Garden Bed #6 - page 2

"A blue-green sport of hosta 'Striptease'. Stunning, vigorous hosta with excellent substance. Beautiful frosty-blue leaves have golden centers turning to bright creamy-yellow bordered with flashes of white. Soft lavender flowers. Available 2001."

"Long awaited blue-green sport of hosta 'Striptease - emerges with frosty blue leaves that have a blue-green center surrounded by a white line (same as Striptease). The center later turns to bright gold. Topped with lavender flowers. Excellent substance and good vigor are also evident. Rapid multiplier. One of the prettiest hostas."

Comments copied from "The Hosta Library - Database"

See A Plant in My Garden: 'Kiwi Full Monty' for the story of how this hosta was found. (pdf)

Hosta 'Little Wonder'

Hosta 'Little Wonder' is my daughter, Robin's favorite little hosta. She gave me a small piece of her plant a couple years ago. He took off & grew & bloomed & set tons of seeds. He is such a fun little guy.

Easy to grow little plant. It's one of those "throw-me on the ground" hostas that just plain love to grow. He's very handsome in a pot & fun in a 'strawberry pot' too.

Blooms profusely; medium purple flowers - fertile parent sets tons of seeds.

Hosta 'Lederhosen'

Hosta 'Lederhosen' is very special to me as my plant was given to be me by my friend (well known hosta collector) Audra Wilson just as a gift. It's that "Hosta is the Friendship Plant" thing again. I imagine the plant is OS (originator stock) from Dr. Benedict's own garden as he and Audra were good hosta friends.

The plant exhibits leather-thick leaves thus its German name: leather britches. The color could be described as green/blue with a waxy leaf coating. In my garden 'Lederhosen' grows in quite a bit of afternoon sun thus becomes greener as the growing season progresses and looses some of the waxy leaf film. I am attracted to the vase shape form of the plant & the rippled, gracefully draping leaves. Its flowers are lightly fragrant. 'Lederhosen' is fun to have around. Great plant that slugs find extremely difficult to bite!

I believe that Hans Hansen / Shady Oaks Nursery put Lederhosen into tc (tissue culture) process in the very recent past. I have not heard consensus on how that plant fared the tc process.

"An extremely rare Benedict found only in a few private collections. Because it is so rare we couldn't find any information on it. Named after the German leather pants, this is the most leather looking leaves I know. Thick elongated leaves have a wavy margin and form a nice mound-shaped plant. Beautiful fragrant lavender flowers in late summer.

'Lederhosen' is German for "Leather Britches" and the tough leather-like substance of the foliage reminded the late Dr. Benedict of the name. Plant this vigorous variety along a path where you may appreciate the fragrance and beauty of the flowers."

Myhostas.net: Lederhosen

Hosta 'Mildred Seaver'

Bred to be one of the best, ('Breeders Choice' x 'Frances Williams') Hosta 'Mildred Seaver' is a good plant, nothing too fancy but a nice plant with excellent substance & form. My plant is young yet perhaps maturity will add to her graceful beauty. It did draw attention in the center of Bed #6 this past summer. I thought I had to have the plant to commemorate its namesake, famous hosta hybridizer, Mildred Seaver. It has grown quickly without any special attention in my poor clay soil.

Hosta 'Pizzazz'

'Pizzazz' was a favorite plant until the last couple years, as it has matured the edges of the leaves get icky / tattered as the season progresses. If it keeps it up - it's going to find a new home in the compost pile. I would not recommend this plant in the average shade garden at this time. My neighbor's Pizzazz is doing the same thing, as is another friend's plant, so I don't think its just me. It was pretty early on in the spring but just doesn't hang in there & age well! - MM

"Heart-shaped leaves of frosted blue with wide, irregular cream to white margins. Lavender flowers. The heart-shaped leaves, frosted blue with light cream-to-white irregular margins, make an elegant plant. Masses of white flowers.

Large, heart-shaped blue leaves with waxy cream white margins, dense masses of white flowers."

MyHostas Database: 'Pizzazz'

Hosta 'Corkscrew'

Alex J. Summers Distinguished Merit Award - Hosta 2003.

