July 2007

Hosta 'Golden Tiara' is in full bloom! It's chockablock with buds and they have such a nice, deep, rich purple colour. They set seed easily too, but I haven't bothered sprouting any, just haven't got the room to worry about the seedlings.

This 'Fortunei Hyacinthina' scape with its early bud development is somewhat reminiscent of an artichoke, don't you think? Certainly fascinating.

By the 1st of July we usually are well into lily season. Haven't got the foggiest notion what this particular one is though. It comes to us from my youngest brother, Chris, and I don't believe he knows it either. It's been in our garden for a good many years now and while it flowers every year I have never bothered to collect seeds from it. It certainly does not have much a propensity for multiplying, seems to me we have had 3 of them for the last 4 or 5 years.

You probably know by now that I have a thing for Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears'. It isn't just the basic plant I like for the almost succulent-like substance of its leaves, their shape, as well as the overall appearance of this cultivar. Now that it is in bloom you can add the flowers to what I like about this plant. Unlike most all other Hosta flowers I have seen, these do not flare open. They stay this tight, heavy substanced cluster of tepals, quite unique.

July 24th marked a special day: I received 5 new Hostas from a fellow Hosta fanatic in Ottawa! You see them here soaking up some rainwater shortly after having been unpacked. Though they do not show up terribly well in this picture, from left to right they are: 'Blond Elf' and 'Dixie Chick', 'Maui Buttercups' is in the center container by itself (like the corrugation) and the others off on the right are 'Grand Tiara' and 'Stiletto'.

All were nice sized divisions and most separated into individual plants very nicely with Grand Tiara and Maui Buttercups yielding 2 plants, the other three were divisible into 3 plants.

And here are today's additions to the resident Hosta family! They have been moved to a shady spot in the planting area to get acclimatized and all will end up in a spot next year with more sun then they were in Ottawa this year. I rather suspect for instance that Maui Buttercups will show much more yellow in more sun than it does now.