Why I Oughta...

In Spring of 2021, I planted eight bareroot Bressingham Blue Hostas from Longfield Gardens along the edge of a new curve in one of our backyard beds .   The plan called for these to be 'Hadpsen Hostas', but I found and admired the Bressingham Blue variety, so I made the swap.   One year post-planting, seven-of-the-eight came back and were putting on their trademark blueish-green foliage.  This is what the Bressingham Blue hostas looked like in late May 2022 .  Started with eight.  By May 2022, there were seven.  Not bad. How about today?  See below for a photo showing these hostas.  The two in the 'back row' are still there. But, at first glance, it seems that there are (now) just four in the front row.   But, if you look closer, there are (strangely) two very TINY tucked in there.  The first tiny one is in the open gap - what becomes the 'second' from the left.  Below is annotated (and zoomed) version of the same photo: And the other tiny one is all the way to

Yesterday, I posted a few photos of a hosta that I divided and transplanted around the large red oak tree in our backyard.  I tucked in the two new divisions into a part of the border that was bare.  I mentioned in that post that doing the seasonal gardening chore of dividing perennials was/is on my 2022 to-do list and I had planned to do a few more around the backyard.  Today, I'm showing a divided Bressingham Blue hosta that I dug up from around the side of the screened porch and split into three segments. The hosta in question was planted as a bareroot plant in 2018.  That means it has had five full growing seasons.  Here's what it looked like last Summer (2021), when I declared that this had finally reached maturity .  Today, I dug it up. First, below, you can see the current state of the hosta.  It has many stems and is a good division candidate. I split it into three segments and tucked the largest one back in the same spot.  Below, you can see the remaining Bressingham

A few days ago, I posted a photo of our lone Christmas Tree hosta in our backyard and talked about how it appeared ready for division .  I thought that - like last year - I could do a roundup of some other potential hosta division candidates.  I've had the most success in dividing hostas (or...frankly...anything) when I do it in the Fall.  I'm talking late September/early October.   Last Summer (end of August), I compiled a list of eight-or-so candidates .  I'm actually NOT sure which of those I actually moved on, but just a quick glance tells me there were a few that were dug up, divided and transplanted. But, what about this year?  In addition to the Christmas Tree sport, here's a few ideas below. First, the Bressingham Blue hostas next to our screened porch.  Here (below) are two views of them.  They're big and crowding out a painted fern.  At least two of these can be divided.  Further down that same path is this hosta (below).  This can be divided: Some of the

Last Spring, I planted a bunch of bare root hostas in a few spots around our backyard that Nat brought home from Costco.  I'll get to the Frances Williams Hostas in another post, but this one is about the Bressingham Blue bare root hostas from Longfield Gardens .   I planted eight in what - at that time - I called the 'focal curve' .  And six back by the Yew Hedge . Two by the downspout around the Screened Porch .   That's only 16, so I'm not sure if I planted 18 of them (sometimes...these bare root hostas are so tiny that I plant two in one spot).   I covered some of these last year showing their first year growth.  By June, I was seeing some of them emerge from the mulch .  And by August, it looked like seven of the eight in the focal curve had made it .  I don't seem to have documented in the [garden diary] the ones back by the Yews, nor the ones by the downspout.   So...one year after planting bare root hostas, how are we doing?  First, it seems the two by t

Yesterday, I started a study or inventory of some potential hostas to think about digging up, dividing and transplanting during the month of September.  There are a bunch of candidates to think about in the backyard, but there are some that are most certainly on the no-dig, no-divide list.  At least this Fall.  I'm talking about some of the bareroot hostas that I planted earlier this Spring.  S tarting with these (below) Bressingham Blue hostas that I planted back in late April .  That post lists eight in the planting. But, today?  I see seven total plants that have withstood the Summer heat.  Two in the bac krow and five across the front of the border.  Below you can see the different sizes of the various Bressingham Blue hostas that have survived: Some are, clearly, larger and most established than others.  I've babied these with water for most of the Summer, as they're planted adjacent to one of our new trees.  I'm thinking that seeing these grow up and out is a goo

