Leap, for me, means all of the above. Number of eyes, size and shape and maturing of leaves. That's a mighty fine Guac you have there. Pass the chips.

-Babka

I find that most of my hosta do a big leap in their third year.

DD

the leap occurred .. the season you walked by.. and said.. holy carp.. what the hell happened to that thing ... lol

i like to think of it.. as FINALLY.... performing to standard ... when it looks like everyone elses ... which for many of you.. who dont tour mature gardens... might be hard to tell ...

and if you dont.. you have to revert to the blasphemy above stated ... lol

ken

Kenny boy - The season I walked by..and said..holy carp..what the hell happened to that thing...lol - is usually year 3 in my garden. Blasphemy??? You speakest with a forked tongue. La de da......:)

DD

yes 3 is average.. for average sized hosta ...

i had an elegans.. that took 5 .. it went from large.. to hot spit humungo ...

you cant set peeps up by simply saying.. oh yeah... its always 3 years.. thats my point ...

ken

Grape Fizz is classified as a "large" hosta 18 x 36. I suspect it won't get much larger this year. I certainly don't want to set peeps up for a BIG disappointment. I'm just saying that in MY garden I have observed that MY hosta leap in year 3. That's not set in stone. Happily, Santa's Guac leaped in year 3 for him but ultimately should be much larger. So peeps, please don't blame me if your hosta do not leap in year 3. (:

DD

I remember when my Guacamole got to look like everybody else s. It didn't have much contrast, and I kept wondering what I was doing wrong. Then one year, it looked really good. This is mine in 2012. I must have taken 20 photos of it that year.

bk

bk.........what a great shot.

The reason I assumed mine had done the hosta leep was not only the color being hugely different than the previous years but because of the overall look of the leaves. I was totally shocked at the change. I had never even heard the term before last spring and assumed that what I had in previous years was what it would look like forever. Early last year was when I found this forum and figured out what had happened.

Ahhh yes! That is why we wait and wait and wait then are so overjoyed we have to buy more and more. The problem with growing them in pots is that eventually they outgrow the pot and must be divided. This sets each division back a few years. SO you need to have many, many hostas in pots constantly maturing in order to get that thrill constantly each year. Suckers...all of us potheads. Confessions of a pothead.

-Babka

"Oh, Donna.....oh, Donna!" (La Bamba, remember?)
Well, I knew that magnificent plant in your pictures to be GRAPE FIZZ, and not just any ole GF, but YOUR GF. Award winning hosta with exquisite blooms. And I had just mentioned it in the other thread..........cannot wait to see it this year.

Ummmm, Babka, it sounds reasonable to me.
To quote Lucy in Peanuts:
"I don't want any ups and downs. All I want is ups and ups."

Works for me too. :)

Oh Mocc- I was Freshman in HS the day the music died. They (Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens) were supposed to appear at My HS sock hop (Park Ridge IL) that weekend. We are in the same place.

-Babka

Ah memories, Moc. The guys always asked me to dance when they played "Oh Donna" at our high school canteens in the 60's. We are Babka and Moc in the same place!

I was Freshman in HS the day the music died.

==>>> hmmmmm .. i was born 8 months later ...

ken

On 3rd Feb 1959, 22-year-old Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens, aged 17, died in a plane crash shortly after takeoff from Clear Lake, Iowa.

I didn't realise that they were so young when they died. I grew up playing my mother's 45's, there was some great music back then.

Denis

Babka, that your dance was their destination is awesome. ...and Donna was the girl called out to dance to HER song....and.....I was an awkward teenage singing all the songs with my best friend until one of us no longer knew the words and the other WON (satisfaction was the prize). Oh mercy, rainy days and Mondays....... our youths were one long wistful innocent song after another.

Ken, born 8 months later a preemie? :) Just kidding, of course.

I feel so guilty wistfully thinking about retirement and more time to hang out in my garden when people my age are thinking about running for president.

Kathy

I would say that unless unless you plan to run for president you should stop thinking and retire. See how easily I fixed that for you?

I didn't get any leaps for a long time, but mostly because I moved either the whole bed or the indiv. plants (each time for a Very Good Reason). After seeing no eyes looking out of the ground this year until just last week, this morning (after yesterday's all day rain), I think I'm in for a leap year right across the whole bed! I think I am getting a much bigger leap from my middle-size plants. The larger plants (like Sum&Sub and Wu) are sending up a few more shoots than they did last year, but not nearly as many as the diamond tiara. Are the middle sizes just more prolific? Is there something I can do to encourage the big guys? I fertilize in spring when the lawn gets done, and again mid-summer (more or less, and to coincide with a storm that's predicted to be a multi-day event). Thanks. pk

Patti, what you are doing sounds right to me. Of course, I'm a pothead hosta gardener, in an extreme climate. One little touch you might benefit from is the time release fertilizers. I've been told that they are time release up until the temps reach the 90s and then they dump the whole load in the pot. So after mid June or July at the latest, I do not put out those pellets. Your climate may be different.

