Althouse: Loading up on hostas.

June 11, 2011

Loading up on hostas.

What we got...

... at the Hosta Hut...

... at the Flower Factory in Stoughton.

64 comments:

Trooper York said...: Hostas la vista baby.; 6/11/11, 5:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Prof. I do not understand. How does one request a leave of absence for texting? Who did Weiner contact? Did he sign a form of leave? What would one do at UW? Also, why are people like Sullivan obsessed with Palin email? Is this needle in a haystack? Why are they not focusing on text of Weiner? Is this double-standard?

Thoughts on these questions?; 6/11/11, 5:46 PM
Ipso Fatso said...: Millionth!!!!!; 6/11/11, 5:47 PM
Hagar said...: You eat that stuff?; 6/11/11, 5:54 PM
chickelit said...: Hostas were called day lilies when I was a kid, which was a perfectly good name.; 6/11/11, 5:55 PM
Fred4Pres said...: I like hostas. Unfortunately so do the chickens. If they get out they bee line for them and it is like the salad bar. The deer repellent (made out of rotten eggs and garlic supposedly) is like a tasty condiment for the chickens.

I did see a doe in the yard with a day old fawn. My daughter got all excited and then cut up apples to feed mom. I endulged her but the deer do havoc to the garden. It is like the Yearling.; 6/11/11, 6:00 PM
Fred4Pres said...: You did not just get hostas. You have some ferns. What are those other plants towards the front of the picture?; 6/11/11, 6:02 PM
Fred4Pres said...: chickenlittle, day lillies are really lillies that open and close in a day. Hence the name. They are the common lillies you see in the summer. Hostas are in the lilly family too, but they are not day lillies.; 6/11/11, 6:03 PM
rhhardin said...: I'd like some Dame's Violet in the backyard weed display but none seem to have migrated there.

Birds are not doing their job.; 6/11/11, 6:08 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Hostas were called day lilies when I was a kid, which was a perfectly good name."

I remember them being called "plantain lilies."

@Fred Yes, we also got sedum and ferns.; 6/11/11, 6:08 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I like the way the Sox loaded up on the Jays today..

Did I ever tell you about that ;); 6/11/11, 6:09 PM
Ann Althouse said...: The sedum is for the window boxes. The ferns and hostas are for the backyard.; 6/11/11, 6:09 PM
Ricardo said...: "Hostas were called day lilies when I was a kid, which was a perfectly good name."

Wikipedia tells me that the term "day lily" is officially "obsolete". Who gets to decide this stuff? Who gets to say that something is obsolete? It's like that light bulb thing, perfectly alright one day, and gone the next day. Do we have to take this lying down? Or do we have a say in what is obsolete and what is not?; 6/11/11, 6:11 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: We have tomatoes and eggplants in our backyard.. oh, and some onions I think.. I'm not sure what else because I didn't plant anything.. I've only been asked to water them.; 6/11/11, 6:14 PM
ricpic said...: Hostas are the perfect solution to a shady problem spot.; 6/11/11, 6:14 PM
rhhardin said...: I remember them being called "plantain lilies."

I have a huge amount of English plantain in the lawn.

Rabbits seek it out.

Their spring flower stem though comes up fast and makes the entire lawn look like it needs cutting all of the sudden.

They're easily scythed down but don't present enough resistance to make the scything the usual pleasure.

They'd stymie anybody using a reel mower. They grow too high too fast for a reel mower to cut.; 6/11/11, 6:25 PM
edutcher said...: Meade must have time to spare with the techies taking care of the upgrade.

Rancho Meadhouse is going to start looking like the Garden of Eden.

Watch the leaves.; 6/11/11, 6:27 PM
rhhardin said...: If you need a serpent, get one of these.; 6/11/11, 6:40 PM
michaele said...: Sigh, I have a serious case of Hosta envy since my prized clumps got shredded by some wicked hail at the end of April. I did buy some new ones to sooth my spirits and am giving the wounded lots of TLC. If Anthony Weiner wanted to get my attention, he would have to talk about plants!; 6/11/11, 6:41 PM
Emilie said...: Hostas are are wonderfully resilient. We dug some up and threw them out last fall; they are now thriving on what we thought was a makeshift compost pile.; 6/11/11, 6:42 PM
HT said...: The hosta hut - aka the woods.

