Interesting story, Bruce.

Mystery solved! Neglectful, maybe... but what a great story!

Great story, indeed! Evokes pictures in the mind of a sea of hosta in the middle of a driveway...your mother left a beautiful legacy behind, Bruce.
Your own love of hosta is a wonderful connection.

Thank you for sharing....whenever there is mention of "driveway" again, I'll be picturing that sea of hosta first, then those die-hard hosta hanging on the sidelines with just enough soil to sustain them. :-)

Jo

Thanks for sharing. That's a great story.

bk

I love getting the backstory...thanks!

Wow! Love this story! Thanks for enlightening us. All of a sudden Ken is beginning to make sense lol.
Jan

Love the story, Bruce! I've had hostas growing in my yard (admittedly, not on the driveway) where they were never intended to grow. I just left them a little too long on top of the ground and they 'planted' themselves over time.

Great story,Bruce! But it's not unusual to grow hostas on the driveway. In this pic,you can see hostas growing on the driveway;well not exactly on the driveway) Lol! Phil

There ya go, uprooting a perfectly wonderful urban legend with facts!

ha!

ÃÂ. ÃÂ --~

dave

All of a sudden Ken is beginning to make sense lol.

There ya go, uprooting a perfectly wonderful urban legend with facts!

====>>.

shall i presume you all thought i just made this stuff up ... lol ... humor aside ... i try not to ...

bruce ..... thanks for taking the time.. from the land of oz

the myth continues ...

ken

ps: embellishing the facts ... does not alter the underlying truth ... lol ...e.g. i doubt pauline got angry with them.. and threw them around the yard ... that was all me .... lol

Great to learn where this 'driveway hosta' story originated! I remember when I was active on the hosta forum around 2006 or 2007 that Ken's reference to growing hosta on the driveway made a lasting impression! Thanks for sharing, Bruce.

bumpy

nice story

Awe - there really is a story behind the "driveway treatment" ..... and a good one, too!

I like the backstory too, and this was a great one! The mental images kept me grinning through it all the way! Thanks, Bruce!

Perhaps that is where my mother got her habit of letting some sink or swim on the driveway...LOL She would have been a customer back then. I also remember going to a house near downtown Royal Oak with her and haggling over their hostas. She was obsessed with them.

could the RO house been nancy krull??? .. not sure on that spelling

ken

Nancy Krull lived in Utica.

How close to downtown Royal Oak? We lived 2-3 miles east in Madison Heights off 10 & 1/2 mile rd (Lincoln) , just across the line.

What time period?

I remember Pauline's driveway hostas very well and my foray into hostas began with my first hosta from her. It amazes me just how much Pauline's name still comes up at the farmers market. Along with Harris Olson (our local Mr Daylily) she long be remembered for her love and knowledge of hostas.......and more importantly for being a great lady.

Andy Torvinen, who introduced Snake Eyes, is in Royal Oak and has a nice selection of hostas for sale. Might he be the house lizs' mom went to? The was once owned by Glen Frye, she might remember that.

Here's my first hosta, as suggested by Pauline. H. Naikimo ( the green on on the left)

Oops. Let's try again

Pauline's influence led to my hosta obsession. Pics to prove it.

Don't know what I'm doing wrong. Let's try again.

Correction: Nancy was from Center Line or Warren, not Utica.

Andy T. has sold hosta for sale from his backyard for several years now. He has only been doing it since about 2000?

I recall my mother having the first Michigan hosta society meetings in our Madison Heights home living room, not more than 10 people!

Anyone know where Gene Masta (from Royal Oak) is today?

when i met nancys daughter at hidden lakes ... in the 90s .. i think ...

she took me to a house a block or two off woodward ...

this west sider doesnt know all the little city names along woodward ... and i dont recall between which mile roads ....

but i am positive it wasnt warren of center line

ken

This would have been back in the 90's and 2000's. I suspect we went to the same house only a few blocks off Woodward and perhaps to the house Glen Fry used to own. I remember that the hosta nut at that particular house was a man. Andy sounds familiar.

My mom was a huge supporter of the farmers markets in the area, and would go to hosta society meetings. Small world isn't it?

liz you have anyone out in adrian who does conifers??

ken

Andy's home is close to Woodward.....and yes, he's a hosta nut! Aren't we all? A small world indeed.....made even smaller by the Internet.

With Schmid gardens up for sale we may all be looking for new conifer nursery, so please share. Luckily Tom Schmid is still bringing in great,new stock.......for now at least. Tellys Nursery in Troy has a nice selection, but not like Schmid's.

Mac - love your garden, and especially the "river" of heuchera!

I have some Gold Standard OS because my mom grew up near Pauline and her sister and has a Gold Standard from them. I bought a few hostas when I first got interested in them from Pauline's sister. (I'm not using her name for the sake of her privacy.) I remember seeing a Sagae in her yard, and darn - still wish I would have bought one back then!

What an amazing story! Every bit of it!