Saturday, July 1
What a great day. We started the day early leaving the house at 6:30 a.m. and headed down to Tipton Michigan. We had heard so much about the hosta hillside at the HIDDEN LAKE GARDENS. After driving two plus hours we arrived, camera and bug spray in hand. But what a treat it was to see the BENEDICT HOSTA COLLECTION. The Michigan Hosta Society manages this wonderful garden and its 800 varieties of hostas. They have at least 2000 plantings, doubles and triples of many of the hostas. We had our phones in hand and wrote down many gems to watch for in our travels to garden nurseries.
We then traveled back toward Jackson and stopped at Hallson Gardens, a nursery that we had read about online. The website showed that they had many gems we were searching for as additions to our garden. As we pulled into the nursery, it appeared very small and we were disappointed. We made a mad dash toward the hosta hoop house and spotted only a few hostas. We gave each other quizical, confused looks. Then I saw it ... directly behind Mark and down the hillside the whole back two shaded acres were planted with thousands of hostas. We were in for a wonderful treat. We spent about two hours with owners Bryan and Chris digging up rare and unusual hostas and coming home with fourteen new treasures. My favorite find of the day is the Geisha that I had been searching for these last several months. Mark's favorite is Emerald Necklace. Yes, a great day indeed.
Total count to date - 302 hostas.
Sunday, July 3rd
WORK DAY. Today, we have to find homes for and plant the fourteen new hostas.
July 4th - Independence Day
Time for some R&R................
July 8, 2011
If I've heard it once, I've heard fifteen times, "I think we are through for this year." But, I (Tom) needed two more hostas for my Mom's 85th birthday gift, so we went to the best hosta greenhouses in the midwest (and we've traveled to many of them). We took a quick trip to Tim and Wilma's at K Gardens on 72nd St. in Byron Center, a hosta gardener's delight. We bought the two we needed for my Mom's birthday present......and yes, seven more for Riverside Drive Gardens. Yes, seven more. The treasure of the day..............OREO CREAM, thank you Tim.
But, the two we bought for my Mom's birthday are two of our favorites. They will look great in her garden............HAPPY 85th BIRTHDAY MOM!!!
Oh, and this vacation week was great, just great, two hostas nursery trips............and I made homemade lemonade and homemade blueberry and raspberry jam as well................a great vacation. I could get used to not working. How many years to my retirement? How many years until Mark's retirement? Now, there is the true question, Mark's retirement.
April 14, 2012
"It won't be long now," that's what I heard Mark state last week and yes, one can hope that is true. The beds are all raked and edged for spring, weeds pulled and woodchips put down (thank you to Ross at Clearbrook Landscaping). Now, if the darn weather would just cooperate. We had an early warm (hot) spell, now nothing but cold and frost and they are reeking havic on the hostas. BUT, the find is connecting with Robert Canning, who bought all of the Mary Chastain Lakeside original hosta stock and getting invited to his yard........hopefully to come home with a cutting of Hosta Lakeside Paisley Print.
AND, we are going to try to do a better job this year with staying on top of this website and blog for all of you to enjoy.
April 28, 2012
Well, cold, snow flurries and rain........what a mess. Most of the hostas are up in some shape or form and it hasn't been a good April at all. Many have frost and freeze damage, well, they're all there and hopefully having great root growth and next year they will be amazing.
So, we're using the down time to create 350 labels for each hosta, it's a tedious process, but once we went over 300 Mark can't remember all of the names.........seriously, I glazed over at 100.
Still searching for Lakeside Paisley Print.......but we have found a source and will seek that out next month.
Hope things are warmer in your neck of the woods. The forecast for tomorrow is finally supposed to be better.
June 1, 2012
Okay, rainy rainy day. But did we let that stop us? No, we headed out to Fenton, Michigan, to scope out a hosta farm/private garden. This gardener, Rob Canning, had purchased the originator stock for the "Lakeside" family of hostas. We weren't really sure what to expect but we saw some amazing hostas. Most were in development, just on the start side of being hybridized. We could have come home with many many hostas. But most of what we saw were NOT for sale. There was one on the side of his driveway that we were trying to figure out how to dig out and steal. (Okay, we'd never really do that, seriously we wouldn't!!! But, it was amazing.) We did come home with four new additions for the garden. We picked up the following four:
Lakeside Paisely Print,
Lakeside Breaking Waves
Lakeside Prophecy Fulfilled
Lakeside Stand By Me
We spent almost two hours in the rain; we were cold and wet. We then went to a great restaurant in Fenton called THE FRENCH LAUNDRY and had sandwiches and Chai Tea to warm up. If you are in Fenton, do scope out the restaurant. The food is great. Thanks to friends Darin and Frank for suggesting this eatery.
SEPTEMBER 11, 2013
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