Hosta Seminar

 A couple of weeks ago I responded to a notice in our local email newsletter offering a free Hosta seminar from 9 am- 12 pm on Saturday the 4th.  The response I got was it was full. I sent my regrets and later that day got another email saying there had been a cancellation so I was in.

Jim, the gardener offering the seminar, has hundreds if not thousands of varieties of Hosta in his gardens.  He offered to tell us all he knows and send us home with some sample plants.

I learned a lot.

I made note of the plants that do well with Hosta: ferns of course, hens and chicks, sedum, primrose,astillbe, ligularia, lambs ear, heuchera, ginger (Canadian, European and upright) and painters palette.  There were more but I couldn't spell they names.

Most of his beds include a single plant of a Hosta variety except this one below.  I prefer to plant in groups of threes.

One plant he includes with Hosta is ligularia, one of which I have already, and thanks to Tom the Backroads Traveler, I could identify.  It's the yellow flowering plant in the next two photos.

Did you know that Hosta are edible?  Springtime growth is the best time to harvest.

I couldn't keep up with all the names of the Hosta but did note these: sun and substance, mouse ears, reptilian, and gold standard.

I came how with astilbe, ginger, and three Hosta plants.  I put them in the ground with the ferns I had transplanted earlier.  I plan to have two beds featuring Hosta and other shade loving plants under the evergreens along the south side of our property. This one below will be smaller.

This one will be larger and joining a bed by the fence.  Both fences we have will be coming down this Fall.

I plan to return to see Jim to make some purchases.  His prices beat anything around and he has such a variety to select from.

To Make You Smile Today

 

Thanks Marilyn, for sharing these with me to post.

Before and After

 Our driveway was finished on Tuesday afternoon.  What a difference!

Before:

After:

We had trouble with water getting into basement so we had a French drain put in.  He lined the trench he dug with pond liner first, then laid the perforated pipe.  A solid pipe continued under the driveway down to the barn.

Before:

After:

We have access to the barn as a garage, once the cement slab is fully cured and we have a turnaround.

It was amazing to see him with the excavator.  He never once banged the house or barn.

This morning after a hard rain from Ida the driveway is even more settled and packed down.  It's called hard pack.  .

Another contractor done.  Next is the house painter coming this month.  

The barn whisperer has been notified that the grading and driveway are complete.   His wife drove by as we ate our lunch on the front porch.  She stopped to remark on how well it all looked.  Next up for the barn, hopefully before winter, are doors and leveling the left side of the barn.

Tea and Blooms

 Friday, daughter Emily and granddaughters invited me to join them for tea and flower picking. Emily had booked an hour at Song Garden. We had tea in the tea house and picked all sorts of blooms to fill two canning jars.

Join me as I wander the grounds.

The tea house.

Now back to the tea house for tea.

And it was!