Good Lord Meade, can't you propagate?; 6/11/11, 6:44 PM
vza said...: Highly recommend Hakonechloa macra "All Gold" as a beautiful grass to plant near hostas, ferns, ivy , etc. This grass just glows in the shade, day and night. When the wind blows, it is like a wave...so pretty...even in winter!

http://awaytogarden.com/a-plant-id-order-hakonechloa-all-gold; 6/11/11, 6:55 PM
traditionalguy said...: I see Meade is adding Hostatality to Chez Althouse. You two make a great team.; 6/11/11, 6:59 PM
Anonymous said...: AP at 5:46 - you're in the wrong thread. But about that needle in the haystack, if you're talking about that pic the congressman emailed you, that's not a needle!; 6/11/11, 7:01 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: And the great attack dog was cast out, that old serpent, called the Weiner, and Republican nemisis, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into rehab, and his staff were out looking for work.; 6/11/11, 7:08 PM
mesquito said...: How can anyone function without a pickup truck?; 6/11/11, 7:19 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Day Lillies

Plaintain Lillies.; 6/11/11, 7:27 PM
Phil 314 said...: as the child of too great gardeners, how is that I kill EVERYTHING!!; 6/11/11, 7:27 PM
MadisonMan said...: While you were doing that I was at daughter's high school graduation. Guess who the speaker was?

Jim Doyle! He's cringeworthy when he introduces other candidates -- Obama, Kerry -- but as a former West High grad himself, he's not horrible as a graduation speaker. My expectations were very very low. He surpassed them.; 6/11/11, 7:29 PM
Penny said...: Meade has excellent taste in greenery. But hostas?; 6/11/11, 7:38 PM
Penny said...: The only reason anyone buys hostas is because they might be the only plant that can survive without ever being kissed by the sun.

Shady characters if you ask me.; 6/11/11, 7:41 PM
rhhardin said...: How can anyone function without a pickup truck?

I trucked a 6 foot tall Norway Maple home on the back of my bicycle long ago.

It actually provided a little shade on the way home, and a great deal of wind resistance too.

The thought was that it would shade a nice spot for the Doberman to watch the front yard; it didn't grow fast enough for much shade for that Doberman, but successor Dobermans have enjoyed its shadow, and Robins and Mourning Doves have nested in it.

It also houses an active antenna that's part of an 8 element MW phased array.; 6/11/11, 7:58 PM
kjbe said...: We found the Flower Factory, earlier this spring and loaded up on astilba, columbine and, of course, hostas. There's more landscaping to do...and we will be back.; 6/11/11, 8:00 PM
Christy said...: Oh Dear! You don't have to buy hostas if you have any friends at all.

I know, I know. Hosta aficionados never divide 'em, but for the rest of us.... I'm slowly moving them from the sunniest spot of the entire yard down to the spot between two mature trees where we cannot get grass to grow. So far, so good.; 6/11/11, 8:01 PM
Penny said...: Every home should have a 6ft Norwegian. A maple? *shrug*; 6/11/11, 8:06 PM
HT said...: They're an invasive species.; 6/11/11, 8:08 PM
Penny said...: Yeah well, at least they aren't an alien species.; 6/11/11, 8:28 PM
Fred4Pres said...: trucked a 6 foot tall Norway Maple home on the back of my bicycle long ago.

Planting a normway maple is wrong. Go with the sugar maple. Yeah, they are harder to get to grow, but it is worth it. Alternatively, go with a red maple (the native species, not the red version of the norway maple).; 6/11/11, 8:33 PM
rhhardin said...: Planting a normway maple is wrong.

pic it's a pretty tree.; 6/11/11, 8:40 PM
Synova said...: I couldn't get Hostas to live here if I tried. I can barely get strawberries to go by watering them constantly.; 6/11/11, 8:50 PM
Ann Althouse said...: As to invading and propagating and so forth, you need to know that there are all sorts of different hostas, with different colors, patterns, textures, and sizes. Sizes of leaves and sizes of... flower stalks. (I forget the technical word for the flower stalks.) We have lots of old hostas that were here when I bought the house. Meade has moved them around. Now, there's very specific stuff about size and color. I'm fond of the very blue greens with a quilted texture. That's what were were doing. It was also a country drive and a photo op.; 6/11/11, 8:50 PM
Ralph L said...: You took the TT to the HH at the FF.; 6/11/11, 8:50 PM
Synova said...: "Every home should have a 6ft Norwegian. A maple? *shrug*"

Penny! LOL!; 6/11/11, 8:54 PM
HT said...: Just a little bit of razzing. Though I am with the person who said get hostas from your friends. But if there's a large amount you wanna put in at one time, then yes, I suppose it's ok to buy.

I don't think hostas are invasives. The invasive I was referring to was the Norway maple.; 6/11/11, 8:54 PM
Fred4Pres said...: OT, but I am guessing Obama's version of the term "never again" is different than Netanyahu's understanding of the term "never again."

