My Hosta Gardens

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Confusion reigns as this little plant was named Chickadee when I bought it but when it was registered - Chickadee was already taken.  Plan B is the new name: Dixie Chickadee which is a reference to its parent, Hosta ‘Dixie Chick’.   I believe I purchased this plant from Naylor Creek Nursery in 2007.  As it’s shown here it has been moved from the Berry Garden where it was barely seen to the new mini garden.  I divided it when I moved it so it’s set back a bit but in the end, two plants are better than one when you’ve got voles galore.  Seeing as a full grown plant will reach only about eight inches, I think I could lose it all in one chomp!

Ginsu Knife is a really nice looking and unique hosta.  With its tight, wavy edge and graceful blade-like leaves it’s special and isn’t going to get confused for anything else in your garden.  This is the second season for mine (in my garden) and it seemed to have safely made it though the winter/spring vole attacks despite the fact that almost every other hosta in the bed where it was previously was ravaged.  It’s since been moved to a more visible spot in the Berry garden where we can see it from the fireplace. 

Ginsu Knife is a hybrid of Hosta ‘Iron Gate Supreme’ and Hosta ‘Green Fountain’ that was registered in 2002 by Bob Solberg of Green Hill Hosta.  I believe that I got my Ginsu Knife in 2007 from Naylor Creek Nursery.

Go get one.  You know you want it.

OMG tonight I had a deceased vole in my kitchen.  Either the dogs or the cats brought it in.  I applaud them for assisting in the fight against the voles through the power of nature’s predator and prey scenario but I’m not sure the kitchen floor is the place to dump the bodies.

From May:

Hosta ‘Illicit Affair’ is a green and gold sport of Cheatin Heart.  It emerges all gold and then develops into a green leaf with a gold edge.  It’s a small sized hosta that makes a compact mound.   I can’t remember for the life of me where I got this plant!

The epic battle of human and hosta versus vole continued this morning with my waking to find two more hosta destroyed.  I think I am losing about one or two a week at this point.  I can’t protect them fast enough and the voles are now walking right through the repellant to get to the hosta.  Maybe that’s a good sign?  Maybe they are desperate? 

Or maybe they are mutant voles for which there is no defense!!!

Today’s destruction includes a Dream Weaver - oh the horror.  Do you know how slow this hosta is?  Let me tell you, it’s a S  L  O  W  W  W grower and the voles knocked it back several seasons.  The second victim was one of three Diamond Tiara.  Come to think of it, I can only remember two of them so maybe the third was actually a winter victim??  I have to see if I can remember where I put that third one.  Hmmm.

Dream Weaver sans roots:

Diamond Tiara:

Interestingly I also dug up a hosta right next to this one because I found a vole hole right at its crown.  The crown was still there and several big fat roots came out from it BUT there was virtually no smaller, capillary/feeder root system!  I think that winter vole feeding reduced the roots dramatically and it was only able to grow new roots once spring began.  It explains why many of my hosta did not increase in size from last year.

My Hadspen Blues took a beating this year but like Ali - although up against the ropes - they come back fighting!  This one is from the concrete garden.  Planted in the center of the worst root competition, it was one of the ones that survived the best considering the circumstances.   It might have done well simply because it was inside the rain line so the tree roots weren’t so eager to kick its butt.  Despite this, it’s still been affected and is a little sparsely leafed out. 

The second plant has been destroyed by voles.  It’s possible it could come back but all of the roots have been eaten.  It’s a fifty fifty chance at this point.  Both plants have been moved to a mini garden at the top of the pond.

Hadspen Blue is the creation of someone named Eric Smith who - from what I can tell dedicated his life to creating new blue hostas.  It’s a medium sized, brilliant blue hosta given the right amount of protection from sun.

Here’s the new bed I added this weekend.  I put many of the surviving minis here from the concrete garden.  My theory with miniature or dwarf hosta is to plant them in groups or drifts.  One single mini is gorgeous but completely lost when your garden is of any size. 

I’ll try to label all of these guys.  Starting at the top left (just below the fragment of a leaf peeking into the pic):

Praying Hands (not a long term solution for this one but with the concrete garden gone, I had to get it into the ground somewhere)

Then there’s two Blue Mouse Ears, a Diamond Tiara and another BME

Heading down the right are Green Eyes, Tiny Tears, Cracker Crumbs and three clumps of Lemon Lime.

The burnt up shell of a hosta at the bottom is a Hadspen Blue - yep, eaten by voles.  Above that to the left is a more normal looking Hadspen Blue and above that is a vole and sun destroyed Sherborne Swift.  Right above that is a little Teaspoon.

That one Hadspen Blue will have to move in the future but it has a few years to recover.  

Doesn’t seem like much, does it??

Just how small is this little bugger?  Small enough to get lost in anyone’s yard!  Here it is with a good ol’ American quarter for comparison: