Sounds to me like you've fallen in love with some real beauties. Go for it!

Kathy

What, no 'Guacamole'??? I've FAILED you as an enabler! You're messin' with my fragile emotions, Grizzly Adams!!

Just kidding, Denis; I like this list a lot. I wish I had a mature 'Blue Angel' along with a mature 'Elegans' to highlight the differences in the two. I have faith someone will read this and point out differences. Can't go wrong with either, though. Or both, eventually. 'Irish Luck' is one that I lost to voles, but I'm going to get another one this spring. That one is a must-have, in my opinion.

'Antioch' Like you said, bulletproof, handsome and cheap. Gets nice and big, too. 'Francee' and 'Fortunei Aureomarginata' can also be described in similar terms, but are usually a bit smaller in size.

'Maui Buttercups' Even with some complaints that I've heard as well, it's so worth getting. Amazing color. For other gold/yellow hostas, 'Aspen Gold' is great, 'The Shining' is very yellow with big fragrant blooms. Sorry for the ramble.

Cheers!
Don B.

Thanks Kathy, ya just a bit smitten!

Don, never fear you have not failed, I have a Guacamole already, just the one though lol, got it late last autumn, that order came with the leaves chopped off so I have not even seen it yet :(

I'm so glad we dont have your vole problems here we don't even have moles thankfully, it must be heartbreaking to lose a plant to them.

I have Francee and FA, I will check out Aspen gold and The Shining.

Thanks
Denis

Nice choices Denis! You won't go wrong with Van den Top.

Did you see his new creation..Child of the Queen? I'm thinking of putting that in my basket.
''Leaf is yellow with a blue-green edge.
Sport of 'Queen of the Seas'.
A variegated sport of H. 'Queen of the Seas'...beautiful clear yellow center framed
with an irregular green border... contrast is beautiful.
The pointed leaves have good substance and make a dense upright clump topped with lavender flowers.''--From My hostas website

Good choices Denis.

I too have been trying to decide what to get this year.
I have ordered this lot from Fransens and should get them at the beginning of March.

Backyard Monster
Chief Sitting Bull
Dino
Flemish Master
Frost Giant
Gone With the Wind
Parasol
Rosedale Richie Vallens
Singing in the Rain
Wave Runner
Sourpuss

I have been working my way through the Van den Top website as well. I've narrowed it down to the following but haven't ordered them yet so still time to add a few more !

Alligator Shoes
Abiqua Elephant Ears
Millenium
Broad Band
Ice Follies
Celebrity
Christmas Pageant
Ocean Isle
Bridal Falls
Sum of All
Hypoleuca
Child of the Queen

Just had to have Bridal Falls and Child of the Queen.
Niagara Falls, War Paint and Queen of the Seas are three of my real favourites so can't wait to see how these match up.

David

Denis, you have to have both, 'Elegans' is more corrugated. 'Blue Angel' has those large veined blue leaves, is also taller than 'Elegans' in my garden. Bernd

Thanks Stoc, since seeing your order from him last year I have been excited about getting some huge plants like you got.

Child of the queen from the few immature pics I've seen of it doesn't do anything for me, I need to see some better pics. Right now I prefer the mama. Willing to be converted though lol.

David, I need to check out the list of the ones you have ordered as I'm not familiar with any of them. Out of your second list Bridal falls, Alligator shoes and Christmas pagent will more than likely end up on my next list.

Bernd, "you have to have both" ok then. I didn't need much convincing did I lol. Seriously they sound different enough thanks.

Mountainy man, I was looking at the photos on your profile. You live in a very beuatiful area. I'm kind of jealous as to how well hostas grow in your part of the world. Here in SC Kansas, we have hot, dry summers and cold, dry winters. I can grow hostas very easily here but they tend to burn even when they are in only 2 hours of direct sunlight and get watered regularly. I am learning that the fragrant hostas burn the least, and the blue hostas burn the most.
I have two blue angels which look great until about the middle of June, then they fry. By September their leaves are mostly brown and crispy. On the other hand, I have a Guacamole and Stained Glass that hardly burn at all except on a couple of leaf tips. I just planted a couple of Royal Standards last spring, so I will see how they do this year.
If things turn out the way I am anticipating they will then I may replace all of my blue hostas with frgrant ones. I am interested in trying Paradigm to see if it resists scorching in my southern Kansas heat.

Hi Plantingman, yes its beautiful here, but somtimes we take it for granted when we see it every day and need to take a fresh look through someone elses eyes to appreciate where we are. (my profound thought for today lol)

Hostas do grow well here but can suffer in our nearly constant wet winter weather and I would trade my webbed feet for some better summer weather! Although we did get a good july last year when the temps reached 31 C which is a rare event.

I have three Elegans in full "Irish sun" and they do fine and they keep their blue. I am going to try my new Guacamole amongst others in full sun too.

Good luck with the fragrants and if you dig out the blues do ship them my way.