H/T: Dan Collins.; 6/11/11, 8:54 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "How can anyone function without a pickup truck?"

But it's more fun driving around the twisty turns and rolling hills in the Audi TT.

We do have a larger vehicle, too, somewhat more truck-like, but we didn't happen to be in it at the time we got the hosta bug.; 6/11/11, 8:56 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "You took the TT to the HH at the FF."

Wish I'd thought of that when writing the post title!; 6/11/11, 8:58 PM
Penny said...: Beautiful maple, rh.

Yet sadly, by size, it represents the lives of what? Three dobermans?; 6/11/11, 9:13 PM
Penny said...: Awww...

Vicki! No wonder you lost the Football Photo Challenge!

Dad sent in the wrong picture.

Toot sweet.; 6/11/11, 9:17 PM
A. Shmendrik said...: In da Stoughton, eh?; 6/11/11, 9:45 PM
Titus said...: What do all those flower place employees do in the winter?; 6/11/11, 10:12 PM
Chuck66 said...: At first I thought that was a liberal car with a "co-exsist" bumper sticker, but I will give you a pass if it is an Audi. Now, all you have to do is put Illinois plates on it and talegate everyone.; 6/11/11, 10:18 PM
Chuck66 said...: "They're an invasive species."

Dude, in Madison they call them "undocumented species".; 6/11/11, 10:20 PM
Christy said...: Weirdly, I prefer to nip the flower stalks on hosta before they bud. I don't find the flowers themselves particularly attractive. I do find them, waving sparsely above the lush foliage, displeasing. Still, I can believe landscape designers can make them work.

Didn't mean to be snarky about getting hosta from friends. I'm simply now in the mode of making a pretty garden on the cheap. Hard to do when I have the very worst luck with starting from seeds. I can propagate most anything, but I'm lucky to get 3 viable plants out of a thousand seeds. I buy most plants at the end of the season, after the bloom is gone. This is how I now have vibrant orange lilies blooming next to the fuchsia coneflowers. But isn't that half the fun of gardening - the constant rearranging of plant material? Those orange lilies will back up the Stella d'Oro day lilies nicely.; 6/11/11, 10:54 PM
Meade said...: Here's a great nursery in North Carolina for gardeners who just have to have the rare and new.; 6/11/11, 11:15 PM
Meade said...: "(I forget the technical word for the flower stalks.)"

It must've escaped you.; 6/11/11, 11:17 PM
deborah said...: When I was a teen I transplanted some dame's violet from Adena, where my grandmother lived, up to Canton. It came up for years, but that house has since been torn down.; 6/12/11, 12:04 AM
Kurt said...: What? You mean you're not hostile to Hostas anymore? I've remembered that line for years now, and have thought of it every time I go back to visit my mother's house where there are very many Hostas in the back yard.

Among the many reasons one might be hostile to Hostas is the fact that apparently they attract deer. Although deer were unheard of in our suburban neighborhood when I was growing up, now they are commonplace, and my mother often complains about them being in her backyard and eating her plants.; 6/12/11, 1:14 AM
Penny said...: "What do all those flower place employees do in the winter?"

Oh heck, Titus. Eye don't know?

Maybe....

Migrants follow the sun. Let's say they do the "vertical" North/South work route from Madison, Wisconsin to San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Americans, on the other hand, seem to prefer the "horizontal", YET...a scant few DO look for local, state snow removal contracts. Never on your street though.

The rest are gay. Arranging FABULOUS floral arrangements for funerals and weddings.

The owners?

Exhausted! Dirt rich. Dollar poor.; 6/12/11, 1:24 AM
Ralph L said...: What do all those flower place employees do in the winter?
Propagate.
Or wither away.; 6/12/11, 1:33 AM
nina said...: It's the TT to the MM then the A, no? I live in those parts now.

Funny about hostas. They are like daylilies in that the common ones are cheap and ever present and the specialty ones (blue hostas, purple hemerocallis) are hellishly expensive.

The owners of the Flower Factory are such... old fashioned hippies with entrepreneurial savvy. A rare combo, I think. Sort of like the person I hang out with.; 6/12/11, 5:40 AM
AllenS said...: Since Meade moved in, I'll bet you have the nicest yard in town.; 6/12/11, 6:20 AM
Issob Morocco said...: I have killed all of my hostas and let that be a warning to any lingering in the ground thinking of coming back next year.

Cheers!; 6/12/11, 10:08 AM
Issob Morocco said...: Blue Poppies now that is the flower bomb!!; 6/12/11, 12:12 PM