New website coming soon!

Hello everyone and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

HostasDirect will soon have a brand new website, running on a brand new server!  This new website will boast many new features, including the ability to directly compare hosta attributes side-by-side and making it even easier to search our database of 7000+ hostas using our HostaSearch(TM) technology.  Placing orders will be simplified into one screen, instead of having to go through 5 different pages to finish placing your order for hostas!  Additionally, we will begin accepting PayPal as well as all the major Credit Card providers for placing an order.

We have some great deals up our sleeves for helping you save money this coming season, so as always, stay tuned!  Our Hosta Queen, Marcia Fluer, will be keeping you up to date on the daily activities here at HostasDirect – the #1 place to buy hostas for your garden!

This post was written by Joseph Husby, “the tech guy” here at HostasDirect.  A little about myself:  I am a junior at the University of Minnesota in the honors computer science program.  I also plan to minor in business management.  In one of my management classes, we are having a competition as to who can rank highest on Google for the search term Zompire Dracularius.  I have included a link to my Zompire Dracularius website.  There isn’t much there, but it has been a fun project so far!  Oh, and FYI, I’m currently creaming the competition!  :-)

More About Fall Showoffs

Hi fellow hosta lovers,

I patrol my yard every day and every day I see something that either wasn’t there before or I didn’t notice it.

Fall is the best time to see new stuff because as certain plants die the remaining plants leap at you. For instance, I have a mini (or is it a small?) in the backyard that is ordinary all year unless you happen to be a chipmunk who notices the red petioles of ‘Katsuragawa Beni’. Not being a chipmunk I don’t get eye level with the ground that often. But when this shy guy sent up its scapes  in mid-September, I gasped. And I didn’t need to be a chipmunk to appreciate its color and drama.

September Showoff

A wallflower is suddenly in the spotlight.

When I looked further, I noticed that other red-petioled hosta were doing the same dance. They were flowering way beyond expections into late September. Take ‘Marilyn Monroe’, for instance. She’s gorgeous all year, but right now, a day before we flip the calendar to October, she’s really ready for her close-up. Not only is her petiole redder and her flower scapes awesome, her ‘petticoat’ (that’s what I call her white backside) is even more prominent. You go girl!

Look around your yard to see what changes you haven’t noticed and let me know. I love to talk Hostas. What other “reds” are still doing their thing? I plan to group some reds next year around  H. ‘Red October’. What are you planning for next spring?

More about H. ‘Raspberry Sorbet’

My H. ‘Raspberry Sorbet’. It’s a real early fall showoff.

Its buds are nearly red and match the scapes.

Edible

Fall color happens even in hostas. Anybody have a H. ‘Raspberry Sorbet’? Its flowers are amazing and I plan to upload a pic to www.hostasdirect.com in the next few days. Right now I’m busy admiring it and watching as a few others begin some serious pre-fall fading. My H. ‘Blond Elf’ is a mess (no pic forthcoming) and a few others are looking ‘peakid’ as my grandma used to say. How about yours? What’s happening in your part of the country?

Photo Contest

Be sure to check the www.HostasDirect.com newletter later this week for a special offer guaranteed to save you money AND a contest. I love winning stuff almost as much as I love snapping pictures of my hostas.

My Current Favorite

I love my H. ‘Stained Glass’. What’s not to love? It has color, crinkle, a gorgeous flower that emerges when many flowering plants have given up, and it smells like a gardenia.

What I learned on the job with HostasDirect.com

I’ve been ‘on the job’ for about two weeks and logged three days at our retail site. WOW!! Several customers came from many hours away to take advantage of our big sale and they love hostas almost as much as I do. Like me, they saw themselves happy and content selling, talking, watering and loving hostas all day long. Hostas are a numbers game and they knew their numbers: how many hostas they have, what their names are, and how to use them. They also knew how to pump me for information. “What is your favorite? Why? Any tricks about getting rid of slugs? Deer?” It was exhausting and fun.  If hostas are your passion, I’d be happy to hear from you. So long for now. Back to work.

Fragrant Hostas

There are 58 fragrant hostas, all with their roots in H. plantaginea

H. plantaginea is the only fragrant species hosta, so any hosta with fragrance has H. plantaginea in its background.  Almost all of H. plantaginea offspring except H. ‘Fragrant Blue’ have a wonderful fragrance.  Fragrant hostas need ample sun to create a bloom.

H. plantaginea has the largest bloom of all hostas–approximately 6 inches.  The bloom is pure white and the most fragrant of all hosta blooms.  H. plantaginea blooms around 4 p.m. instead of 7 a.m. like most other hostas.  H. plantaginea is also unique in its ability to “reflush” new foliage during the summer months.  (Most hosta species send up all their foliage in the spring.)  H. plantaginea originated in eastern China, near Beijing and Shanghai, where it can be hot and humid.  This means that fragrant hostas are often the most heat tolerant and can do well in the southern United States up to zone 8 and sometimes even zone 9.

H. plantaginea was commonly known as “August lily.” It was brought to Europe in the 1790’s.

H. plantaginea, a top hosta for hybridizing

Because of the excellent traits of H. plantaginea, including large fragrant blooms, heat and humidity tolerance, beautiful form, “reflushing” of foliage, vigorous growth, and leaf sheen, it has been popular in hybridizing.  There have also been many sports from H. plantaginea and its offspring.

