I was trying to get my Osmocote Plus down before it rained. Was already starting when I ran out to do it. Plus, the squirrels and birds digging around move stuff around. I would be SO delighted if Little Treasure, a favorite of mine, did develop all those eyes this year, because last year it only had like 1 pip, and that appeared very late, I think way into May. Royal Tiara is planted further back in the garden, so I really don't think this is Royal Tiara. I think RT has not pipped yet. And boy howdy, is that a beautiful hosta! I got it last year from Hallson and it immediately enchanted me. It is so elegant!

Esther, I have both and went outside to check the pips. I think yours is Royal Tiara. Little Treasure is a beautiful hosta, but not easy. Some years it seems to grow backwards.

Royal Tiara, still small because it had been cold last week...

Little Treasure

Sorry, not the best pictures, but I hope it helps.

Karin

Karin, thanks---your pictures are quite informative. I could have sworn that I planted Royal Tiara in the back, where the I.D. tag is, and I was absolutely positive that Little Treasure was more in the front of the garden, where the fallen I.D. tag for it is. Yet the pips right under the fallen Little Treasure I.D. tag were numerous and look just like your Royal Tiara pips, while Little Treasure was a near-dud last year. THIS is just another example of how those garbage "landscape workers" cause problems for my garden. Taking away my I.D. tags, stakes and all, bending stakes they carelessly step on, spraying weedkiller right adjacent to my garden, knocking the heck out of my beautiful border wall with their mowers is not enough.

You have problems with landscape workers, I have a family of blackbirds overwintering and they are ripping out my labels. I need to identify at least 20 hosta...the good thing is they are nearly all up and losses are small :-)

Karin, I highly recommend doing plant labels the way I do them. Even the pesky squirrels, which are constantly trying to dig out my plants, leave them alone. I order aluminum pet tags, in the extra-large circle variety, which have an additional small loop extending from the circle. The company laser-engraves the words onto the aluminum, which does not rust. I always buy mine in black, because I think the words (Hosta: Little Treasure, etc.) stand out better. Then, I use a neat sweet Chicago screw (a threaded tube into which a threaded section screws in, which has a head to attach the aluminum plant label to an aluminum tent stake. I like the copper-color Coughlin tent stakes, but it's a personal choice. No blackbirds will be able to mess these up, I promise.

Esther..I think those labels are attractive..

I order my plant I.D. tags from https://www.pettags4less.com. They laser engrave the tags as part of the price. The extra-large circles I like to use (they have many different shapes available, and lots of different colors) currently run $2.49 but are frequently discounted to $2.29. They also offer stainless steel tags and others, but I know aluminum can't rust, so I stick with that. They always have free shipping. The Coughlin aluminum tent stakes have a hole near the top, through which is threaded a white cord, to make it easy to "pull up stakes". I remove that cord and insert the screw post through that hole and the hole in the plant I.D. tag. I put the other part of the screw post into the first part and screw the 2 together, to make a weather proof attractive connection which won't allow the plant I.D. tag to wobble or turn to the back. I experimented with several things before hitting on this perfect way to attach the plant I.D. tag to the tent stake. The aluminum plant I.D. tags cannot rust and are very weather proof. I've had some out in the garden for several years, and the worst that's happened to them (besides the "landscape workers") is a bit of mud. I think you can put up to 4 lines of text on one side of the tag, but I generally only use 2 lines: Hosta/Grand Prize, for example.

Your labels are nice, but I have nearly 400 pots now and that would mean a lot of money to label them all this way. I started with aluminium labels too, but I use them only for my high price hosta, they are also expensive :-( But they are too big for the birds to dig them out. I'm thinking about buying some kind of engraving tool to make the writing more permanent.