OoooOOOooo.... Thanks Ginny. Mind telling which Walmart you went to so I don't go there. Its going to emptied out for sure... LOL

Clareview. I hope you can find some. They are really nice and full and big! I'm so excited. to get that bed going......if it ever stops raining! *aaaauuuggghhhh*

Ginny

Oh Ginny, you temptress, you!!! I absolutely love hostas and I wish I had them here already!!! Where are you going to plant them? Any photo please???

Great finds! :-)

I am planning on deweeding a bed I dug a couple of years ago before I got sick. I have a few iris in it and Virginia Creeper covering the dog fence. I have to move the irises and figure out who is going where yet but it is on the east side of the deck here, about 11 x 10 triangle-ish. In front of this creeper in the picture. Sun till about 1 pm at this time of year. I've had irises bloom there but I think it is a bit moist for them? I'll post a picture when it is fresh and ready. I also have a yellow hosta in one front bed that I will put back there too. :)

Ginny

{{gwi:538161}}

Were the hostas in good shape? I find that Walmart (and many other big box stores) sell hostas that are riddled with HVX (a virus that has no cure).

I agree with Donna. Be careful of the hostas from big box stores.

I took a chance and bought Catherine Hosta from Costco this spring...of the 5 in the box one looked like halcyon and the other 4 looked like Kiwi Full Monty. But, one of the Kiwi had the virus when the leaves unfurled and since none of them were Catherine I took all of them back to the store yesterday. Chances are that if one hosta in the container has the virus, they now all have the virus. Thankfully I had been very careful when handling the hostas as I planted them, throwing out the gloves I used immediately afterwards.

No problem in returning them to Costco although one of the clerks at the return counter said that the hostas were all in a mixed bag. I then pointed out to her the picture on the front and the name...Catherine underneath. No arguing then!

Brenda

If you want to get some wonderful hostas, check out the Hostageek. Pat carries hundreds of varieties and you will get clean healthy hostas with a large root system on each. Clean, as in no worries about the hosta virus X. He has lots of them priced under $10 each. I am expecting my HUGE order in the next week or so.

Brenda

I have many hostas from Pat and will order more at the end of the summer. He always has great sales and great plants. And great customer service too! :)

Ginny

Oh you guys........now you've gone and given me the name of ANOTHER place to order from ! =:) I got my few hostas from Veseys last year. I don't have a clue about the virus you're speaking of. What do you look for?

Dare I ask what the hosta geek's website is?

Try this one, Lynn. :)

http://hostageek.ca/

Ginny

I was just coming here to warn about HVX. If you choose to buy hostas from stores, just make sure you quarantine them far from your existing hostas and don't use the same tools to work with them. There was a HVX infected hosta on the property when I moved here and rather than dig it up and spread the virus around, I Round Upped it and never planted hostas there since.

This link has about as good a description as I've seen of HVX. When I found my funny looking hosta I posted a pic on the hosta forum here at GW and they said it was HVX for sure.

Here is a link that might be useful: HVX description

Oh, and also, I second and third the hosta geek! Hostas are added to the list of plants I will only buy from specialty growers.

Well, I hope none of my hostas are infected. I bought one of those grab bags of 4 nameless hostas. Now that I think of it, I probably got them from Botanus (?) Since they're nameless I don't have a clue what they're really supposed to look like.

I won't do that again......

Lynn, I have bought hostas from Botanus many times and never had HVX. I have also bought hostas from Walmart in bags and no HVX. As Gil has mentioned, you can quarentine them and watch for symptoms. All of these look good so far but they may just grow in their pots for a while.......maybe for lack of time to get my bed ready. :)

Gil, I buy mostly from growers with all my plants but once in a while I take a chance. Once in a while I go to the Humane Society to visit the animals there knowing full well that I could bring some bug home to my shelties. Hopefully, these plants are safe. :)

Thanks for the warning, anyway, ladies. :)

Ginny

My first infected hosta came from Botanus. Since then I now only buy from actual growers. My first question is asking them what they're doing to prevent selling HVX infected hostas. It can come from any source though, so gardeners have to be careful in how they handle their hostas. It can be a pain having to clean tools every time you touch a plant. The problem is that the infection may take years to show up. How long are you willing to keep a hosta in isolation?
The more I learn the more paranoid I get, lol.

And even the growers have had it in their plants. It can take time to show up, even for the growers. They are not always aware of it in their plants till it's there. A person can always be careful but, unfortunately, we can't always be guarenteed.

BTW, good information on that site, Gil. Thanks for sharing.

Ginny