H. 'Sitting Pretty'

As you may have noticed by now as you're browsing my site, I'm always game to trade Hostas, be that with someone local or out of town or province. The trades I have been involved in have mostly been initiated on my part, but I have also been an eager participant in so-called 'secret trades' in one of the Hosta forums I frequent, Hallson's. Early August I contacted a lady in Brandon, MB, about doing some trading, and these are what arrived at my doorstep on August 14th. They were soaking in rainwater when I got home that day -Waita put each division in its own container with water from our rainbarrels- and after supper it was potting up time. Some were smaller than others and the largest of them is actually missing from this shot, it hadn't been potted up yet when I took the picture, I couldn't make up my mind what size pot to put it in. I was the lucky recipient of a total of 8 Hostas, 7 of which were new to me and a fair number of those were on my 'most wanted' list.

'Sitting Pretty' was one of those that is no longer on that list. It is a mini and I ended up with 2 small divisions. The one near the top of the picture is the smaller one in terms of size and number of roots and I suspect separation of these 2 actually happened as part of the packing/unpacking process. While the size and number of roots might be of concern later in the year, there is ample growth time left for them put on plenty more roots as long as I make sure they stay well-hydrated. And that they will be. The tray you see above with all the plants will be watered every 3-4 days, plus they'll be kept out of direct sun altogether to reduce transpiration.

It would appear as if this little cutie is another one we lost over the 08/09 winter....