October (First Edition)

Come join the fun!

By answering three questions - you, the reader, get to meddle in MY garden

during spring of 2014! 

 

The 2013 Hosta Summery

Last month I promised a recap of this years growing season.   This recap, along with the Garden Basics document found in the August 2013 section, will help you respond to the year end questions found below. The summery looks like:

Name                Survived        Leaf Growth  Fert. Added  Flowered     

Dragon Tails        Added           Limited                   Yes          
Gorgon              Added           Vigorous                               
Itsy Bitsy Spider   Added           Noticeable   Yes                       


Little Devil        Added           Limited      Yes                      
 

Xanadu Empress Wu - PP20774 CPBRAF                                         
                    Added           Noticeable   Yes                       


Blue Mammoth        Replaced        No           Yes          Yes [failed]
 

Frosted Mouse Ears  Replaced        Noticeable   Yes                       
Holy Mouse Ears     Replaced        Limited      Yes                       
Popcorn             Replaced        Limited      Yes                       
Vulcan              Replaced        Limited      Yes                       
X-Ray               Replaced        Noticeable   Yes         Yes [failed]  
Dancing Queen       Yes             Limited      Yes                       


Dixie Chickadee     Yes             Vigorous                              
 

Emerald Tiara       Yes             Vigorous                 Yes           

Golden Tiara        Yes             Noticeable               Yes           


June                Yes             No                                     


Lemon Lime          Yes             Limited                  Yes           


Little Sunspot      Yes / Replaced  Limited                  Split Success 
Sum and Substance   Yes             Vigorous                 Yes           


T-Rex               Yes             No           Yes         Yes           

'
venusta'           Yes             No                       Yes           

Leaf Growth compared to last season or from time of planting

No = No leaves seen to grow for season
Limited = Under 4 leaves seen to grow
Noticeable = Under 7 leaves seen to grow
Vigorous = More than 7 leaves seen to grow

Hosta Omitted from 2012 - Not Replaced one for one during 2013 season:

Buttered Popcorn  Replaced by Itsy Bity Spider
Medusa            Replaced by Gorgon

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2013 Year End Questions

This is that time of year where, you the reader, get to meddle in my garden!  Longer time readers would tell you that I do listen to what you have to say.  This year I have three questions I would like feedback on:

• How many years should a gardener attempt to grow a particular plant before giving up?  I have tried Blue Mammoth for three years now [see the Saga of the Blue Mammoth (September (Second Edition)].  Should I try for a fourth time if it fails to come up during the spring of 2014? 
• Of the plants that do not survive to 2014 should they be replaced or …. should I just arrange my garden to accommodate what did survive?
• Which Hosta do YOU think will not survive to next spring?

With my stupid luck every last one of these plants will come up next year but whatever happens we all will be comparing notes next season!

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The Plant Review

The garden still has surprises coming!  The temperatures have become more seasonable and the rains have returned with 'some' normalcy.   I have grown hosta for over 18 years and in some ways I am still learning about hosta habits as others say putting hosta to bed in the Fall wet (well watered) is the right way to do it.  We might actually see that this year.

Emerald Tiara: is sending not one flower scape out but two!   Flowers coming soon!
Itsy Bitsy Spider: Seems to be sending new leaves out to make up or the leaves it lost during the heat.  Quite unexpected.
Xanadu Empress Wu - PP20774 CPBRAF:  Is sending out leaves swiftly with two new leaves for each plant.  I would say these three tissue culture plants have adapted to the ground they are in.  It will be hard to cut these back for the winter with this kind of success.


Next Issue you get to see my own guess as to what will NOT come up in 2014.  You might be surprised at some of my guesses and why I make the guess.

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Even Fantasy Has to be Rearranged!

Sometimes when a creative writer writes wonderful words it sounds good, and then when the realty is looked at it turns really awful.  Such was the case with a scene from Round the Neighborhood a while back.  I had indicated that Anna was 19 years of age and inferred that she was the eldest of 26 children of one of the main characters, Papa Bouillon.  While the author still has a ridiculous sized family of 26 children being over seen by a recently widowed parent.  In this case the eldest child of Papa Bouillon has to be older than 19 years of age.  To reach this desired fantasy arrangement the family composition had to be arranged to be thus:



Child(ren)                    Birth Date    Age

Anna                             1/84        29

Bella & Carol                 7/85 Twins     28

Dax                              1/87        26

Elrod                            7/88        25

Flynn                            1/90        23

Grey                             7/91        22

Hayden                           1/93        20

Izumi                            7/94        19

Jalen                            1/96        17

Kendall, Landon & Micah     7/97 Triplets    16

Nico                             1/99        14

Orange                           7/00        13

Payton                           1/02        11

Quinn                            7/03        10

Ranni                            1/05         8

Sage                             7/06         7

Teagen                           1/08         5

Umang                            7/09         4

Vic                              1/11         2

Wynne, Xaum. Yoshi & Zane  7/12 Quadruplets   1

Readers will note that their mother took child bearing somewhat responsibly in that she took 9 months to rest between each birth.  During the September (Second Edition) Papa Bouillon would have told you that Umang and younger are being cared for by nannies back at the house, and Izumi and the younger kids were present (12 of his kids).  Anna is home unexpectedly from college if you have not gathered that by this point.  Next season you will get to see why the first five children have names as they do; as if you have not suspected ... and with out further pause I give you Act Five!

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Round the Neighborhood

Of Flour, Fertilizer, Sauce, and Mischief

Season I - Act 5

[Sounds of liquid being vacuumed up, a press squeezing, and material being ground up can be heard]

"There are the bottles!"

"Let me sign for them!" Peter lifts the plastic wrapped bottles over his head.  "Izumi, you asked for more bottles!"

"Papa we found another seed!" Sage says gleefully.

"Take it to Anna, and she'll clean it of!"

"Very good Teagan and Sage.  Keep looking for them.  We must find all of them!"  Anna vacuums off the liquid, and then axes it into pieces, and hands it to Stio for milling.

"Looks like an improvement over the last one.  Mr Muir has been making improvements as much as he hates them." Stio observe.

Papa Bullion pulls out a vial, a pocket knife, and adeptly takes a sample.  "That should do it."

"What are you doing Papa?" Nico asks.

"It's time to get to the bottom of what our neighbor is doing to tomatoes."

"There we have enough liquid fertilizer, tomato flour, and tomato sauce for another year!"

"… when we're done I'll divide work shares." Chris said as he swung the axe.