Don and Newhostalady - interesting perspectives provided by your cool closeups!

BC

My favourite time of the year, so much potential. I get a huge buzz out of this time of the year.

Can't wait for it to begin again !

Spot the photo bomber

Dave

Ha Ha, Dave. The photo bomber stands out like a sore thumb! Gees, how many hostas do you have??

Another favorite photo -

Donna, I keep telling her the same thing. She sits near the bird feeders convinced they can't see her !

I've never counted numbers of hostas properly, I even started writing the names down to compile a list.

Frankly lifes too short to worry about how many, there are lots of other things I would rather be doing!

I guess somewhere over the 300 mark of different names, you can add another dozen or so for duplicates.

My project for this year is to link them up to an auto watering system.

Dave

Thanks hostatakeover for your nice comments. Great closeup and drops photo Don. I can see that you too appreciate those closeups and drops! Way to go!

Love the photo with all your pots Dave! What I would love even more would be to actually have been right there amongst those pots!

Phenomenal photos again, Peren.all! Can't wait to see what this season brings!

Sherry

Awww thank you Sherry! I am so looking forward to Spring!

Ahhhh . . . . only a few more short weeks to go. Hopefully. My new favorite combination: hosta + heuchera.

Your photos are beautiful. Just love them. Connie is right, the quality of the photos is really amazing.

I'm curious, have any of you done a photo gallery wall with all these gorgeous pictures? Especially the closeups. Don, mbug, jo, so many of you have close ups that would look breathtaking on a photo wall.

The varied shapes, sizes colors and leaf shapes of hostas continually amaze me.

Coleus seem to be a perfect partner to hostas..

To leave flowers on or cut them off…what to do? Since hostas are closely related to lilies, the white flowers, particularly at the end of summer, have remarkably sweet fragrance. A freshly cut stem, placed in a vase with water, can perfume a kitchen for several days.

June has been said to have watercolor-like markings.

Don, great idea, especially this time of the year. I envy your Guardian Angel.

Hostanista, your first photo what is the combination in the lower right corner of the photo? Outstanding.

Josephine, your photos are beautiful.

Hostahosta, in your last photo, what is the hosta at the very back, maybe Captain Kirk?

newhostalady, nice photographs, in fact - all of the photos posted by everyone are so nice to see! I love the forest scenes.

tsugajunkie 3rd photo down, what is the hosta in front of the fish?

Paula-That is my oldest June from a couple of years ago. It was over 4 feet across this year.

tj

Enjoying everyone's garden views and closeups!!

Found a few more closeups

Brother Stefan closeup

Brother Stefan emerging in the rain

June blooms

Deep Blue Sea closeup

Great Expectations closeup

Cup of Grace closeup

Love Pat

Thanks again Don....keep it going!

new bed full of promise

Well done Paula....beautiful already!

Dancing Queen - early on...

Whoa! Such beautiful gardens! Paula_b_gardener, does that hammock ever get any use? Not by the look of your pristine gardens!

I posted a while back about my dragon bed so I thought this would be a good thread to show it to y'all.

Can you see the dragon?

I'm still in New Orleans, no hostas here, but it's already spring. I was at the fabulous Audubon zoo with my grandsons today, short sleeves, high of 76F. If you need to get away next winter, come to the Mardi Gras, still the greatest free show on earth.

Kathy

Kathy, is that your Komodo Dragon in the centre of the bed AND a smaller one in the barrel? The one in the bed looks like it will eat up the others in no time! A beauty!

Paula, it's good to have you back! thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed my photos. You have been busy - I love the colour palette of the new bed, looks beautiful. You moved to acquired acreage last year, didn't you? (I think it was you).

Is the first photo of the bed in front of the house? The one where you removed a large shrub back in 2013 or 2014? If I'm confusing you with someone else, just forgive me please, lol.

Paula: the hosta you asked about is Lakeside Shore Master.

Komodo Dragon in my garden. It came delivered to my house in a 4" pot one fine spring day 5 years ago. I so love it! As far as I can measure, it is between 5 and 6' wide.

Here it is in full bloom...

Donna, you have a fantastic eye for blending the perfect mix of colors and textures together. Your gardens are just breathtaking.

Bill, that *thunk* you just heard was me, fainting at the sight of your Komodo Dragon. Amazing growth rate.....is your neighborhood missing any pets or small children?

Thank you for the lovely compliment, hostatakeover. Believe me there was no grand plan in the beginning when I knew nada about hosta. It has evolved as my knowledge has expanded with the help of all the knowledgeable people on this forum. I can say I've been gardening for 40+ years. Don, thanks for starting this thread. It is a joy looking at all the beautiful photos of many talented gardeners. When you plant a garden, you plant happiness is the sign in my garden, and I truly believe it.

