Glad to hear you are doing well.

Earth AngelEbb TideEmerald Roughcut Elvis LivesEmmitt ArmitageEmpress WuEnchiladasEpiphanyEternal FlameEl Niño

Bill

Another view of Empress Wu -

Elegans

Good to hear that you are doing better, Paula! I love Grandpa's pants :-)

Ach, Dave, that poor Empress on the banks...I hope this summer it will look much better! Are the big ones along the wall below the Empress in pots?

Karin

Two of my Elegans babies, had one monster, now have six!

All of the plants above are volunteers or divisions from another part of my gardens.Sherry

Empress WuElegansnot a hosta but a double E!!..Elephant Ears lol..this is funny..that was a new caladium in the pot sitting in front of an August Moon..I looked at this pic thinking "what new hosta was in this pot?" and then figured it out..I think Bill wins for the most E's..

I'd love to have a few EE's, but they are big...maybe I give it a try with some colourful small ones...might look good with the hostas...

Karin..they ARE big..fun but a lot more trouble than a hosta..

What extraordinary E's. I love all the pictures. Fun to dream about spring when it is 7 degrees out now and forecast for -6 tonight. Glad to hear you are feeling well today Paula.

Here are my E's

Two views of Earth Angel

Empress Wu just starting to come up

and in June just getting ready to bloom

Question for Earth Angel growers. Does it grow closer to the soil than other hosta??? I have a hosta I suspect is Earth Angel , just wondering about growth habit.

Sherry

I had to enlarge the vampire one. Oh, I guess he's right, ha!

Paula, hopefully every day gets better.

Emerald Ruff Cut is a pretty one.

nicholsworth, you reminded me to check on my EE in the basement. Fingers crossed it comes back.

El Nino would say, "Back off bearded iris."

Empress Wu stands tall but gets only one pass of the soaker hose. Next year I want to wrap it around twice for more water. I think that's why the edges brown by July.

Eye Declare

Sherrygirl, my Earth Angel does grow close to the ground. It is still a young plant so I am not sure if that will change.

Emerald Charger

Earth Angel

Emerald Neclace

Easy to Love

El Nino, hard to get a large plant, it constantly wants to revert.

Electrocution

Elegans, someone has to move, either Elegans or the Rhododendron.

Empress Wu, hoping for a leap.

Envy

Eye Candy

old dirt..love Electrocution!..a clever name..love the fireworks effect..lots of E's just like Bill..

Paula....wishing you only good news!!

Just a couple of E's

Earth Angel closeup

Earth Angel 6-20-17

Envy closeup 7-6-17

Envy

This year I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked. I had a lot of repotting to do and that took priority.

I bought a few new E's but only took a photo of El Nino:

I enjoy elephant ears too and have the same plant as you do Nicholsworth55. I plant them into pots rather than into the garden. They are a lot of fun. They love warm weather and each newly emerging leaf gets bigger and bigger.

Earth Angel I have two---one in the ground . . .

And one in a pot

newhostalady..I'm planning to grow some Elephant Ears in pots this year..they look great in pots..

My Empress Wu was underwhelming this year. (That's a good ole common Gold Standard on the left.)

Here's her picture in early summer and she didn't really do too much the rest of the season. I think she's teaching me a lesson for moving her every year for three years in a row.

Glad you're better, Paula. And I'm still turning the Vampire thing over and over in my mind . . .

Karin the plants in front of the house below E.Wu are all in the ground.

They have been there about 5 years now. It is the back of the house which faces north.

Bressingham Blue, Francee, Paul's Glory, Francis Williams and an Aureomarginata but I haven't decided which one.

Francee will have to move this year as it is being crowded out.

Dave

Oh, those Emeralrd Ruff Cuts! Why do I not own that Hosta? I think they’re supposed to be hard to grow. But it doesn’t look like it on this thread!

Go for it Kathy! It is not on Don Rawson's list of difficult to grow, but I have heard people say it is. I remember us looking at mine, pity cross border plants are frowned on or I would have shared.

My Emerald Roughcut took 3 years to take off, but it’s going fast now. It’s one of my most favorite hostas!

Dave, this row looks great. But poor Francee is really overcrowded by the other monsters :-)

zkathy, I bought Emerald Rough Cut in 2016, but it came not back the following year. But I will give it another chance because it's so beautiful.

You need to know grandpa's chest size when buying him pants. Does look kind of comfortable. Reminds me, I need to get some overalls. Do ya wear underwear with overalls?

You need underwear only if you like to leave the sides unbuttoned. Drafty, you know.

Empress Wu does seem to react to being dug up, but mine put on more growth the following year after moving.

I've also grown quite a few varieties of elephant ears for years now. The ones I grow in the earth grow much, much better than those in pots (not that I'm very good at keeping plants in pots anyway).

Trying to over-winter the bulbs is a frustrating exercise for me. I've had some that I prized greatly, that the bulb looked and felt good all winter, only to suddenly rot completely, a month before I wanted to plant them.

I found the Xanthosomas seem to be the easiest to keep over winter, even small ones as houseplants. Check out, xanthosoma 'Mickey Mouse'.

This young one isn't showing some of the REALLY funky leaves it grows as it gets bigger. If you Google it you can see some better examples.

Steve..what a fancy EE!..I saved all of my bulbs..hoping for success in 2018..I like the burgundy plant (lower left corner) and the pink blooming one on the right..guessing sedum? and turtlehead?..

