All pictures taken April/Mai, so it can't be too long now...

Stetson

Stiletto

Tomoko

Torchlight

Touch of Class

Undulata Erromena

Undulata Univittata

Ventricosa

Whiskey Sour

Wide Brim

Karin

So many pretty pictures--really love Whiskey Sour. Sleet here this morning and probably snow tonight. Only some brave daffodils are up a few inches. Hope my hostas look half as good as yours!

I hope Whiskey Sour will look good again this year :-) It is such an unbelievable yellow for a few weeks, it brightens up the whole bed...

Does it turn green after that?

I don’t have early spring pictures of individual hostas,but here are a few May garden pics.

its hard waiting for spring!its supposed to snow there tomorrow sunny and cool here in Colorado lots of crocuses blooming here in CO

a glimpse of my frontyard..probably taken in June?..a nice blue Halcyon? In the bottom right corner..I'm ready to see my plants again..

Here’s one brave little leaf of Smiley Face taken a week ago. Predicted temp of 27F Thursday. I guess I’ll say bye-bye to all the early risers and wait for them to come back up later.

sorry Kathy..we're not in control are we?..

Thanks for all those great pics Karin.

This is April 19 last year. Everything is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule because of the warm end of winter.

Found this guy 2 days later while doing a slug check. Since the over-wintering cocoons fall to the ground, I have a good excuse not to be too diligent cleaning up all my leaf litter.

I have a few with unfurled leaves. I'm hoping the frosts the next few nights won't be as bad as predicted.

In particular, I hope it doesn't freeze all the flowers on my 'Jane' Magnolia.

StevePA..nice garden..what a fun surprise!..

whitewatervol..hope the forecast is wrong too..pretty magnolia..

miles,

Whiskey Sour turns to be a nice chartreuse green during the season. Here it is in a pot between S&S and Elegans end of Juli :-)

sunnywood,

funny how empty the beds look at the beginning of the season! I wonder every year how quickly such a yard is filled with new life.

Steve,

that's really a nice garden, a lovely treehouse! And interesting guests...Is this a moth or a butterfly?

nicholsworth,

I'd love to come home and be greeted by such nice old trees in my frontyard...

zkathy,

is that Fire Island showing pips?

whitewatervol,

I looked at my Magnolia yesterday, just showing some buds, but it gets frost in April/May every year and the nice flowers have brown stains :-(

Karin..the magnolia looks so pretty with the maple and the heuchera!..I love my tall trees too!..the shade and the birds make it a peaceful place..

Karin, that would be a Luna moth, native to the eastern U.S. Only saw them a handful of times. The next day there were two mating on that hosta, and later in the year there was a lot of caterpillar frass falling out of the walnut trees...so hoping I see more this year.

Here's a polyphemus moth I found on Guacamole in 2013. About 15 cm across.

I'd love to have such big moths in my garden. We have only small ones over here, mostly simply brown and grey. Should get me a Luna Moth hosta at least :-)

nicholsworth, the Magnolia is growing nicely so far and I hope it will take over my frontyard one day. We had a Magnolia in the neighboorhood that was really old, had been big even when I was a child (long ago) and the house was sold last year and first thing the new owner did was killing that tree. Believe me, I was shocked...there should be laws against such things!

mbug, the last one looks like a hedgehog :-) Isn't Mourning Dove one of the most delicately coloured in spring? Waiting for the new hosta pips makes my winter so long...At least I will get a parcel from my belgian friend soon, he is having them in the greenhouse and the pips will show on those already...

Karin..I hate stories where people destroy trees :-( what a shame..we had a new owner in our neighborhood that removed a pretty garden (trees,shrubs,perennials everything) and built a big putting green..sadly removing natural beauty happens everywhere..

A putting green...we know so much about how important nature and trees and everything is for life on this planet and some people build putting greens in their gardens? Here it is a la mode to have a gravel garden in your front yard, easy to tend, no work at all when installed, gravel and one or three gras bushels...

By the way, I'm trying to get some EE's at the moment from a fb group, hope there are some left for me, was a bit late because I went to bed early :-(

I've seen gravel "gardens" here too..usually full of weeds..hope you get an EE..planting is 2 months away here..you have time too right?..you started looking in advance..I hope it works out..

I'm waiting to see this again, F. Albopictas unfurling.

Saija

This is Sagae on the 10th of March last year.

At the present moment it is frozen solid in it's pot.

They are all going to be way behind last years early rising.

