Awesome, Jim. Absolutely fantastic. That's a great start for your collection. : )

Don B.

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Thu, Jul 18, 13 at 23:44

My gosh, that is so beautiful! I hope to visit one day.

Absolutely gorgeous. Spectacular!

Goodness gracious me. That takes my breath away. Thank you, WW

Very beautiful and I would love to be lead down that garden path . It is without a doubt breathtaking. He and she can show this yard with much pride. Don as far as a "start " for his collection, not sure where he can put too many more to improve these perfect gardens . wow

Thanks so much for showing it to us
Faye

Thanks for sharing Jim, I could wander about those paths for hours!

Gesila

I was kidding, Faye. There must be at least a thousand in these pics.

Don B.

P.S. Jim, if I ever get to tour your gardens, will you just hit me in the head with a shovel after you show me around? I want to go out on top.

Your gardens are spectacular. Well tended with prime plants.
Cher

WOW, seems to be inadequate.

wow jim,,,you really have them packed in there...

all look very healthy and happy...

jill

I knew that you were kidding Don.. We would be so fortunate to have a garden this mature , organized and beautiful. You too are getting to have this many beauties too No offense intended to you

Great,gardens Jim! I see you like to grow them close together like me,also. The only thing about mine is,I'm the only one that goes down the garden path! Keep up the good work! Phil

Jim, beautiful gardens..thanks for sharing!
James

Jim - I love the raised beds. Did you construct them yourself? I would really enjoy meandering along those paths and taking in the sheer beauty of it all.

DD.

Oh, no offense taken, Faye....I wish my gardens could hold this many hosta.....I guess I'll break it to Karen tonight that we're going to have to move! : )

Don B.

A gorgeous garden! I envy you those big,mature hostas, nothing to do but keep watering my own and wait a few years. Love the little angular bed for minis. I copied the picture for future reference. Does getting them off the ground help cut down on pest damage?

I am dreaming now and in my dreams . . . I'm strolling through your gardens . . . you are naming the hosta and educating me about them . . . I am asking question upon question and then more questions . . . I go home happy. (You may have a headache by the end of the visit!)

Really great garden. I can see it's been a labour of love.

Like Donna, I am struck by the raised beds which seem to increase the planting surface of your space. I hope that one day, we might head toward Plymouth, MN, which sounds like a far north spot. I was looking at the mailing address on the old USPS box some of your hosta arrived in....DH is using it on the front stoop to catch paint drippings. I thought to myself, gee, since I entered the magic world of hosta, I've acquired hosta from so many places, grown familiar with so many fine people, all across this country and into Canada and even in the UK and Sweden and maybe a few other Euro countries as well. But for sure, the hosta here came from Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, and Washington states. Did I miss any? :)

Perhaps I can get all the coordinates for the hosta nurseries, and the display gardens, and create a data base of POI (Points of Interest) for GPS users.

I love your garden paths, Jim. The path is meant to lead you onward. What is around the next bend. Just wide enough for your dolly or service wagon, that's all you need. Boy, you must need a ton of pine needles for your pathways and mulch.

What does it look like in winter? Or, at least, before the snow falls? Do you clean it up before or leave it until after it melts? I've never had to deal with AFTER.

And I look out the window right now, and see it raining quietly, coming straight down, the wild birds flapping among the wet leaves of the camellias the squirrel still hanging upside down by its back feet to pig out on the sunflowers of the bird feeder. Rain is not deterring it from a late lunch. I cannot wait until we have a metal roof to get full effect of the rain. Good day to curl up with a book and listen to it rain, and look out the window at the garden, drinking it in.
Thanks for sharing your lovely space.

Absolutely stunning. I agree that the raised angled beds for minis are genius! You combine such a design eye with your greenest of thumbs.

Oh yeah, that would be the epitome of a garden tapestry. Very nicely done, thanks.

tj

Just wonderful! There is so much interest with the winding paths, different raised areas (key in my opinion) . I plan on checking this out again when I can spend more time looking at each thing in detail. Keep posting pictures!

Faye, next year when everything in your garden leaps think of the raised planter in picture #3. You could make something like that.

Myrle

Myrle, like you, the #3 picture caught my eye. Very creative, and look at all the space it creates. I was figuring the sheer volume of soil it would take.

Absolutelly stunning. I, also, would love to go down those paths. Thanks for showing us!

I have to say, since I was just there, that the photos don't even begin to do it justice. Everyone should visit Jim's. Newhostalady, I lived your dream on Tuesday. And it was wonderful! I learned so much on my visit, about hostas, and about so much more. Jim is a wonderful person, as is Sheila, his wife, and their gardens are stunning! The visit was so worth the drive! And Moc, or anyone who is thinking about driving up to visit Jim, please stop here in central Iowa for a visit. You are all welcome to our guest room on your drive north! :) Then you can tour my mulch beds, with baby hostas, so then you will appreciate the full grown garden so much more. :)

leading someone down the garden path = leading astray hmm so leading someone down your garden path = leading them into hostaholism This is not a bad thing necessarily ...but this may not be an objective opinion

Myrle , I already did a copy of the #3 picture lol. I have some of these squares I had made for a tower of strawberries and never threw them out but didn't know what to do with the tower... I think there were four levels. I can recycle and use them for hosta. So many great ideas HE has

I need to print these pictures to remind me how those beds look. My beds are filled with plants, but look boring even with brick paths, so I need to discover why yours look so wonderful. Maybe I need to make some raised areas. I do have a group a 3 large rocks for green relief and a concrete hippo hiding under some large leaves.

Perhaps my favorite view is in picture 4... the curving paths between 3 irregularly shaped mounds. I like the naturalistic look.

Which is funny as this is probably my most non-natural garden.

No hosta wants to live under big old spruce trees. These trees ate up every bit of nutrient in the soil as they grew, and their foliage directs all moisture to the drip edge where their living roots are still trying to do their work even as the old duffers bumble along.

The result - barren dry soil in deep shade. The only thing that ever grew there was violets.

Some years ago I acquired about 250 new cultivars and had no place to grow them. Inspired by effigy mounds created by Native Americans 1000 and more years ago, I designed these raised mounds... they are constructed of loads of garden soil, peat moss, sand, compost, and whatever I could get my hands on.

The hostas can handle the shade... they have great soil and I water them regularly to beat the natural desert character of under-spruce environment... and they seem to be doing ok!

So... raised beds can have stone or wood... but they can also be freeform mounds... an attractive way to display hostas, I think...

My favorite is the stadium seating he has in pictures 6 and 7, I believe. All of these have one really great advantage: they get the hosta up where you can see them. I don't have much relief in my garden - hence the vignettes of containers. Nice threads Jim. I like your approach, paths and beds.

Beverly

Another view of the northeast raised railroad tie beds, with one of the best seats out of the house... wow... those plants have sure leapt in the couple years since this was taken...

Jim, I notice the notches cut in some of your crossties. That is a lot of heavy work, cutting and lifting them into place. And I like the legs beneath your slab for a bench. Where the bird bath is, I noticed it in another photo, there is now a THIRD object with those two sections of post serving as pedestals. I like the stone laid for flooring in that spot....it reminds me of a base for a sunken fountain, the water to recirculate and splash down on the rocks. A tall stand pipe with water coming out, splashing around, then coming back up, it would be a delightful sound to hear as a person strolls through the lovely space.

Do you have a "water feature" anywhere in the garden? Either still water in a bowl, or splashing water in a recirculating fountain? Working in a garden with such a sound in the background would have to be enjoyable.