Hosta Heaven

Living in an older house, surrounded by mature trees is so nice. Not only is it a beautiful setting, but provides plenty of shade during the hot Texas summers. The only drawback from having all this shade is finding something to plant. Hostas, with the many different varieties of leaf color, and purple flowers atop tall scapes, are the perfect solution to the "too much shade" problem.

We found this wonderful specimen at a local nursury. I was so awed by the many leaf chutes pushing up through the soil, that even though I couldn't find a label, I just had to buy it. I'm so very glad I did....

...This is what the Hosta looks like now. With the opening of some of the leaves, I now know that it's dark green, with a paler green around the edges. Beautiful! I can hardly wait to see it in its full glory.

Next to this one is the solid green plantain lily most people are familiar with. I've always wanted one, and I found this one at Lowes. It's opening up very nicely.

These, I'm especially proud of, because they are the three survivors of the ill-fated plants from the front yard. When we dismantled that front planting area, we found 3 bulbs out of the 8 we originally planted there. I potted them up, not knowing if they were alive, and I'm happy to find that they made it.

This is the Great Expectations Hosta from last year. I posted an earlier photo last month, and this one shows not only its progress, but also the reawakening of the Japanese Holly Fern I planted in the pot with it. I may have to move one or the other, because, If I remember correctly, the fern will grow to overpower the hosta. At least that's what happened last year.

And there you have it. My hosta heaven.