For the first time ever I am having to lay pots on their sides as the melting snow on top is unable to flow down through the frozen media. Even that is proving difficult as pots are frozen to the ground and immoveable.

By the 4th of April things had really got going.

Liberty at the back

Tulips were almost in flower

Magnolia Stellata now flowering well and the daffodils had been in flower for weeks

Dave

I’m interested to see if my epimediums come back. You can see them planted along the left side in the picture, taken April 13. I was hoping they would slowly fill in that area, and they were doing nicely, then the rabbits got them and I didn’t see much of them the rest of the summer. They may be gone... we’ll see.

Here’s a peony Cytherea - April 19 last year.

Last year the local peony society had a sale and I bought a bunch... looking forward to seeing those come up too!

Yes, it’s very hard to wait for spring, but it won’t be too long now.

I love Magnolia Stellata even though its blooms frequently get nipped by frosts. There are a number of them at our local botanical garden but unfortunately, I have never seen one for sale at a garden center.

woke up to this..no snow on the driveway or street but it sure looks like winter..

Crazy weather...two days ago we had snow and today I went home from work quite early to do a few things in the garden.

Fetched the pots from under the hedges and cleaned them at least a little from winter debris.

Really enjoyed my afternoon outside...

The pavement needs cleaning :-(

Got a few Elephant Ears yesterday, I think I will put them behind the stair in the last picture :-) Morning and noon sun for them, I hope this is ok...

Karin this really was such a good idea! I am happy to see how far ahead some of you are (sad to see them up early and get potentially frosted Kathy and others). I still have approx. 2 months to wait. The last couple of years have been very cold springs and late starts, really nothing until early May.

BME - May 2nd

Cracker Crumbs - May 2nd

Winsome May 2nd

Black Hills - May 31st windymess Epimediums are pretty resilient.

Choo Choo Train - May 26th

F. Albopicta - May 22nd

Gemstone - May 22nd

Hanky Panky - May 26th

Silver Bay - May 28th

Janet Day - May 22nd

It is a good thing they grow quickly from the point of emerging!

Karin....pic does look like a hedgehog :-) .

Mourning Dove's coloration,IMO, is about perfect! Reminds me of a pastel, soft hued and delicate.

Did someone say Spring?

TODAY!!!!

Wow peren, each picture is a work of art! Love Black Hills and the drops on Gemstone. A very nice fern behind Albopicta!

This is the best time of the year, but the spring is coming later from year to year...When I was young we had four seasons, now it's only two and a half or so, ugly,grey,wet and cold for 6 months, then within two weeks to 25°Celsius...

mbug, peren has a lot of hedgehogs in her spring garden,too :-)

Just found a picture of 2016... I had not been a hostaholic two years ago...

The dog at least has fun!

Some early risers...

and a few more from spring last year...

Karin I was going to ask how long ago you developed your addiction. Wow you got hooked big time, in a short time! I am so glad you did! I know I have enjoyed your enthusiasm and I am just as enthusiastic after many years. My addiction will never be cured!

p.s. Karin I love ferns too. That is one of our native ferns but I have introduced other non natives as well. They are perfect companions.

My May shots

Beautiful photos everyone!

June 3rd

it's like we're taking turns.."you can have the sun today and I'll take the snow..then tomorrow we can trade" lol..I'm happy for the sun team..

windymess..agree with peren..I bet your epimediums will be fine..mine look terrible when winter ends but always come through..

Karin..yay!..you have elephant ears!..there's lots of posts on the Aroids forum if you want to read about them..I'm sure you enjoyed some gardening time..the spring blooms in the pot remnant look so cheerful!..I'm still waiting for daffodils and crocus (had just a few)..is there a cat looking out of the window in the pic from 2016?..

mbug..cute dog..

peren..I wish I had a time machine..I'd go from today to May 1st..

Dave..did your pots thaw out?..

these pics are wonderful..love to see hostas coming up..

Thank you all for your wonderful pictures! I love hostas around spring. This fresh growth is always so crisp and healthy and tells of nice times to come:-)

Donna, maybe you could get a bit more to plant across the path (seems to be another shady spot) or is this without hope? Your patch is immaculate, everybody must be happy if you do a little more gardening...

peren, my first hosta came in 2013, it was Blue Angel, followed by Krossa Regal, Fortunei Albopicta, Aureomarginata and Aurea. They were all from the hosta collector near me. He sells big divisions from mature plants and his pots are bursting with hostas. But they are all the Oldies and he has multiples of each. But not the specials...

