Don Rawson's Hosta Lists

[Pieter]

Just a quick note that I've just finished updating Don's website with all the latest additions, including 4 new lists and of course a complete new master file for those that wish to have a PDF available for off-line browsing.

[Tigger]

Pieter,

Thanks for keeping this up to date. It's a great resource.

Can I make one suggestion/request? There are a few categories with size classes, which would be better alphabetized in the list as (for example), "Upright hostas, large" so that the small-medium and large classes are next to each other on the list.

At some point the alphabetical list of classes gets large enough that the lists could be grouped, such as:

• Color aspect (simple colors, variegation, etc.)
• Leaf aspect (white-backed, folded, etc.)
• Flower aspect (color, fragrance, etc.)
• Clump aspect (fountain, ground-cover, etc.)
• Analytical aspect (ploidy, sterility, etc.)
• Cultural aspect (emergence time, pest problems, etc.)
• General listings (HOTY, Top 10, convention plants, etc.)

Hard to think of a category that doesn't fit these, which I hope would be self-evident.

And for a true wish list item, is there any way to add a search feature (other than Google site: searches), so that I can input a hosta and see what lists name it?

David

[Pieter]

Thank you for your comments, David.

I simply take the lists that Don compiles and code them for web display. If you download the PDF -see main/index page- and save it to your hard drive you should be able to do a search in Adobe Acrobat reader. I will pass your comments to Don and we'll see where that takes us.

[Don Rawson]

Those are some very good suggestions, David. I add a few new lists each year and currently have a total of 91 lists posted on the main page. So it may be time to consider how to place them in categories. Thanks for the outline...I'll take a look at that.

Concerning a search feature- Is there a reason why you do not want a Google "Search this website" function?

Pieter suggested downloading the PDF file and then using the Adobe search feature. If you do not have Adobe on your computer, you can send me an email to request the master file in Microsoft Word. Then you can use the Microsoft Word search function to find every place a specific word occurs in the HOSTA LISTS document.

[Carol O]

I'm having a difficult time getting Don's list. Both this web address and from HostaLibrary.

[Tigger]

It's back. Must have been a server problem. It was odd because it didn't return an error; just returned the previous page.

[Pieter]

Been rather swamped with things, but, got an e-mail from my web host indicating they'd had a catastrophic system failure on the 29th with a controller and ended having to run a complete restore from back-ups, took a while of course. We're up-n-running again though!

Question for those who use the lists with any degree of frequency, how would you feel about having the lists linked as PDF files ONLY, the way it's done on the HL with W. George Schmid's Species articles section and NOT have the on-line page for viewing, but just the PDF? Don and I have been chatting about it and it would certainly make updating the lists a lot less complicated and far less work....

[Tigger]

Pieter,

You mean make it as useless as the AHS website? I loathe websites where each link opens a PDF. Generally very unfriendly for portable devices, as well.

I'm sorry the format transition is such a pain. Maybe there's some software bridge that can help. I guess the site is a victim of its own success. Thank you for the work you do keeping it going.

David

[Carol O]

I love the site and was very sad the other day when I couldn't access it. I don't know what all it would mean to have those changes. Sorry there is so much work in keeping it current, but I thank you for your hard work.