All things in balance.
Like,
A blue hosta next to a chartruese-----oh,ah,thats not what i meant,i meant to say,share your water,keep your self in balance with your garden needs,,,go buy more hosta.
Maybe-Just 1 more

Carol

Just think of all the things that go into the making of a hostaholic. First, we're gardeners. Second, we're collectors. I bet if all of us here on the forum think about it, hostas are not the first nor (for a lot of us)even the second or third thing we've collected. Third, we must all have some sort of addictive streak in our personallity. When spouses or friends complain, just remind them how good it is that we're addicted to hostas rather than drugs, alcohol, or any one of a number of other things. And who knows, your friend took that first little step.... maybe next year she'll buy one or two hostas and will remember the names. And THEN she'll probably be lost, just like the rest of us :-)

LOL Ladies! Carol,blue next to the chartreuse, nows theres my kind of balance! And true jel, I could be collecting life-size elephant statues! And I decided to buy my friend a couple hostas next spring! If she aint there yet, she will be!

LOVE this thread--great idea and responses. I have been gardening and raising plants from the time I was a wee kid under my grandmother's tutoring--and still loving it after all these years. In 1985, a friend gave me 4 Hosta which I put under a tree and ignored until 1994. That spring, after losing a number of plants AGAIN, I came to the realization that those 4 neglected Hosta were the biggest, brightest, most fool proof, and dependable plants in my garden. And I fell head over heels in love. The rest is history. I still grow other plants and love them, but Hosta are what make my heart beat faster. And Blue next to Chartruese--I feel a faint coming on. LOL Mary

Quick!

Get the smelling salts!

Carol

A fellow choir member from my church came one night to choir practice,and said she had some hostas she divided and wanted to give away. I asked her what kind they were,and she said "the variegated"! It was all I could do to keep from explaning how many types there were out right now! I took some home with me,even though they were just Undulatas. Phil

Upnort,
I have told this story before but I think it really fits in this thread. I am a master gardener so I am on the "call with problems list" that is posted at the U of I.
We had a late freeze last year that followed an unusually warm spring. My phone was ringing from 6 am until 9 pm every day for a week. One memorable call came from a lady that was worried about her Hostas freezing. As usual when she mentioned Hostas my interest peaked. I asked, "How many Hostas do you have?" she replied "Only two... but ,my sister in law has ALL FIVE!" in a braggadocios tone! Can you imagine the restraint that I had to show? I was doing a Hosta presentation at a garden club and ended up arguing with a lady for 5 minutes that hostas were not evergreen. As much as all of us attempt to educate and enable. It can be humbling to find out how little the average person knows and what a task we have at hand in educating them.

Denny

DENNY!!!! OMG! I laughed so loud when I read this! She has ALL FIVE!???! Im SOOOOO JEALOUS! And evergreen? Now theres a new one for the books! Im thinking that perhaps this lack of knowledge is a good thing for us otherwise everyone would have them (all 5) and our gardens wouldnt be as special as they are.

I'll laugh at that one too my wife got hosta's and thought they were evergreen too she also bought some ferns but when they all died back ( dormant ) I just smiled and said told you so. JOsh

Hey Hey Hey!!! I thought most women collected shoes!!!!

Paul

ps- I love "braggadocios tone"

I can totally relate to these stories. I love when non-hosta people come through the garden and tell me that they have one or two that came with their house, and then they always point at one of mine and say, "It's that one!" It will always be one that in a million years never came with a house unless the person before them was a hosta "collector". OMG, I think I sound like a hosta snob!
Jen

Jen, I think Im one too, but dont you think "Hosnob" sounds more refined?

Upnort,
Since you are a fellow "Hosnob" would you be a dear and pass the Grey Poupon? Those non Hosta folks are simply dreadful! Sneaking around my estate and spooking my polo ponies!! The Nerve!

Denny

Denny - "all five of them", just a riot :-). But really, I was that way once upon a time. I had a bunch of hosta (Undulata), had no idea what they were and sometime many years ago we brought home from Walmart (this was way before Home Depot and Lowes came to town) a different looking one (Patriot) and somehow I got a Francee. Then about three years ago it clicked. I came upon the hosta library and saw some articles in Fine Gardening that included hosta and here I am a collector. Funny thing is I am forcing myself to start collecting other things like hydrangea and next year ferns to make my interest in hosta seem a little less strange.

What do I mean by strange? Another salesman and I were visiting a customer. The other salesman and the customer were talking about hunting. What kind of guns they use, tracking deer - some real manly stuff. I don't hunt. I was thinking "I like hosta; lets talk about hosta." But I kept my mouth shut.

Oh thats so funny,
I find my self doing the same thing,if we have company, no less, and every one starts talking about something i am not interested in, i find my self thinking of Hosta,how pretty they are, what i want to buy next, where i will plant it,oh, no, not there,it would look better with ---,i need to move ---, its not the right color combination i want.
We probley all do this,heck, i am doing it right now, and i love you guys! :0)
Carol

Forget shoes,give me plants, especially hosta.

Shoes?Remindes me of leather
Leather reminds me of hosta-H.'Alligator Shoes'
Is this way of thinking normal?
Carol

Seriously, busting my sides laughing Jbranch. Had a great visual of the three of you standing in a group with a little balloon of thoughts above your head.

Yes, I understand strange. My friends and family have finally learned never to point to any particular hosta and go "Ooooh, pretty", because then I'm off and running with..."that one is called ...... and this one is ......, and this one over here is......"

Alexis

OMG! I love laughing in the morning before I open the library, what a great way to start the day! Polo ponies!!! TFF~~~ yes, we are indeed all hosnobs!
I spent 3 days doing nothing except blueprinting my yard just so I can plant hostas on paper all winter. Its amazing how much easier it is to erase than to dig up! I shouldve thought of this years ago!

When I moved to our new house (in a development - grass, 2 trees and 4 shrubs) 6 years ago, I spent the winter thinking about what I could do - a woodland garden (tiny) was possible, so off I went to Lowes and HD and bought 2 packs of hosta, nice shade of green: 5 for $7.97. Guess what I did this summer - I dug up all 10 because they were all infected with Hosta Virus X, which I learned about this year because I'd become a Hostaholic and joined the local hosta group.

I now have well over 200 different hosta in my garden - and I find great joy just looking at them and planning their placement! My poor son is digging me nursery bed and his girlfriend is planting all the hostas I stupidly bought this summer while I have a hugely herniated back and cannot bend to pull up my jeans, let alone plant a hosta! Thank heavens they love me enough to do that for me! Both are computer whizzes and outside is a place they rarely go - programming beats planting any day!

Well I have all winter to recover, and all winter to decide where I'm going to plant these little lovelies!

Jakki