous to watch and has to be far worse to suffer through. MIL is in the middle stages...about 1/3 of the time she knows what is happening and is so depressed and angry. Another 1/3 she thinks she is just fine and we just brought her here to steal her car, home and money. The last 1/3 she has no idea where she is or who we are...but she knows she isn’t happy about anything. She will eventually have to go into a nursing home, but we just can’t put her there now...she is such a control freak she would just die in an environment she doesn’t have any control over. And we have to get her house cleaned out and sold first. Her mom also had dementia, but she was just vague and sweet. So we knew it would come to this...just not that it would be so awful. When I used to work downstate I would stay with her a couple nights a week to get to know her and let her come to know me...find out what she liked to eat and do, etc. Have even been taking her on her vacations to the UP for years - and we always had a great time. It is strange what they do and don’t remember...she often doesn’t know our names, but she ALWAYS remembers what cupboard I have hidden all the sweets and wine in (well out of her reach - hehe).
Becky: I think you did the absolute right thing with your daughter - at that age it would be impossible for her to understand. Heck, even at 48 & 56 (and not being saints), it is so hard not to take it personally when she is screaming at us “Don’t call me mom...and don’t tell anyone I am your mother. I am so ashamed of you...I thought I could count on you”. And you can’t reason with them - they have lost that ability.
I had all these rosy plans to take her down to see her friends weekly...but I don’t dare, because she would refuse to come back. Thought we could garage sale, do lunch, do crafts, hang out in the gardens...even made a couple new beds with big log raised edges so she can sit comfortably on them. But whatever we try...if it isn’t her going home to live alone - it is wrong! And it is hard knowing it will only get worse, with her losing piece after piece of herself.
Oh, well, such is life. We know in our hearts we are doing the right thing. Thank god for my wonderful sister! I have a much better attitude and am much better able to handle things after only 4 hours of not being “on call” yesterday. After 5 months of basically doing this alone (truck driver husband) it was really getting to me. The gardening really helped too...the darn water feature has been sitting right along the entry path half-done since last fall...feels so good to finally get working on that! And just knowing I will get some garden time every week has sure improved my mood! All those glorious new eyes won’t look like crap all year for lack of basic maintenance!!!
wanda
Becky: I think you did the absolute right thing with your daughter - at that age it would be impossible for her to understand. Heck, even at 48 & 56 (and not being saints), it is so hard not to take it personally when she is screaming at us “Don’t call me mom...and don’t tell anyone I am your mother. I am so ashamed of you...I thought I could count on you”. And you can’t reason with them - they have lost that ability.
I had all these rosy plans to take her down to see her friends weekly...but I don’t dare, because she would refuse to come back. Thought we could garage sale, do lunch, do crafts, hang out in the gardens...even made a couple new beds with big log raised edges so she can sit comfortably on them. But whatever we try...if it isn’t her going home to live alone - it is wrong! And it is hard knowing it will only get worse, with her losing piece after piece of herself.
Oh, well, such is life. We know in our hearts we are doing the right thing. Thank god for my wonderful sister! I have a much better attitude and am much better able to handle things after only 4 hours of not being “on call” yesterday. After 5 months of basically doing this alone (truck driver husband) it was really getting to me. The gardening really helped too...the darn water feature has been sitting right along the entry path half-done since last fall...feels so good to finally get working on that! And just knowing I will get some garden time every week has sure improved my mood! All those glorious new eyes won’t look like crap all year for lack of basic maintenance!!!
wanda