h. "Clifford's Comet"

h. 'Clifford's Comet' is a medium sized hosta. The margins of this hosta are dark green with a white and green speckled center. Not a fast growing hosta, but it's still a beauty. Other hostas by the same hybridizer include h. "Clifford's Forest Fire", h. "Clifford's Stingray", and h. "Clifford's Polar Moon".

Honest Scrap Award

Last week I was nominated for an Honest Scrap award by my friend and follower blogger, Jenn Hammer. Her blog Jenn's Cooking Garden is full of great information on California gardening, canning, recycling, and all kinds of yummy recipes.

Recipients of the Honest Scrap award are supposed to reveal ten truths about themselves, and then extend the award to seven other bloggers. I think all of my other blogger friends have already received this award, so I just might have to skip that step.

So here are my ten truths about myself:

1. I grew up in a small Wisconsin town with a population of about 2500. At least 70% of the town was of German heritage (including myself), and as a kid my grandparents and many of their friends spoke German, as well as English. You would think that would mean that I can speak German, but I only know how to count to 10 and swear in German.
2. Both of my grandparents had home gardens when I was a kid. My maternal grandparents had a huge garden that was bigger than my current backyard. So gardening seems to be in my blood.
3. All of the kids in my neighborhood gathered at our house to play. We had a huge yard that including 2 chestnut trees (for climbing and throwing chestnuts at each other), a tetherball pole, the perfect pine tree (that worked as an awesome fort and somehow the branches were just right for climbing all the way to the top) and the best sandbox in town. My great-uncle owned a quarry, so every summer he would deliver a brand new dump truck load of sand to us. As soon as he brought the sand all of us would run into our houses and ask our parents for baking soda and vinegar, and we would build what we thought was the largest sand volcano ever.
4. I was a tomboy.
5. My dad lost his job due to a union strike, and we moved to a "city" of 25,000 when I was in 9th grade. So I went from a graduating class of about 50 to 500. It was not an easy transition, but it was where I met the person who is still my best friend, Gina.
6. When I first entered college I was planning on earning a degree in International Business with a minor in French. This may have been influenced by the fact that I lived in France for about a month as part of a high school trip. I graduated from college with a degree in Early Childhood Education and Library Science, you try to connect the dots there...LOL!
7. I have naturally curly hair now, but as a child my hair was very fine and thin. So fine and thin that my mom had to tape bows and other things in my hair if she wanted them to stay.
8. I married my husband when I was 31 and he was 30. We are exactly 1.5 years apart from each other. Does that make me a cougar? LOL
9. I have no children, not for lack of trying :)
10. I just stumbled into hostas, and somehow have never looked back. It has become somewhat of an obsession with Gina, myself, and now my mom. I think I am closing in on almost 500. I have so many that I use my neighbor's yards. I think it might be time to consider a new house and yard, but I dread the thought of digging up all of the hostas and bringing them with me (and yes, they would have to come with me). Plus I have awesome neighbors on each side of me.

Ok, so I said I would probably skip this step, but here is one blog I read often. Jeff Branch's blog My World. Jeff is a fellow hostaphile and I live vicariously through him and his quest for the perfect burger since I can't eat beef. So I nominate him for an honest scrap.

Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears'

h. 'Blue Mouse Ears' is a small-miniature hosta. It's a great hosta for creating miniature gardens with and works well in containers. h. 'Blue Mouse Ears' has very thick leaves, and is an easy hosta to grow. It grow to be about 8-9 inches wide. Miniature and small hostas can be difficult because they will "heave" out of the ground during the winter due to their size, but I have never had this problem with h. 'Blue Mouse Ears'. (knock on wood)

Hosta 'Atlantis'

When I look outside all I see is the cold, white snow and with the occasional plant tag fighting it's way to the top. It kind of looks like a plant graveyard outside. So I've decided to feature a hosta this week on the blog.

One of the hostas in my garden which generates the most Ooohs and Ahhhs, is the hosta 'Atlantis'. Atlantis is a large, fast growing hosta. It is a sport of H. 'Abba Dabba Do' from the great hosta hybridizer Hans Hansen. It is very showy due to it's size, coloration, and the slightly wavy/twisty leaf shape. The border of the leaf is a thick bright chartreuse color with the center a darker green color.

I have mine located in the back of my hosta border, and it is still one of the first hostas people will notice. Because of it's easy growing habit and it's stunning beauty, I highly recommend this hosta for any garden that has room (it can grow to be about 5 feet wide).

Animoto.com

Finally changed up the blog!

Today I had time to play around with the look of my blog, I've changed it up a little bit. I added a new header. I guess that's one New Year's resolution I can take off my list LOL! Now if only I could remember to blog at least once a week during the winter months I'd be all set!

Gardening New Years Resolutions

It's that time of the year when everything is thinking of their New Year's resolutions. I admit, I am one of those people who makes a resolution and sticks with it for about 5 months, but gardening season doesn't even really begin until May here and is over with in Octoberish so I should be good.

I keep a database of all my hostas and lilies, that way I can look up my list on the computer and see what I already own and not buy doubles (unless I really, really, really ♥ them). I also carry a small printed version of the list with me in my purse during the summer. See, know you know for sure that I am a hosta geek (if you ever doubted it).

Anyway, this past summer I did a very poor job of updating my list with all my new purchases. So my resolution for this summer is to update my list and to keep it updated all summer long. Sounds easy enough, except I will have to go through all my gardens and figure out which ones were new last year and were not added. I have 5 months to psych myself up for this task, or will that be 5 months and then forgotten?

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2010 is a happy, healthy, and a great growing season for all!