What a difference
a year makes
We believe a great part of our success in 2007 resulted from our National
Collection designation, awarded in March. Designation
stimulated much interest in visiting the nursery and certainly boosted
interest in our website, where we detail the collection.
This year we will be supporting the NCCPG at several
events including the spring and autumn plant sales at Helmingham
Hall in Suffolk and the Plant
Heritage event at the Cambridge Botanical Gardens on
the 8th June 2008.
In addition we will again be co-located with the NCCPG stand at
Gardener's
World. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to be able
to work alongside the NCCPG event team and promote the organisation
to our customers. The NCCPG exhibit features plants from many National
Collections and there are many specialists on hand to provide more
information on the valuable work of the Council.
Perhaps the most important aspect of our collection is the way in
which we can ensure the continuation of specific varieties that
may have fallen out of circulation due to the proliferation of new
cultivars coming to the market every year. Keeping the older varieties
true allows us to supply back into the market and can be very valuable
when there are so many varieties sold by garden centres incorrectly
labelled. We get many enquiries every year about varieties that
are obviously not sold as they should be and that can be for very
innocent reasons. After all, as the 'friendship plant', hostas are
split and shared very widely, so mistakes do happen.
So what do we consider to be classic varieties?
Here are our choices for a 'top 10' of classic varieties to grace
any garden:
- h. 'Fortunei Albopicta'
For outstanding spring performance it needs a cool spot in dappled
shade and you will get light yellow-green leaves with a deep green
margin. The variegation disappears gradually as the season progresses
(see photo) but still looks stunning as a backdrop to other planting.
- h. 'Abiqua Drinking Gourd'
Not as large as some of the more popular blues, this variety needs
shade for the best blue and the cupped leaves are wonderfully
textured - just wait until you see them holding droplets of water
after a shower.
- h. 'Francee'
An excellent grower with startlingly white leaf margins that will
grow happily in sun or shade - brilliant in a large pot as a centre-piece.
- h. 'Sum and Substance'
This plant needs plenty of space as it can grow up to seven feet
wide. For this is will reward you with lime green leaves in the
shade and gold leaves in the sun. A truly attention-grabbing plant.
- h. 'So Sweet'
Needing dappled shade, this variety is amongst the earliest flowering
of the fragrant hostas. In July the white margined green leaves
are topped off with delightfully fragranced, almost white flowers.
- h. 'Gold Standard'
This is a real beauty of a plant with gold centred green margined
leaves that show best in dappled shade. Gold Standard is an important
plant as parent to many of the newest introductions
- h. 'Fortunei Aureomarginata'
Keeping its colour throughout the season, this variety will take
sun or shade and be equally glorious in either condition.
- h. 'Blue Cadet' and h.
'Banyai's Dancing Girl'
Both plants are almost identical to each other, each have blue
leaves with an abundance of lavender flowers that are in proportion
to the leaf mound.
- h. 'Fortunei Moerheim'
A shade loving variety, this hosta has wide undulating white margins
to the dark green leaves.
- h. 'June'
Every garden should have one! Plant this variety in the sun if
you want bright gold centres with blue margins. Plant in the shade
for lovely subtle shades of blue and green across the leaf. Buy
one, split it when it is large enough and try a clump in another
situation to see for yourself. Even better, give a piece to a
friend to get them started.
 Click
on the links underneath the images to find out more.
Just outside the top 10 but worthy of mention is h.
'Paul's Glory' (on the right), Robin's all time favourite
and the most expensive plant we have ever bought into the collection.
It likes dappled shade and has large gold-centred leaves with blue
margins - smashing!
Size matters update
There is one very important factor that links all hosta enthusiasts
- their attention to detail and fastidious cataloguing of facts
concerning the genus. This is perhaps most noticable to readers
of the American Hosta Journal, a publication which includes some
fabulous photography. As long standing members of the American Hosta
Society (AHS) we try to keep up with developments across the Atlantic
and are pleased to see that it is becoming easier to engage with
the organisation as they operate more widely online these days.
For eaxmaple, the AHS is currently running a 'mini
hosta forum' where you are invited to add to the debate
over which hostas should be classified as miniature.
Subsequent to our analysis of size classifications
in the November
2007 issue, we have decided to change our smallest category
of hostas from dwarf to miniature at the end of this season in line
with the majority, and now the AHS too.
We will keep you informed of developments.
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