What hosta started it for you?

Arlene · Post by **Arlene** » May 16, 2007 9:46 pm

Hank's thread on 'Undulatta' prompts this question.

I know it gets ugly, but Undulatta has earned a place in my garden and my heart because it was my first hosta.

On our daily walk, my friend Carol and I passed a burn pile. On the top were several plants, upside down, with dry roots waving in the air. The plants themselves were trying desperately to grow "up." We stopped to look, and I decided that any plant that determined to grow deserved a second chance. I drove back later and rescued them. The "wrong way" leaves made them challenging to plant, but (of course) many survived, and 15+ years later I still have a few of them. I tend to move them around to fill empty spots.

So what hosta got you started?

newtohosta-no more · Post by **newtohosta-no more** » May 16, 2007 9:53 pm

I started out by buying three "Varigated" hostas...the green and white ones.

But it was my next hosta purchase which really got me started. Gold Standard! Very common, but a work horse and pretty to boot!

addieotto · Post by **addieotto** » May 16, 2007 10:00 pm

For me it was some sort of undulata as well. Although it was one of the white centered undulatas, they were growing in my mom's garden and she loved them. She took pieces of them with her each time we moved.

The next hosta I remember making an impression on me was Gold Standard. I can't remember if it was in my mom's garden or if I saw it somewhere else but it seems as though it's been with me forever.

HostaDesigner · Post by **HostaDesigner** » May 16, 2007 10:02 pm

Frances Williams ... hands down. I just loved it.

LucyGoose · Post by **LucyGoose** » May 16, 2007 10:08 pm

Gosh.....I don't know which one started it for me....

....I know my first one was Francee.....I planted about 6 around my black walnut in the back (my only tree....hehe)....but I think just reading in this forum did it....I know my first trade I got my Inniswood, and a few others ....and my traders name is escaping me....it's at the tip of my tongue...I am sorry...

But now I know I love them....

wzbt03 · Post by **wzbt03** » May 16, 2007 10:09 pm

Albomarginata - I refuse to part with them even now.
Very nice in a group.

Even with many many hosta they still draw attention.

thy · Post by **thy** » May 16, 2007 10:29 pm

Elegans... ound in a roadside shop 12 years ago

Just wanted that granny plant (funkia) and had a hard time finding the all green, the green with white, the green with white - and yellow- edges and the green with narrow leaves

Until I found the HL.. I thught I had them all

Was it a smart Google... or...was it a dum one.. now I know I will never have 8 or so thousends hostas

mooie · Post by **mooie** » May 16, 2007 10:30 pm

The one that got me first and foremost and that I still adore to this day is ventricosa aureomarginata. Great colors and a total workhorse. Just never looks bad for me!

mooie

Joe · Post by **Joe** » May 16, 2007 10:40 pm

Great Expectations. Here's one I got more than 10 years ago.

Joe in CT

John · Post by **John** » May 16, 2007 11:36 pm

I grew up with the green one, ventricosa and the white-and-green one, undulata; even as a child, I love to pull them apart and replant in borders...

The first one I bought on purpose was 'Northern Halo'. It was $17 back when it was new in the Wayside Catalogue-- but I figured, I'll just keep dividing it like the others!

Well... it is still only one eye. But, I'll admit one year there were two, and I gave half away, so... mea culpa.

Roxanne · Post by **Roxanne** » May 16, 2007 11:54 pm

seeing a large montana Aureomarginata did it for me. It's still my favorite Hosta to this day.

scootersbear · Post by **scootersbear** » May 17, 2007 12:19 am

A plant auction, wasn't there for hostas, wanted some cheap trees, but when they got to the hostas nobody bid on them so I did and got some good sized hostas for 50 cents each, there were five different hostas and I think I bought about 50 of them. I planted them and gave quite a few away anyways they grew really well so I checked ebay to see what other hostas there were out there and the rest is history. When I moved I took 1 of each to my new house 6 years ago but it had to have been Krossa that impressed me the most.

baja220 · Post by **baja220** » May 17, 2007 2:01 am

It was Undulatta for me too. Also the ones with the white edge. When I bought my house I knew I was gonna be puttin in hosta beds, but I was broke after buying the house so I bought a bunch of those. That was 12 years ago.
The first 2 named ones I bought the following spring were Francess Williams and Great Expectations. GE grew for a few years then just died a slow painful death. I still have FW.

