Garden Bed #5

Hostas, Blue Angel, Blue Umbrella, & Edge of Night dominate this dark area. I'm loving the Jack-in-the-pulpit too. A wonderful hosta friend gave it to me. Hostas Chinese Sunrise, Glory, & Torchlight help lighten things up. Gold Drop hostas line the new pathway. It is challenging for these plants to live in this dark, dry clay soil under the shade of our old Walnut tree.

This bed started out only as a strip of railroad ties along the house foundation where Kossa Regal hostas grow instead of those bushes Ron wanted. Ron had no idea what he was starting when he bulit that narrow little raised bed. He worked so hard to get grass to grow here. Then I dig it all out or cover it all up with lasagna gardens.

Hosta: 'Chinese Sunrise' early spring. Small hardy plant

This is a lasagna garden; sort-of!

Ron actually dug holes with his new boy toy / post-hole digger thing in the hard clay along the east side of the house. He missed the gas & electric lines.

Then I filled the holes with compost & stuck in the plants. It's like they are sitting in clay pots.

Then my daughter & I put down newspapers, wet them, & threw on compost & woodchips.

The plants were small so we protected them by covering them with up-side-down plastic pots & buckets while we worked.

This area was created to meld bed #7 with bed #5. It too was a sort-of lasagna bed.

Hosta Alex Summers is a main attraction along with Frosted Jade, Moonlight Sonata & June.

There's a shortcut path across here but the plants are taking it over.

I try to always include coleus in this area. My grandma Vi always grew coleus. She would have loved these new ones that enjoy a lot more sun than the ones she grew.

Hosta 'Platinum Tiara' a charming little plant. Another sport of hosta Golden Tiara; the mother of all good things. Thin leaves put it in danger of being eaten alive by slugs & bugs, but seems to hold its own overall. Platinum Tiara likes a lot of morning sunshine.

This white asiatic lily was pristine & perfect. I can hardly wait for next year so I can see it again.

Voted #1 Favorite Hosta 2004 American Hosta Society Popularity Poll. Tied with hosta Sagae for first place.

See photo in Bed #17 of this same plant under previous growing conditions. She had to be moved due to shade loss. Now she grows in shade all day long. I'm thinking of moving her again to morning sun. I can't decide what to do. When I moved her last year, she never missed a lick, never drooped. But I did it in the very early spring before summer heat.

Hosta 'Fried Bananas' 2007

"The yellow-gold form of H 'Guacamole' with large, fragrant white flowers in late summer."
MyHostas database: 'Fried Bananas'

H - 'Fried Bananas' grows in nearly full sun in my garden in clay soil & tolerates it well. It's a fun plant when it blooms with pure white very fragrant flowers; otherwise it is a nice large mound of limey-green leaves, not exactly what I call yellow (gold), but not exactly green-green either. The all green form of this plant is 'Fried Green Tomatoes' which is identical except for color. 'Fried Bananas' is an enjoyable nice large fragrant plant. I think I got it when I thought I could collect them all.

When asked, "What is a blue hosta?", this early spring picture comes to mind. As the growing season progresses Elegans' color could be described as waxy blue-green.

Hosta sieboldiana 'Elegans' is a spectacular giant hosta cultivar specimen. A must-have in the shade garden. All garden visitors are awed by it. Hosta expert Mark Zillis writes in "The Hosta Handbook" that Elegans has become the standard to which all other large blue-green hostas are compared.

In my garden Elegans is 30" tall with a wider spread. Leaves measure over 12" across & 15" long & are heavily corrugated & very thick substance. I dig out part of it frequently to share with garden friends. Another true "Friendship Plant".

Truly a bright little charmer. Sport of hosta Little Aurora.

Spectacular Sport of hosta 'Blue Angel'. Misted white & green leaf center surrounded by blue-green margins. Turns green by mid-summer.

All yellow sport of Hosta June. Has been slow growing for me but my soil is poor in this spot and it was crowded by other plants. I moved a plant or two out of that area this summer. I'm hoping "English Sunrise' will start to grow now. The thick substance glowing yellow leaves commands attention in the early spring garden. I fell in love with this plant the instant I saw it.

I can not tell this plant apart from H - 'May' which is also a yellow sport of 'June' but was registered by Hans Hansen of Shady Oaks Nursery in 1999. However for me, Hosta 'May' has grown better; however 'English Sunrise' grows in an area with hard clay soil. Time will tell the rest of the story. - MM

"This is the all gold form of 'June' and is essentially identical except that it does not have the blue border. Because it retains the glaucous bloom on the leaf it is, I think, one of the nicest golds I have seen, especially in the spring. Like 'June', I would expect the color to be very dependent on the light level and season.

Sport of 'June' found several years ago at our nursery (Q&Z) that becomes a medium-sized mound of gold foliage; striking when combined with 'June' and 'Halcyon' in group plantings.

An all gold sport of H. 'June',leaves of good substance are a bright gold early in the season and soften to a medium green by midsummer. Topped with lavender flowers in July and August."

MyHostas Database: 'English Sunrise'

Hosta 'English Sunrise' - 2007