When I watched them grow I got more and more interested and started to love them. Then I tried to get more information about them and started to look for a forum. I happenend to find a post of Paula'a alphabet and that was the moment I was completely hooked. And you know what happened...but seriously, I never had a better gardening time than the last two years. I also added many ferns and heuchera and last year I also bought epimedium and some rodgersia. I love hosta but I like it when I have a colorful interesting jungle.

So this year's new projects are Elephant Ears and Ligularia and a few new hostas of course :-)

The garden still looks desolate but if you get closer you can see the first signs...I replaced the roses last fall and was happy to see that they are still alive and have tiny leaves...

Yes, nicholsworth, my hosta checker is always with me, whatever I do in the garden he is watching. He is very shy with othher people, but clinging to me so much that sometimes I have to be careful not to step on him when he comes out under a hosta...

My favourite sight in spring are the japanese maples. And behind it there is this big piece of lawn where the neighbours from first floor do some gardening in small beds around the fence. I need to do more infiltration work this year :-)

New rodgersia with maple leaves

and another one with Silver Threads and Golden Needles

ferns, ferns, ferns...

And a few more ferns. Unfortunately I did not keep the tags of those I already own, will be more thoughtful when I add new ones...

Karin, " a few more Hostas this year " ? I think your definition of a few needs revising!

Nicholsworth 55, thaw is well under way and all pots are now upright.

Temperatures forecast to reach 11ºC tomorrow with sunny intervals.

When this happens black pots warm up quickly and the plants are fooled into thinking Spring has arrived.

This was Frank Lloyd Wright this time last year, an early riser anyway. Then the frosts began!

First Love, brought into the greenhouse for protection

War Paint on the 10th of April

I'm going to divide it this year. It has filled this 35litre pot and hasn't had fresh compost for about 3 years so this year I'm going to bite the bullet.

Several others are on the same hit list.

Dave

Lol, Dave, it is like this...

50% less than last year = just a few :-) and think of all the divisions you could get when they are mature in a few years :-)...and all the seeds...and if my War Paint comes back as Niagara Falls I know whom to ask for a replacement:-)

Ok everybody, this is my confession...have fun searching them in the HL...and yes, I'm crazy :-) thanks to all the enablers...

Part one

Valley's Rodeo, Valley's Double, Valley's Space Cowboy, Valley's Blue Chute, Valley's Green Chute, Valley's Green Beez, Valley's Liquid Gold, Valley's Pycno 348, Valley's Curly Wurly, Valley's Toss the Boss,Valley's Bossanova ,Armani ,Bashfull, Blue Canoe, Blue Skin ,Cally White,Candy Dish,Cascades,Celtic Dancer,Cherokee,Cold Heart,Cranberry Wine,Designer Genes,Dinky Donna,Dixie Chikadee,Eye Catcher,Fatal ,Flemish Beauty,Flemish Dewed Steel,Funny Bones,Gilt by Association,Hawaian Luau,Hot Kiss,Hudson Bay,Lakeside Prophecy Fulfilled,Lakeside Storm Watch,LS Breaking News,Maya Infatuation,Midnight Oil,Moonlight Sonata,Munchkin Fire,Needlepoint,Osiris Louis Cyr,Over the Waves,Picasso,Pistache,Scallion Pancakes,Sherbourne Swift,Tenryu,Thrills and Frills,Tickle me Pink...

Part two, sorry, changed the form for those into word, hope it looks better...

Ani Machi/Geisha

Baby Blue Eyes

Dragon Warrior

Kifukurin Ubatake

Leather Sheen

Minor

Oberland Advanced Technology

Oberland Colourful Noise

Oberland Thin Line

Paradise Puppet

Shining Tot

Tattle Tails

Teaspoon

The Razor's Edge

Wonderland

Angel Falls

Band of Gold

Captain's Adventure

Frank Lloyd Wright

Gosan Sunproof

Gemstone

Holar Crimson Grape

Holar Purple Flash

Inca Gold

Irish Eyes

Iron Sky

Lakeside Khum Kaw

Libby

Lime Fizz

Mango Smoothie

Mirror Lake

Monsoon

Ophir

Pinani Splash

Purple Boots

Red Wine Fries

Sapphire Pillows

Titanium

Viking Ship

Wheaton Thunder

Winter Snow

Emerald Ruff Cut

Frosted Lollipop

Japangirl

Paisley Border

Royal Tiara

Snake Eyes

Valley's Goldstriker

Valley's Secret Cove

Ventricosa Aureomaculata

Ventricosa Aureomarginata

Awakening Angel

Cameo

Emerald Paisley

Gravity Rocks

Green Eyes

Masquerade

Tortifrons Kogarashi Giboushi

Wau Karin. I think you must see this video

and build your own hanging hosta garden.

