Gardening 101 -- Hostas

I love hostas.
Hostas are wonderful little greenies that pop up in shaded areas of the yard.

They can be big or small, solid or variegated, round or narrow. There are as many varieties as there are personalities. Many varieties will tolerate sunshine, though they might burn. They fill in holes with their leaves. They brighten dark shady areas.

And they die back in winter only to burst forth when the weather warms up.

To my knowledge, there aren't any pests or diseases that can decimate a hosta, though hailstorms will put some serious holes in their leaves!

Here are a few of my hostas. If I can remember their names, I'll post them. 

These two are in a front bed that gets PM sunshine. By August, they are usually crispy critters, but until then, they look pretty along the brick walkway.

Golden Tiara (?)

blue cadet

These four are around the pond. Two above the waterfall, and two are near the edge of the deck.

Night Before Christmas

Great Expectations (front), Guacamole (back)

 And under the oak tree.

June



Francee (?)

Even though I thought I would remember each and every name, I can't. But all you have to do is google Hostas and click images and you will find a HUGE variety of plants. If you have a shady area where nothing grows, then plant hostas.

What other plant is so low maintenance and easy going?

Though some varieties might need dividing after a few years. Just have a garden party and dig up the bulbs and give them away.

Later, peeps!

Before and After

This was the pond picture from a month ago.

And the one below was from two days ago.


I worked in the garden a little this weekend. I always enjoy shoving my hands in dirt. And if you are my Facebook friend, you will also know that I enjoy nature, especially having to rescue it from the pool. I didn't see Mr. Toad again, as he has since stayed out of the pool. I just don't want to go into baby bunny rescue. They usually don't make it and I'm not out there enough to catch them before they go in. Last year, I had two dead baby bunnies. One I tried to give mouth to mouth (he was still warm and soft). Don't "yuck" at me. It was a wittle baby bunny! You would have probably done the same!

Parts of my yard are low maintenance. . . Well, my goal is to have most of the yard low maintenance, but my roses will always take some TLC, though I refuse to buy hybrids since they take a lot of TLC. Anyhoo, I planted lots and lots of perennials and all I have to do is pull up the dead stuff in winter or whack them down to the ground and fertilize.

This little corner of paradise is where the air conditioning units sit, along with a pallet of bricks (don't ask). There's a hill here and grass wouldn't grow and the dirt was eroding from under the cement pads. So I suggested we just throw some plants back here. In the far back corner is a hydrangea, a variegated butterfly bush, phlox out the wazoo (3 colors--and I see some transplanting in my future), some sort to evergreen thingy, an Autumn fern and Gaillardia. Yeah, I don't do anything back here. Nutso growth!

I'm working on hubster to get rid of this little section of grass--he's starting to think my way. Maybe next year, this year we have to work on some drainage issues--the neighbor backwashes his pool into our yard. There really isn't any other place he can do it. Oh, well.

And last but not least, here is my Clematis. It's on a pyramid structure and every year it is beautiful!

Back to my gnome story!

Write on!