 One of the items on my early Fall garden task list is to divide up some of my hostas.  I usually do this in Spring and I think that causes many of them to be delayed a bit and not reach their potential in the growing season.  I've read around and it seems that there's mixed views :  some divide in Fall.  Some in Spring.  So, that's what I'm going to do:  divide some in the Fall.  After having divided a lot in the Spring.  Seems like the month of September is the month to divide.  I figure I'll give these a go right after Labor Day.  Cooling temperatures, but still enough time to establish themselves before going dormant with Winter. Here, below, is an inventory of some of the hostas that I think are ready to be divided.  By my count, there are 9 eligible specimens.  Dividing these will give me nine new plants to add to the beds.  For no cost and just a little bit of effort.  What's not to love about that?  Oh...transplant shock, you say?  I suppose there's

Just yesterday, I posted a couple of photos of some newly emerged Frances Williams Hostas that I planted as tiny bare root plants from Costco . When I was out there taking photos of those new plants, I remembered that I had previously planted some bare root hostas - and wondered what their growth trajectory looked like.  So, I went over to the north side of the screened porch and found a grouping of three of the Bressingham Blue hostas that I planted as bare root plants in Spring 2018. That means that what you see in the photo above - a trio of Bressingham Blue hostas - grew like this: 2018 - Planted as bare root.  First growing season 2019 - Second growing season. 2020 - Third growing season.  I included a photo of these in a post in June 2020 . Note, the tops of the foliage reached the line where the foundation hits the house.   2021 - Fourth growing season.  Photo above.  You can see that they've grown in height and width.  And (in this photo) are starting to produce their flowe

Back at the end of April, I planted eight (or, so I said in that post) bareroot Bressingham Blue hostas that Nat picked up from Costco. I planted them on the border of the newly created curved bed on the north side of the backyard.  At the time, I wasn't sure what the success rate would be for these bare root hosts, but with a little bit of time behind us now, it seems like the first few months have yielded seven hostas that have come up.  One of them - the second from the left along the border - is SUPER tiny...just barely above the ground.  But, it *is* indeed there.  The other ones have popped out of the ground a little bit and are small, like 4-5" plants.  You can see the seven hostas (well...six plus one you can't really see in the photo) below: The reason that I'm questioning the success rate (it might be 100%) is that I can't find the root structure of the last one that would likely be to the right of these.  It just isn't there.   I'm going to ke

Yesterday, I shared the planting of eight bareroot Bressingham Blue Hostas in a new bed in the backyard.  I had previously planted two others by the screened porch .  That's 10 of 18.  Going down my list, the next spot for the balance of these looks like back by the Yew Hedge.  From my planning post: 1.  Priority Area #2 for 2021 .  Calls for 8.  Done.  Posted yesterday . 2.  Hicks Yew Hedge corner.  Calls for 6. 3.   Screened porch corner.  Calls for 2.    This one is done already . That area calls for six Hadspens, too.  Here is showing these six (in blue) in relation to the previous eight (in green) per the plan: And, here's where they're going in - spreading to the north of the northern-most Hicks Yew. These are deep shade but likely have the BEST soil on the property.  I used wood chips last season to mulch in the yews and create the fire pit area, but this year they'll get a proper hardwood fine mulching.  Same thing, though:  Think I can beat 50% success rate on

Six weeks ago, Nat came home from Costco with some bareroot plants including 18 Bressingham Blue Hostas that I intended to put into the yard as soon as I could this Spring.  Bareroot season comes at you fast and I wanted to get them in right away.  But, the order of operations got in the way.  And, I had to wait to plant these until after the final edges of the beds were set.   I've planted these very same Bressingham Blue Hostas in 2018 .  I actually don't know where those ten went nor how many of them have made it.  I'm assuming that some of them are along the north side of the house, but I'll take a closer look this Summer when they all come up. As for these 18, I planted two of them already outside the screened porch .  Leaving 16.  In the post where I talked about buying these, I mentioned a bunch of spots where these COULD go.  I ended up convincing myself that the three places to start with these were: 1.  Priority Area #2 for 2021.  Calls for 8. 2.  Hicks Yew

Yesterday, I got started planting.  With the big Elephant Ears bulbs that I tucked into some containers and a trial in a bed.   Today, I'm posting about how I made my first move with the bare root perennials from Costco - planting some of the Bresshingham Blue hostas .   In that post from March, I wondered where to put all of the hostas. Here (below) are a few of the places that I mentioned back in March of places I could tuck them in.  And...called out with the red arrow - where I started my planting this year:  on the corner of the screened porch:  Our plan calls for Blue Hostas (Hadspens) paired here on the corner of the house: Here (in the photo below) are the tips of the two bareroot hostas that I tucked in around the drain pipe below.  I'll keep an eye on these to see if they mature enough this year to put on a show: