It's wonderful to see things mature! Thanks for the time-lapse tour.

Hey, I think, maybe, from looking at your 'Spring Fling,' that perhaps that's what my Hosta Mystery #3 is... what do you say?

Beautiful,Buff!! You can definitely see why looking at an immature hosta doesn't tell the story of how well it will be later! Planting hostas is always a joy,but when you see them only one year later,is when you start to appreciate them. Phil

Thanks Buff--how encouraging! Things are looking wonderful!!!

BTW- How did the wedding go? Oops, answer that on the "Other Side"! :o)

janice

Beautiful photos!

Is that your Spring Fling in the 3rd photo, at about 3 o'clock? It looks great in that setting.

Thanks for posting.

Alexa

very nice, Buff!

Is that a little fairy/dwarf garden in the top right of some of the photos?

to me, the most amazing thing about your photos is that you've left your plants in the same place for three years running! that's sure a habit i need to cultivate. my "summer music" is already in it's third location this month alone.....

Alexa and janetpetiole... you both have a very sharp eye!

For Alexa, yes, that is Spring Fling in the 3rd picture, 3 o'clock position. It is the only one with a ruffled edge in that area, and it really stands out...

And for janetpetiole, yes, I have a little dwarf garden in the top right of some of the photos (it is a trough I made at hosta college last year.) Actually, you can see in the 2006 picture, the dwarf cedar is nice and green, but in the 2007 pictures, you can see it is reddish/brown because it died over the winter... I am planning to take it out sometime soon. There is a tiny dwarf hosta in there too... Masquerade... and the gnome which resided there last year is still inside and hasn't made his way out there yet!

Phil... you are correct about not being able to appreciate the true beauty of a hosta until it matures for a few years. Spring Fling was not much to look at in 2005, but now in 2007 it is one of my favorites. It's finally starting to look like those hosta library pictures...

And Janice... I'm not afraid to answer your question over here :-) The wedding was wonderful, everything went as planned, and my bridesmaid dress fit fine (after some minor adjustments!)

Buff

Hi Buff
Beautiful hostas!! Where did you get your plant labels...I need to retag all of mine this year...ugh! So I will need to get about 200 of them and I am afraid that is going to break the bank...or at least leave less for buying plants. But it has to be done
Vicki

Thanks Vicki! I got my metal labels from Eon Industries, and then used an electronic label maker to print out the names. The labels you can see above were done on white label tape (which eventually fades in sun as I didn't use UV-resistant tape,) but all labels I am now making are done on clear tape, and it looks MUCH nicer. In fact, I just ordered my second batch of labels from Eon about a week ago (my first batch of 100 lasted 2 years...) I buy about 100 at a time... also use them on my small-ish daylily collection. See the link below to Eon's website. I buy the nursery markers, E-series, in various lengths (E-20, E-15, E-10 refers to the stake length, all plates are the same size.) This time I also bought some of the mini E nursery labels to use on my dwarf hostas in troughs, etc., and I bought some replacement plates too. By the way, I am not affiliated with this company, just a very satisfied customer.

Buff

Here is a link that might be useful: Eon Industries

Wonderful hostas! Do they get a fair ammount of sun? I need to be braver and plant in more sun to bring out the golds and yellow colors of some of mine.

Connie

I just got Spring Fling this year a small one eye TC plant, the leaves are very swollen and twisted was yours like this at this stage the grower asures me it is normal and it will grow out of it, hope it will be like yours next year

Hi there, bobinfrance... First of all, great choice getting Spring Fling. It really is one of my favorites. I don't recall my SF having swollen or twisted leaves, but I agree with the grower that it will grow out of this phase. Just give it some time and I suspect it will start to look much better! Just look at my pics above for some inspiration... the plant in 2005 wasn't much to look at, now I think it's a stunner!

Good Luck,
Buff

By the way, are you able to post pictures? It might help us if we could see what you're talking about...

Buff,
What are you feeding those hosta. Mine never look like that in three years.....Nice shots, plants looking very good!

Just beautiful! Love the transformation!

May 05