Hosta trades

I have been involved in trading Hostas with fellow Hostaholics across Canada since 2007 and before we go any further let me say here and now, that unfortunately I can only trade with Canadian Hostaholics. The paperwork and expenses incurred by both parties when attempting to do trades across the US/Canada border just make that not very worthwhile. By and large my trades have worked out fine for both parties with 2 exceptions: once with a gal in Eastern Canada who received 8 of my Hostas in April of 2008 and has yet to send me the ones she agreed to send me -needless to say she's off my Chrstmas card list- and once I received a batch of plants from a secret trader where one or more were infected with foliar nematodes, and I have no doubt she was unaware of their payload.

Trades have happened two ways for me. I have traded for requests from others who have several Hostas of interest to me, and I have participated in so-called 'secret trades' on a couple of forums I frequent. Secret trades are a crap shoot to a certain extent since you never know what you'll get, but in some respect they are like Christmas in July for that very reason.

Twice in 2008 I have received traded plants that were incorrectly labeled, typically because the other party had received them identified incorrectly themselves. In one case it was supposed to be 'Fire and Ice' and what I received was 'Revolution', and more recently what I received in a secret trade as 'So Sweet' was anything but, it proved to be 'Whirlwind' when it came back up in 2009.

In spite of these 'bumps in the road' many other trades have been such a pleasure that I am actively pursueing more trades with Canadian Hosta fanatics. My collection is modest by most standards of a Hostaholic, but I think it is now large and diversified enough that I think I can offer a lot of Hostas in trade for something I do not have as yet and make this work for both parties. In light of the misidentification problem I have run into three times now, from here on in I'm going to provide pictures of the plant under trade and request the same be done by the other party.

If you are a Canadian gardener and have interest in doing a trade, I'd love to talk with you, please contact me through the contact page and we can work out the details. Since we have carport plant sales in the spring it will be a good idea to have our ducks in a row before these start, usually the 2nd weekend in April. As long as I know who's interested in what then I can keep those choices aside until they can be shipped in May/June. I would prefer to ship plants when the roots are actively growing, which is from June on through to late August, as this will result in the best transplant success for both parties. I ship my plants bare root via Express Post, which means that if I ship on a Monday the plants can be in points East of here in 2-3 working days.

This is an example of how the plants will be packed, wrapped in sopping wet paper towels with an ID tag, then wrapped in plastic wrap, tied with rubber bands and they all go into a large enough cardboard box to not have to fold any leaves, all held in place by foam packing chips or crumpled newsprint if needed.


No self-respecting Hostaholic will be without a 'Most Wanted' list, something that is a constantly changing, ever expanding list of Hostas that appeal to us for whatever reason (who needs a reason). The list typically gets added to when you see a picture of a cultivar that speaks to you: 'Gotta have!' and you will find my list posted on one of the forums I frequent. If there is something on my want list that you have and you see something on my website that you'd like, then just contact me through the contact page and we'll set the wheels in motion. Or, even if you don't have something that's on my wish list, if you see something here you like contact me through the contact page and let me know what you have, I will probably see something quite suitable. Several of the Hostas I have received in trade never were on my wish-list, they were suggestions from the other party, so don't be shy about suggesting you have something you think I should have.

Unless you are local, I strive to trade a minimum of three plants in order to make the cost of shipping worthwhile and fair value for both parties. I like to keep my shipping cost per plant to around $5-6 or less, which means if I trade with someone in Ontario or Quebec we're looking at 5 or 6 plants, IF possible. The wrapped plants you see above are an actual shipment destined for a trader in Manitoba, involving a total of 7 different varieties. I request the plants be shipped on a Monday, Xpresspost, which is at the most 3-business-day delivery between B.C. and ON/QC, and allows for the plants to be planted at their destination before the weekend.

Guestbook use seems to have fallen out of favour, so we have deleted it, but, if there's something you'd like to say, simply use the form on the contact page.



Pages last updated 28 November 2018