View from the hill down. Planted behind the big green hostas (elegans ?????) 3 Annabelle which I protect from deer right now with a couple of garden chairs and a lantern

hostas: krossa regal, guacamole, a tiny Ann Kulpa, Sagae, victory, Liberty, bunches of the standard green kinds

Shot up the hill.

we are going to try to flatten that ugly hill next year. Such an eye sore

more Annabelle behind golden Tiara. Yes, I know I will have to move them because they will get big.

there is a Komodo Dragon and victory in the blue pots

Sod will be added in fall

Alright and here is the entire dilemma... we have been clearing this out since 2014 on our own. Guess at one point we have to hire someone. We see. Last week I hand cut this 1 acre lot off regowth Buckthorn. 4 piles I still need to wood chip. There will be a lot of space for some more hostas. I can see it happening to the right hand side :-)

You have such a beautiful yard Claudia. I agree that the hostas you id as Elegans, are Elegans. People from the forum helped me id mine last week.

I'm envious of all your space, but not all the work involved. You have done a great job so far. I can see you've been working hard. It must be very satisfying to see what you have created.

Claudia, I echo the above comments of Newhostalady and add that I want to move into your woods! What a lovely setting.

You get stars in your crown for the hard hard work of vanquishing the buckthorn, and more stars for reclaiming your land to install that beauty. Kudos to you!

Ein toller Garten! Das ist sehr viel Arbeit, macht aber bestimmt auch sehr viel Freude...I always put some potted Hosta on a turned over pot to raise them above the others, looks good and saves room for more hosta (at least in my small garden).

What is bugbane?

Karin, bugbane = cimicifuga. Some have a nice fragrance when they flower, like my favorite, Hillside Black Beauty, which also has a great dark purple color to the stems, and foliage is purple-green

Thank you Steve! Would love to have some myself, maybe in the background near the fence...will see next spring...

Claudia..I would feel right at home in your garden..it's shady and woodsy like mine!..you have so many hostas!..I agree that your Annabelles will outgrow that space..mine are quite large..I like that big white pot..

Thanks to all of you who too time to look and all your kind words and compliments :-x

Hallo Karin,

i was looking if I could find a picture that looks like my plant the closest I could find is this. My bugbane is green and makes long gracefully arching white flowers. It was the one of the two plants we took from the old home to the new because we loved it so much. In late Summer or fall we could watch Kolibris eating from the flowers. For me as European who never saw these birds in real - it was so cool :-)

the foliage looks to me like a big Astilbe.

Those dark purple leaves would make a nice background for chartreuse or yellow hosta. I will add it to next year's plan :-) Will get around 10 new Valley's hosta and a few special ones soon and then I think I will wait what next year brings in terms of weather and the strange problem with rotting that so many people have with hosta here in Europe.

So I can concentrate on adding a few more companion plants...

Did you get any rain?

Rain is very rare this year. Only some short showers during thunderstorms. All over Europe my gardenfriends are complaining about heat and months without rain. Even those that normally have always enough of it have 3 months in a row of drought conditions. Very sad, the plants suffer and there might be losses. Big problems for the farmers, nothing grows to it's normal size...

Wow, you have your own private park. I envy you!

Claudia, your garden is looking wonderful. Everything is very happy.

Claudia- it’s beautiful! How much land do you have there?

Hello windymess, thank you. It’s 1 acre close to a fairly big city in Michigan. We did get the house as a fixer upper when the market was still low but upcoming. From the picture you can’t tell the problem we have with all the Buckthorns. They haven’t been cut in 50 years so they became trees. My husband and I try this year to rent a machine to see if we can stake them out otherwise I probably have to pay someone or just keep the grass area smaller

Hello Karin, can you explain what you mean with “Valley” hostas? What is the deal anyways with all the “lakeside” hostas? I thought it’s just because it came from one person or company who made hostas

Karyn, just noticed your comment about rotting in hosta you seeing. I would like separate thread in discussion. Something I am seeing this year too. As always it is most expensive hosta for me.

Hi Claudia, Valley's are special hosta line from a hybridizer from the Netherlands. You can find him under his alias John Hostavalley on facebook. He has very special plants (expensive :-( ) for collectors mostly. Sells his OS hosta (divisions from the very first sport or seedling) in Europe only. If you search for Valley's in gardenweb you might find some of my posts about his hosta :-) Same with the Lakesides, here's the comment from their fb page;

'Lakeside' hostas were introduced by retired hybridizer Mary Chastain. Mary began hybridizing in the 1980s at her Lakeside Acres nursery in Ooltewah, Tennessee. Her 'Lakeside' series includes over 180 named cultivars. Mary retired from hybridizing and Rob Canning bought all of Mary's stock and moved it to his home in Fenton, Michigan. Rob currently sells his 'Lakeside Hostas' through his Facebook page and the Hostalibrary.org auctions.

Lindalana, I will try to find some pictures of my problem hostas and start a thread latest this weekend.

Hallo Karin,

thank you so much for taking time to explain all that. Definetly very interesting for those of us who are just dipping thier toes into the Hosta world.

i am in Robs group and I didn’t realize how close he lives from my town - only 50 minutes driving. I just asked him if he ever does garden walks with possibility to purchase that day. That would be amazing.

maybe I should ask Ken?!!!