I went to my daughter's for the 4th....and today I went on a "nursery crawl" looking specifically for Sum of All...

Since it was close and I was going to buy and lay a bunch of mulch for my daughter ( her gardens look awful!! Like some neglected area off a parking lot....and in other houses her gardens and plantings have been lovely!...So momma spent 1/2 an hour and $20 and did a little cosmetic stuff.)..I started at Lowes...they had some hosta, just uninteresting stuff....and no mulch but that red stuff or big bark chunks...on to Home Depot, a 1/4 mile away...Lots of hosta I would have bought...Regal Splendor...at $4.00 cheaper than going to the trouble of dividing one I have...Whirlwind...nice!...But...they had lots of stuff showing evidence of HVX...even the Regal Splendor was suspect!...but they has fine bark mulch....and alchimilla fot $2.50....so I didn't come away empty handed.

Went back to my daughter's, spread the mulch, Told Chabby I wouldn'[t forget her....and set off on another search for Sum of All...

Went to a lovely high end nursery...and they had a nice big 2 eye pot of S of A for $35....reduced from $55 ( told you it was high end!! LOL!)....with the unmistakable staining of HVX. AARGH!

I talked to the owner....he stated that all his plants were "certified"...meaning that he only buys from certified buyers. I asked what that means....and he said that Iowa state Univ. has certified that the whole-saler they buy from sells only healthy plants!

So my next step is to find out who to call to find out what that's all about.

But, I am still on the look for a reliable, healthy Sum of All. I wanted that one I saw so bad I could taste it!....so I bought a hydrangea, Annabell instead!!

Reminds me of being on the look out for a certain piece of my china....and all I could fine was chipped or discolored....

But...finally....

Linda C