H. plantaginea ‘Aphrodite’, often called just H. ‘Aphrodite’, is a spectacular double-blooming, fragrant hosta and a sport of plantaginea.   Some people have a difficult time getting this hosta to bloom.  It seems to need moist soil, warm days and cool nights and plenty of sun to get it to bloom.  At HostasDirect, Inc. we have never had a problem getting ours to bloom.

Some other fragrant hostas include ‘Holy Mole’, ‘Guacamole’, ‘Stained Glass’, ‘Fragrant Bouquet’, ‘Avocado’, ‘Flower Power’, ‘Fried Bananas’, and ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’.

Deer prefer fragrant hostas

Deer tend to eat fragrant hostas first!  They apparently have a sweeter taste.

Yellow or Gold Hostas: Better in the Sun

The yellow in a hosta is a genetic absence of chlorophyll, which makes the leaves appear different shades of yellow. As yellow hostas contain fewer food-producing chloroplasts, annual fertilizing is important.  (Note: Around 2003, the American Hosta Society changed its show terminology from “gold-leafed” to “yellow-leafed.”  Chartreuse hostas are considered to be in the green category.)

Yellow Hostas Need More Sun

As a general rule, a yellow hosta needs to be planted in a sunnier location to keep its color vibrant.  The yellow color may fade to green without at least two hours of full sun daily. Some glossy, chartreuse hostas change to yellow when exposed to more light, like H. ‘Sum and Substance.’ Yellow or yellow-centered hostas are often sun-resistant.

The temperature of a full-sun area can vary by the time of day and by your location (southern versus northern United States, high altitude versus low altitude).  Even though yellow hostas need some sun exposure, any hosta in full sun will need to be watered frequently.  Overhead watering during the middle of the day can cause water droplets to magnify the sun’s rays and burn the leaves.  Hostas grown in full sun will often turn to a lighter color and the leaves can elongate.  Yellow hostas are most vulnerable to sun damage early in the season when the leaves are expanding.  This is when trees have not gotten all of their leaves back yet.

Using Yellow Hostas in the Garden

Yellow hostas add color, brightness and contrast to the garden.  Their luminescent leaves glow at dusk, dawn or on rainy or overcast days.   Planting next to green or blue foliage makes all of the different colors stand out.  However, over-planting yellow hostas in a blue or green border can produce a spotty effect

Some Yellow Hostas

August Moon, Bitsy Gold, Cheatin’ Heart, Cherry Tart, Dawn’s Early Light, Daybreak, Dragon Tails, Faith, Fan Dance, Fat Cat, Fire Island, Golden Friendship, Golden Scepter, Golden Sculpture, Harriette Ward, Inniswood, Jaz, Jimmy Crack Corn, Key West, King Tut, Lemon Frost, Little Aurora, Maui Buttercups, May, Midas Touch, On Stage, Orange Marmalade, Paradigm, Paul’s Glory, Pee Dee Gold Flash, Piedmont Gold, Rosedale Golden Goose, Solar Flare, Stained Glass, Stardust, Stitch in Time, Sum and Substance, Summer Lovin, Sun Power, Teeny-weeny Bikini, Templar Gold, Thai Brass, Tortilla Chip, World Cup, Yesterday’s Memories, Zounds.

Seasonal color changes in hostas

A small percentage of hostas predictably change colors during the course of the season. There are three types of changes:

Viridescence: Hosta emerges white or yellow and becomes greener.

Examples: Amy Elizabeth, Chinese Sunrise, Dawn’s Early Light, Eskimo Pie, Fortunei Albopicta, Gold Edger, Golden Oriole, Guardian Angel, Heart Broken, June Fever, Lemon Frost, Little Sunspot, Manhattan, Nancy, Night Before Christmas.

Lutescence: Hosta emerges green or chartreuse and turns to yellow or whitish yellow.

Examples: August Moon, Bitsy Gold, Bright Glow, Gaiety, Gold Standard, Golden Gate, Golden Scepter, Golden Sculpture, Golden Tiara, Golden Waffles, Grand Canyon, King Tut, Little Aurora, Lunar Magic, Midas Touch, Paradigm, Piedmont Gold, Sea Dream, Shade Master, Solar Flare, Thai Brass, Zounds.

Albescence: Hosta emerges yellow, yellowish green, or with green areas that turn to near white.

Examples: Celebration, Emerald Crust, Fan Dance, Grand Prize, Paul’s Glory, Red Hot Flash.

Lutescence and viridescence are caused by genes related to sensitivity to temperature.  With viridescence, higher temperatures slow down the activity of this inhibitor gene so that increasingly more chlorophyll is produced.  With lutescence, the gene(s) become more inhibiting as temperatures rise so less chlorophyll is produced.  Lutescent hostas need more sunlight than viridescent hostas to bring out their color to the fullest.

These color changes are genetic and are different from the color changes that result from different amounts of sunlight. (ie. ‘Guacamole’ can look at least three different colors depending on the amount of sun.)