Notice that South Kansas is much more south than Northern Ireland. I.e. Wichita, Kansas, is 37.7 dgrs latitude and N. Ireland might be 54 degrees. So the sun has less strength in N. Ireland than in South Kansas and burns less the hostas. It is not only the weather.

To add to this, my parents grew green hostas like 'Lancifolia' in sun in Braunschweig (Brunswik) Germany 52.3 dgrs) with little watering. Mine in upstate NY at 42.9 get scorched. Rome Italy has 41.9 dgrs.
Bernd

This post was edited by berndnyz5 on Sat, Feb 1, 14 at 7:55

Yes, and that strong sun results in dry heat in this geographical area, which scorches.
I'm trying to find hostas that will succeed, but it has been kind of trial and error. At least I now know, with fragrant hostas, a direction to go, so I can increase my success rate.
One of the nice things about this climate is that slugs aren't too big of a problem. BTW pine needles don't stop slugs.

Thanks, yes I understand this, we also have pale ginger people here who prefer the same sun conditions as hostas lol.

As for slugs if I could sell them I'd be a billionaire, was going to try some pine needles so what you say is a bit dissapointing.

Some people swear by pine needles. However, my hostas are surrounded by a thick layer of pine straw mulch, and I still find slugs on them. I have actually seen slugs crawling across the pine needle in my flower beds. Despite this, pine straw is still some of the best mulch you can use. There is a little park across from where I live that has a couple of 100 year old pine trees on it. I load up with a fresh supply of pine needles every spring and fall.

Plantingman, you say that " pine straw is still some of the best mulch you can use", can you tell me why it is so good despite not being a slug deterent.

Would spruce needles work well too?

thanks

Denis

Well, first of all it is MY EXPERIENCE that pine needles don't deter slugs, but like I said before, some people swear by them, because their experience is different. I would suggest that you try them and see what your experience is.

Now in answer to your question: Pine straw mulch composts faster than wood mulch, therefore, providing organic nutrients to the soil faster. However, it does not compress as much as leaves or grass, therefore allowing moisture to reach the roots of plants more quickly. In addition to this, pine straw doesn't usually contain weed and grass seeds that are often present in grass and leaf mulch.
Any organic mulch is good for plants, but IMHO pine straw is the best for the reasons mentioned above.
Yes, spruce needles would work too, but I can't comment on their slug deterring properties.

Thanks, I think an experiment would be interesting, I will try an area with pine and another area with spruce and see what happens. Would two inches be deep enough?

Also free mulch is good mulch.

Thanks for the explanation.

Denis

These are my Blue Angel and Elegans. Both about the same age, the Elegans might get a little more sun but neither get much. I like the difference in the shape of the leaves.

Those are beautiful hostas old_dirt. I wish I could get blue angels to look like that past the month of June. lol

2-3 inches is what I use for my pine straw mulch. I just keep adding more on top as the bottom layer composts. And yes, you're right. The best mulch is free mulch.

Thanks old_dirt, both beautiful plants there, they are quite different when I see the pics together. Elegans looks like it wants to eat its neighbours.

Thanks for taking the time to post the pics.

Denis

Here is my two year old Guacamole that began as a liner next to the Royal Standard I planted last spring. Guacamole is on the right.

Here is an Earth Angel next to the Stained Glass on the right.

Here is Blue Angel next to an Abiqua Drinking Gourd.

Here is another Blue Angel on the right next to an American Sweetheart.

And \, finally, here is the whole row of hostas on the north side of my house.

These photos were taken on 9/4/13, so I guess the burning on the Blue Angels wasn't as bad as I remember, but still bad enough IMO.

Thanks plantingman, good to know.

Its a shame that your Blue angels burn, I would have thought that Earth angel would as well given the same conditions. Mabey you could place an umbrella over them like someone else on the forum does or mabey a lean-to pergola. Is this the only area of shade in your yard?
Mabey I'm way off and its your extreme heat.

It looks lovely along there and can only get better as they get bigger.

Denis

Yes Denis, Elegans has dwarfed it's neighbors. I haven't been very good at spacing and planning for mature plants. This past fall I dug up and moved 8-10 mature large and giant hostas, what a job! I still have that many more to move in the spring. Hopefully i learn something from my mistakes.

old_dirt, there is a saying " let your head save your back" lol

I will try to learn from yours too!

Denis

Old_dirt, I would think that the little hostas would do fine under the big hostas as long as they get adequate moisture. It might make for nice filling between the leaves of the larger hostas. Anyway, I like it.
Mountainy_man, yes this is the only part of my yard that gets that much shade. When I bought this house there were no trees in the yard except for about five Ailanthus altissimas (Trees of Heaven.) I had those invasive species cut down and the stumps killed. Now I have got a very sunny back yard and front yard with the exception of that north side. There is another earth angel towards the front of the house on that north side that I don't have pictures for. It looked pretty ragged due to slugs. I did consider a lean-to but have not done so for fear of how unattractive it might look against the house. Like one other GW user said, "I grow plants for my pleasure, not their's. lol
The BA's may come out next spring and replaced by Paradigms. But its just as well. There really isn't enough room for the BA's being that close to the house.