Debbie

viktoria · Post by **viktoria** » May 17, 2007 6:05 am

A friend shared her 'Elegans'. Then I grew some from "mixed" seeed from Park's and got a lot that looked like 'Lancifolia'...and nothing else.

caliloo · Post by **caliloo** » May 17, 2007 6:08 am

When I bought my house, the previous owners idea of "landscaping" was to plant a clump of undulata with a Rose of Sharon in the middle every 8 feet all around the house. So technically, undulata was my very first.

However, a friend showed up with a piece of ventricosa for me, and I *had* to find out what it was (compulsive researcher here). That is when I discovered there were more than the green and the green/white varieties! Someone posted a photo of Sagae and that is all it took. I searched every nursery near my house until I found a 3 eyed Sagae that I paid $25 for 4 years ago!

Is it still my favorite hosta of all time.

Alexa

twoblackdogs · Post by **twoblackdogs** » May 17, 2007 7:21 am

Blue Angel & Sagae. I had a bed, in the shade, mostly pachysandra, ferns, snow on the mountain - yes under a Crimson Maple - and 8 years ago put alternating Sagae & Blue Angels out around the edge of the bed (they've done well) - and these 2 are still my favorites today - as are all their related sports....

largosmom · Post by **largosmom** » May 17, 2007 7:59 am

Honeybells was my first hosta. I bought two of those tiny boxes at Walmart and put the dry, bare roots into pots with something else, on my front porch. They grew a few pretty leaves, and the next spring, they grew so big I had to plant them into my tiny townhouse garden. By year three they were HUGE! I moved but did not bring them with me. When I got to my new home, I looked for Honeybells because I liked it and wanted something big for my shady garden. I found Sagae...and THAT one hooked me. I also bought a few pots of 'lemon lime' and divided my first hostas to go around a small Japanese Maple. They survived a pretty rough division and thrived and I realized how tough they were. I started adding a few more to fill in with azaleas and other plants as I made new flower beds and my addiction began.

Laura

Linda P · Post by **Linda P** » May 17, 2007 8:15 am

The year is 1950, the hosta is plantaginea. I didn't know it was a hosta, all I remember is looking up (yes, up...it was 1950, after all...)into those big white blossoms and smelling that wonderful sweet fragrance. There was a fantastic circle of them behind a house where my grandma's first cousin lived, just down the road. She died 2 years later, and the hostas were mown off by the person who mowed for her daughter.
Segue to the mid-60's, the first place I lived when I got married. It was a farm with two houses, my new husband and I in one, his parents in the other. There was that plant again! MIL found out from someone that it was called August Lily. She hated it, because it was just green leaves, and only bloomed for a week or two and the blooms 'weren't much to look at'. She mowed them off.
Move forward into the 80's, when we bought this farm. A friend gave me a piece of lancifolia, and an 80+ yr old friend of a friend gave me a nice start of Royal Standard, along with a very good introduction to what she knew of the world of hostas. She was a walking fountain of plant lore, and knew the Latin names for everything in her garden.
The first hosta I bought was, of course, Frances Williams, and then Birchwood Parky's Gold and Color Glory. I didn't get a plantaginea until just a few short years ago.
BTW, there's a clump of plantagineas in the nearby town that has been there as long as I can remember. Last year the people who bought the place piled their leaves on top of it and burned them there. I'm afraid to look and see if the plantaginea survived.
I've often wondered where my cousin got that hosta. I don't know if she knew. She inherited the place from her parents, who were the original owners of the property when they made their claim in 1841.
Good thread, Arlene. I remember your burn-pile hosta story. That's one of the best intro-to-hosta stories I've heard!
Linda P

ademink · Post by **ademink** » May 17, 2007 8:16 am

My first hosta were free Lancifolia. It was when I first "got into" landscaping and I planted 5 of them under an arbor of concord grapes. I watered the heck out of them every night w/ Miracle Gro in the sprayer............every night.

I'm sure you can imagine how HUGE and gorgeous those Lancfolia became! I was completely hooked on those plants but had no idea that there were different varieties beyond green, green and white....you know the old tale.

Well, along came Thunderbolt - don't even know where I bought it from anymore but when that baby came up the second year, it was over for me!

playinmud · Post by **playinmud** » May 17, 2007 9:05 am

Great thread Arlene!

Although Undulata was my mom's first hosta and it is an emotional tie for me to her, I have to say that it wasn't what started me down the road of hosta addiction.

Summer of 2005 I went to a leaf show and was shocked at the variety of hostas there. Then I went to the vendor area and fell in love with this little one-eyed ruffled leaf hosta...it was 'Candy Dish'. I fell in love, bought it and the rest is history.

Hallson Gardens

What hosta started it for you?

What hosta started it for you?

Started