I'm trying to order only 30 hostas. And I have not yet ordered any, I'm waiting spring to see how many has died. And probably I can't leave any hostas in garden store if I bumb into hosta that I don't yet have. I have now about 160 different hostas + many oldies have many dupIicates. I do have lot room for new hostas, but I try to control myself. But it's nice to follow your hosta shopping ;)

Saija

Hi Saija,

I've seen this two years ago. It is amazing how many hostas they have. But that's too much for me. I would get claustrophopic in those small paths. But I really love the idea of vertical gardening and the pots hanging from bamboo poles. It helps cover the grey pavement I have in 50 % of my garden. I don't like it at all and the pots will hide most of it this summer. I have those nice stairs for the small ones and the bigger ones will go into the garden, in pots for the first years. You have so much space to fill, but your summer is really short. I will start counting pips for you soon. Already found some very tiny ones :-)

Saija..Thanks for the fun video..when he said "we could always fit in a few more" I thought "where?"..that garden is full!..I like wide paths and more space between plants but no denying their hostas were beautiful..

took a quick stroll while my coffee was brewing..sunny, the snow is gone, my pips are a bit taller, the daffodils have buds..things are improving..

Dave..glad to hear your pots are out of the ice age..

Spring has sprung here in Colorado. No hostas yet thanks!!

Karin in your post saying unfortunately you did not have tags for your ferns.

pic #2 looks like Adiantum pedatum (Maiden Hair fern) It should have really dark stems.

#4 possibly a Dryopteris.

#5, 6 are varieties of Athyrium nipponicum and maybe #7 too. Some ferns can be very tough to ID. If you really wanted to know you could post them on the Name That Plant forum.

What a great array of Hostas you have coming!

Karin, I hope you are hitting the gym while you’re waiting for spring. You’re going to need some muscle to plant that bunch of hostas. How many bags of planting soil will you have to carry in?

Sunnywood, good to see some pictures of this year and to hear the the hostas did not come out while you were in Hawaii. As I have no room left for hostas I can concentrate on tulips and maybe more allium for next spring :-) The galianthus are up again after they were shocked by the last frost period...

Peren, I went outside and found the tags of the three I bought last year. They were not in the exact place where I put them (cats and squirrels and birds) but one is

Adiantum Aleuticum

Athyrium Nipponicum Metallicum Pictum...that's one reason why I do not keep tags on them, such a long name for such a small plant...

Athyrium Nipponicum Burgundy Lace

This one had been identified in a fb group as Polystichum Polyblepharum

I'm only keeping tags on the hostas and spend many hours this winter to make an exact list with prominent features of each hosta, size, color, wavy, red petioles and so on. If I have a place in mind where I want to put a hosta I can sort the list by criteria and can choose what is offered...felt like Sysiphus doing it :-) And thanks again to the Hosta Library!

nicholsworth, good to hear you have sun. It's raining since yesterday, no hard rain, just a little drizzle and the temperatures are around 10°C. The birds are singing and spring is in the air...

lol, zkathy, I found out where to order good planting soil and the postman is bringing it :-) I have to give him an extra bonus this year, the poor guy might meanwhile try to change his route...I normally got it from the garden center and had all the work myself, but actually this way it is cheaper and better for my aching back. I also get big bags of shredded pine bark and worm compost this way and have mixed a few buckets already to be prepared...But the logistics are not to underestimate when you go crazy while ordering hostas in winter. I was very lucky to get 25 big pots for 50 Cent each from a fb friend, normally they are really expensive in this size, so I have homes for the big ones.

Karin

Sunnywood, thanks for the crocuses picture . I have planted some 10 yrs or so ago and I rarely get to see them bloom. They bloom so early and guess what? They bloom under the snow. I actually saw a few on the corner of the house where the snow melts first. It was just a coincidence that I caught a glimpse of them.

Can't wait to see this . For me today....SNOW!!!!Aargh :(

Ya know Shadow, the happiest people live in cold northern climates. Must be that you have to develop great patience ;-) Are those tiny lily bulbs sprouting in your pic? Aren't they cute, but at the same time, annoying...cuz you have to try and find homes for them.