I wish I could post a picture of a H. Sum & Substance with Van Wade standing beside it. It was planted in 1986 the sign says, and believe me, it is as much a monster size as the one shown advertising Empress Wu. And it is GOLD, which is a choice color in my zone. Although I must admit, the blues are really showing beautifully this spring. Greens are always doing good.

I'm waiting for DH to bring some mosquito repellant spray so I can go safely into the garden today. We finally have a short break in the rain, well over 15 inches this last few days, and more t-storms predicted for the rest of the week. All the water of course has roused even the slowest emerging of the hostas into quick growth. I say though, it doesn't look like I have 500 pots to me.....maybe I can squeeze in a few more? I expected attrition to take care of tight quarters, don't think I lost many, although some are in need of better locations to grow properly....... and they said hostas did not grow in Mobile....HA!

Well, here you are, Mocc...

Holy crap. Is that a hosta or a scene from Lost In Space?

That's IT. And Van Wade is no short man either. Thanks for helping out, Don.
When it stops raining, I'll do some picture taking of the in-ground hosta which includes S&S and Empress Wu. My "experimental bed" along the driveway is not doing so hot this spring. It was a wet winter, and now a wet spring. Drainage is a problem. I may have to put the hostas back into containers to save them.

15 inches of rain? Any sign of ark construction? We could use a foot or two of the wet stuff here. We've had a wetter than normal spring but we need a lot more to get the aquifer level back up after a dry last few years.

I may have my second hosta to have taken a leap. My 3rd year Francee was one of the last to get started and is really flush with new growth now. It's just now really getting in gear but the two largest leaves are at least twice the size that they have ever been before. Bigger around than my hand, where before they were long but not nearly as large in diameter. I'm not seeing a big difference in color, just more pips and larger leaf size. Definitely as Ken described it early in this thread...what the hell happened to this thing?

Way to go, Steve! I remember that last year I thought I lost Francee in a pot...until she finally poked up! A really late riser for sure!

Can't wait to see your pics this year of ALL of your hostas!

Yep, it is a wunnerful thing to see them change. Hostas are dramatic about it, which is one reason I look forward to touring the display gardens at the AHS Convention in June. Perhaps I ought to take an extra camera with extra batteries, PLUS....
I RECEIVED MY APPLE iPHONE 6 + TODAY. YEEEEHAAAAA!!!! The new sim card arrives next Monday.
Watch out, BKay, I apologize for upside down crossways pictures in advance. :)
I am doing a lot of leaping about myself. Ummm, do you think the Wheeee! leaped?

Steve, I have 2 5-gallon buckets out in the front yard and one is almost brim-full, the other one had some broken concrete pieces from re-cementing the front walk. There are so many mosquitos in the back yard I am avoiding the garden until I get some skeeter repellent. The soaked and heavy pecan tree limbs are falling too, so far no damage to the hostas. We had a sunny morning, but now again overcast with much rain forecast. A canoe/kayak event scheduled for Saturday is cancelled because of flooding along the river. It is a mess!
Meanwhile, all the hostas are drinking up the rainfall, looking lush and beautiful. Looks like Sagae and Avocado are pumped up and leaping too.

Mosquitoes already? It's too early for those *%@*+!!s but for 15 inches of rain here I'd take them.

I'd say you've got some leapin' going on there! Wheee! looks like it's growing all over itself. Sagae looks tremendous. Liberty is one of my new ones this spring, which of course is a sport of Sagae. It is just now unfurling it's first leaf, never had a hosta with this sized leaf before it has even opened. Not even S&S looks so large at this stage. I'm looking forward to this one a lot.

I see you have a bird's nest fern. I have one hanging in one of my oaks in the backyard. I always get comments about it. A very cool fern. What's the hosta at the bottom and just to the left of the fern?

Ahh, you have a good eye there, Steve. That would be Sally And Bob, a streaker and I believe a good breeder too--and a gift (along with Dorothy Benedict) from Land Of The Giants Jeff Miller. In its second growing season here. So you like it, do ya? It sure is a good growing hosta, I might have to watch for sports, don't know nothing about streakers.....

I love those bird nest varieties, and the staghorns too. I got my start in staghorns up in Massachusetts from Barbara Jones--who turns out to be with AHS....little did I know. The staghorns were here when the hostas began arriving in 2012

Now they have adequate shading beneath the camellia sasanquas. Taken mid November 2014. They winter over inside my Teahouse

Sh

I've never even researched staghorns, other than to know that they grow about an inch a decade. :) Yours is a real stunner, as is Sally and Bob. Never heard of Land of the Giants. I'll have to check out their website.