"Our latest hybridizing breakthrough. Like its parent, 'Tortifrons', the leaves are dark green and contorted but unlike its parent, it grows very well making a full clump quickly. Small clump of upright and arching twisted, shiny dark green leaves; lavender flowers in September and October, frequently on forked scapes. Winner of 2002 Best Seedling Award at First Look." - Robert Solberg
MyHostas Database: Corkscrew

The 2004 AHS National Hosta Convention was held in Des Moines, IA only an hour away from my home. My girl friend, Connie & I made it our 'Summer Vacation'. We worked hard with other members of the ROHS (Russ O'Hara Hosta Society) to make the convention a success. I was even a tour bus captain which was an adventure in itself. Connie & I were still in our early stages of being addicted to hostas. We found the huge vendor tent irresistible. We were out there until closing every night. The best hosta vendors in the United States & Barry Sligh of 'Kiwi' hostas - from New Zeeland were all out there. Meeting Barry was delightful. He was so much fun. Yes, we bought a lot of hostas during our summer vacation!

Hosta 'Corkscrew' was brand new & selling for $100.00 straight from Bob Solberg (famous hosta guru - Green Hill Hostas) himself. I hadn't ever really seen such a hosta as 'Corkscrew'. Again, I was naive about the hosta world. (Does that translate into a 'Big Fat Sucker'? You can be the judge.) I kept trying to resist buying 'Corkscrew'. I'd look, then I'd walk away, then I'd go back and look again. This pattern of behavior repeated itself several times. The plant certainly was unique and I trusted it would be good if it was from Solberg. Finally, I just couldn't stand it any longer; I walked right up to the booth and purchased the plant from Bob, himself, in person. You have to realize the vendor tent was not unlike a shark feeding frenzy. But still one would think when purchasing a little bitty plant for 100 smackers the vendor would at least say, "Thank you". So the experience of buying 'Corkscrew' was damaged for me but I had handed over my money and now the plant was mine.

The next thing, I hear rumors that 'Corkscrew' looses its twist as it matures. "Great" I thought, "I've been screwed!" It was really hard to feel good about this poor little, plain green thing I paid way too much money for. I figured next thing, it would probably die. That would be just my luck! Hey, this was not an enjoyable experience! But, 'Corkscrew' lived & is flourishing in the garden. It isn't as contorted as when it was a baby but it still has a lot of 'twist & shout' to its shape & form in a prominent spot in the garden. And 'Corkscrew' blooms its fool-head off! It is a virtual explosion of flower power, really a quite delightful performance. It sets seed too but I have never played with any to see if they are fertile. As late as it blooms in the season it is difficult for the seeds to ripen before the freeze hits them.

So now, I really do enjoy 'Corkscrew' in my garden. I like the plant a lot. However, I still remember the early-days purchase experience. It is so easy to take the time to be courteous and so important to say 'Thank you'. - MM

Pulmonaria 'Silver Shimmers'

See Woodland for details on Pulmonaria.

Hosta 'Cinnamon Sticks'

'Cinnamon Sticks' is from Roy Herold. The parentage is longipes hypoglauca x 'Maruba Iwa'. The leaves are round, of medium size, glaucous with white backs and heavily substanced. Handy Hatfield says that they stay green well into the fall. Hatfield also describes the cinnamon red color as covering the full length of the front and back of the petioles, and extending well onto the top of the leaf blade on the central veining (bank and front). The plant is upright in character and the petioles' contrasting color is will displayed. It is a good breeder for "reds" and fertile each way.
Hosta Library

Hosta 'Cinnamon Sticks' has the coolest name. It's another one I probably bought just for the name. And I knew plants with red all the way up the petioles into the leaf were suppose to be desirable. They are different and very attractive. I couldn't tell the difference between this plant and hosta 'One Man's Treasure'. Supposedly one is smaller than the other. I don't know which. It is extremely difficult to imagine what a mature hosta will be like from seeing immature baby tc plants. I decided to do an experiment and plant them beside each other and see for myself (yeah, that Missouri-thing again). My experiment turned out inconclusive as 'One Man's Treasure' got soft root rot and withered away to nothingness. Cinnamon Sticks is hale and hardy and I think might have slipped 'One Man's Treasure' something to get rid of the competition.

Dr. Dave, a hosta friend of mine has an extensive hosta breeding program using Cinnamon Sticks as a foundation plant. At the 2007 Midwest Regional Hosta Convention Dr. Dave entered a bright yellow Cinnamon Sticks seedling into competition. It has the tall red stockings of its parent and the heavy substanced, flowing leaves. It was a fabulous plant and I have been coveting a piece of it ever since. I'm hoping Dr. Dave hooks up with one of the Big-Wig hosta guys and gets the plant into a tc (tissue culture) lab real soon. Or even better yet, sends me a division for insurance purposes to grow in my shade house. Yeah, I like that idea the best! - MM