Wonderful pics from everyone, thank you for sharing. I had no rhyme or reason (except for the fragrant bed) when starting my hosta beds. I just bought em and planted em. I see I have quite a few variegated hostas planted together, which isn't ideal, but looks OK to me...

Most of the pics I took this season were close-ups and posted on other threads...here are my favourites.

Beautiful pictures, ConnieMay!

Mommas_secrets, I love your sense of balance and scale. What's the gold hosta at 7oclock? Please post pictures when this bed matures!

I'm going to post the dragon picture again for you, Jo, and identify.

Komodo Dragon is the hump of the dragons back. Salute is in front of KD and is the neck of the dragon. The dragon's crest is SILVER STAR™. The eyes were a birthday gift that have been rolling around my house for 15 years, looking for their true home. The snout is Allegan Fog, a fabulous non-complaining hosta. One Man's Treasure is the left front leg with Ripple Effect as a claw. On Stage and Holleywood Lights are the left and right wing. Twist of Lime is still trying to figure out what part of the dragon it is. Restless Sea and of course Dragon Tails are in the barrel to be the tail. I had a lot of chemical assistance making this up, but I like the way it's coming along.

Kathy

Kathy, what I obviously missed the first time I sure got the second time around, lol! Thank you for the "dragon tour"! It sure looks like a dragon now that my eyes have been opened.

Your creativity is delightful and I'll bet your grandsons think their Grandma is the coolest!

Kathy I don't have names for most of my Hostas. I inherited them from a family whome were not gardeners. They had purchased a home with lovely gardens and they have 6 children and live part of the time here and the rest of the yr in Ottawa. When I saw the children using a baseball bat on the tulips their fist spring in the home i assured them I knew a loving home for all her plants. Can you point out the one more carefully and I'll look to see if I have a name as some of them I did purchase. (7oclock)? Dark green, white edges? Or smaller one to the right of it?

Mommas_secrets, the bright gold one that looks like you gave it plenty of room for growth. Behind the two red flowers.

Hi Jo - what a memory you have! Yes, it is 'me' and thank you for the welcome. We acquired almost 2 acres early last year.

Hostahosta - thank you for naming LS Shore Master. I have that one but my colours are different than yours.

tsugajunkie the last photo that I posted includes a photo of my June, it isn't nearly the size that yours is though.

Thanks for catching my question(s), Paula! Can't wait to see what you have planned for all those hostas you were fortunate to take with you! :D

Kathy_b in answer to your question the hosta combination in my first photo bottom right are Elegans, Liberty (a tiny bit of Pilgrim showing under Liberty) and Plantaginea.

Hi Paula - I remember when you were talking about your move and bringing your hostas with you. Nice to have you posting again.

I didn't take this photo, simply copied it when Hostanista started the About Face thread two or so years ago...where we posted our selfies/photos and introduced ourselves. I absolutely love this photo because I fell in love with our "Phil/hostafreak" right then and there! :) (the other pleasant-looking fella on the left with Phil is our very own Ken :-). Phil and his wife had visited Ken that day.)

Phil (RIP) comes to my mind often regardless of time of year but especially when I see my Sagae and a couple of others hostas we had in common.

so....I am posting this, one of my favourite photos, even though it didn't come from my garden. Miss you, Phil. Wish you could see all these beautiful pictures....

I was thinking about Phil yesterday when posting and I remember this photo that Ken posted. It is so strange how someone that you only 'know' through the Internet can have such an impact on your life. I miss him, too he was always so kind and willing to offer advice to help anyone.

Well, I just quickly 'surfed' through a bunch of pictures and found a few I liked...

Out of room.....Jon

You found a few I like as well, Jon! : )

Great minds Don.

Jon, at the risk of repeating myself..... you sure grow nice hostas...no matter which one it is. They look well cared for but what I notice more than anything is their size! They always get a second look from me....or third...or....:-)

Guacamole Don, this wonderful thread has taken on a life of its own! I am bookmarking it now. Thank you.

Thanks Jo. I always gravitate toward big/giant hosta....although I have a few (3) 'mistakes' that I made early on: Blue Mouse Ears, Hadspen Blue and Fire and Ice. The first two are spreading, so they will stay where they are. The Fire and Ice is going to find a space in the Sun or in exile to where I rarely see it.

Jon ;-}

Sun Power showing off.

Like this one too -

That particular one has beautiful composition of texture and colour. Simply beautiful, Donna!

Jon, you have a good plan...plant Fire and Ice in more sunlight. It likes it - at least it does here. :)

My "sista" is so sweet.

zkathy(7aNc) the snow had melted today so I went to check if this little hosta that you were curios about had a name...I purchased it and try to keep those identified. so its... "June" it's now 4 yrs old and still remains fairly small.

Mommas_secrets-What a chameleon June is! I would have guessed a lot wrong before I guessed June.

Here in NC, of my three Fire and Ice, the two in more shade do much better.

Kathy

my favorite shady corner photo., only one little hosta in there though. :)