I can't resist any longer. Not only are you hosta enablers, you're EE enablers!

I have to show this Thai Giant EE that I got last year. I was disappointed that the bulb I received was so small, but look at the size of the leaves it grew in its first year. There is a good sized pot behind that leaf.

I did as Bruce Banyai (RIP) suggested and potted it in a smaller pot and am overwintering it in my basement along with some Cannas. I really like it and want to keep on growing it bigger each year, but I've also had trouble overwintering EE bulbs in the past.

sandyslopes..those leaves are big enough to block the window!..Bruce had amazing tropicals..

Just a few Es

Emerald Tiara

English Sunrise

Eye Declare in April in potEye Declare in May put in the ground.

Barb, do you have a pic of Eye Declare in the fall?

Sunnywood, check your Ebb Tide label, doesn’t looks like it.

Beth, try having the furnace go out with those outdoor temps...right on the coldest day of the year. Hope we can get it fixed in the AM.

Steve in PA, what is the name of your purple sedum?

Don't have any elephant ears but love the ones on here! Did get canna rhizomes late this season thinking that I could overwinter them in the basement, but less than two months in more than half of them are completely shriveled up. Hope I can get replacements in the Spring that are virus-free like these are/were supposed to be. "Love it" how both hostas and cannas are affected by widespread viruses...

Speaking of hosta, got English Sunrise late in the season too, and assuming that it comes back, not sure yet if I love it or hate it. The "yellowing" looks like a dying Halcyon...for some reason doesn't look like a "healthy" yellow hosta to me, if that makes any sense. Hopefully it grows on me before I decide to make room for something else.

Pampered Peeps, English Sunrise is so nice in spring, it glows in the sun, but later in the year it was a bit disappointing. I will put it in more sun this year, maybe that makes a difference...

I like the yellow of Early times more...

Nicholsworth, the sedum is Touchdown Teak, an instant favorite, I had to buy 3 more. The leaf color is like a dusky, dark, red mahogany.

Sandyslopes, Thai Giant is so fun to watch grow. I was so disappointed last year when my local source no longer had them.

So, back to hostas, I'm one who loves the look of the golds with the blue wax haze in the spring. I like the blend effect with bluer hostas near them.

Karin, I agree! None of the sellers I've dealt with have Early Times though...

Steve, blue and yellow combined is great. I had Mourning Dove and Prairie Moon combined last year and it was gorgeous. I'm going to make more such combinations this year.

Another question about Elephant Ears is how do they cope with strong wind? We had a lot of stormy days last year and I think the leaves might be damaged...

Mourning Dove always makes me smile...and that is a pretty combo!

Karin, how does Prairie Moon compare/contrast with English Sunrise and Early Times?

Someone told me that they have trouble keeping Prairie Moon alive during cold winters (similar climate to mine)...has anyone else had that experience with it?

The leaves of ES and ET are thicker than Prairie Moon, they are both sports of June, while PM seems to have Elegans x Fragrant Bouquet background,but the colour of all three wanes to a pastel yellow during the season. But colour mostly depends on where you keep them. All my plants are still young (ES and ET were divisions from mature plants I got from a friend 2017 while I bought PM 2016). PM survived a cold dry winter with -20°C. I'm not sure what happens this spring because it had been raining for 2 months now...I read in a lot of posts here that cold is not as big a problem as too much water. But maybe others can also share their experience with PM.

Karin, wet winters are the norm here and we are ankle deep in mud at the moment. We get a few spells of sub zero days in between sometimes with snow.

As you have seen from my plants they seem to be thriving in spite of what Mother Nature throws at them.

I get 2 or 3 that suffer some root rot but given the number of plants I am growing I think it acceptable.

Dave

Dave,

that is good to hear! Maybe I'm getting a little paranoid :-)

Pampered peeps, I hope you have your heat back on. Last night was brutally cold.

Karin, to answer your elephant ear question, yes they do suffer from being thrashed in the wind, but they grow new leaves so fast, you can trim off the damage.

That is definitely a hot combo of MD and PM.

agree with Steve that a less windy spot is better for EEs..once that stem bends those huge heavy leaves will never go back up..I planted mine in a sheltered spot and they did well..

Steve..would love to have that sedum..a great color..

Beth, working on the furnace right now... Last night was cold. Downstairs dropped to 55, but upstairs stayed around 67 since we kept the fireplace going.

Nicholsworth, it looks like Hallson's has that sedum, at a good price too. I have a couple of similar ones, but not that little beauty.

Pampered Peeps..hoping the furnace work goes well..it's worth whatever it costs :-( ..thanks for the info on the sedum..

Thanks Nicholsworth :) It's finally back up and running! There's a story behind it, which I typed out, but it got to be pretty long so I deleted it. This is kind of off-topic anyway...hope no one minds the furnace talks :p

Erotica

I fell behind on the alphabet a little bit... doing indoor projects right now during some time off from work.

I only have one 'E' - El Nino - planted last summer:

You all have beautiful hostas, and the mature El Ninos above are spectacular... can't wait to see mine grow up!

English Sunrise! Ohmygoodness... gotta have it!

Thank You all for your kind remarks on the previous letters. It's always fun to be an enabler. I'm trying to find pictures of plants not shown yet on each letter. I realize how few pictures I actually took last year.

Here are a couple "E's"