N E W S L E T T E R N ORTH C OAST H OSTA S OCIETY. President s Message

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1 N ORTH C OAST H OSTA S OCIETY N E W S L E T T E R July 2016 President s Message Hello everyone, Summer sure is flying by. It seems that Hosta Tailgating was a great success. Midland did a wonderful job organizing this event. I saw many of our members there. For those of you who were not able to make it, you missed some beautiful gardens. The vendors had excellent plants, and their prices were reasonable. I was not able to stay for the auction, but auctions in themselves are usually exciting, so I'm sure everyone had a good time, unless, of course, you were outbid on a plant you had your heart set on! Next up is our members only hypertufa making and picnic at Tom Rabung's Emerald Forest Nursery on July 30th at (NOTE THE TIME CHANGE) 10:00 a.m. Please see Page 2 for details regarding the trough making and picnic. Note that an RSVP is needed to make sure we have enough food and supplies. Be sure to bring your wallet, Tom always has some fantastic plants for sale at fantastic prices. Our trip to DJ's Greenhouse in PA and Joan's Country Gardens will be August 13th to make fairy gardens and have a picnic. DJ will provide all the food, paid for by the club. Please contact Denise Mullins and let her know if you are making a fairy garden or just coming for the picnic. Bring your wallet to this event too, as both DJ and Joan will both have plants you can't live without! More information will follow as to specific times and carpooling. See you soon, Barb Denise s contact info: denisemullins@neo.rr.com

2 Hypertufa Workshop and Club Picnic Saturday, July 30 10:00 A.M. Emerald Forest Nursery Columbia Station NCHS is providing the main dish for the picnic consisting of pulled pork and shredded chicken. It is VERY important the members RSVP their attendance by Wednesday, July 27 Joyce Spuhler or Members: Bring your summer specialty side dish! Theresa DeVries, of Stone Soul Garden, who gave us the program in April, will conduct the workshop. The club will provide the ingredients for the hypertufa trough. Please keep your containers to the approximate size below so we have enough supplies for everyone. Members bring a container approximately 12 across by 8 deep (the finished product would be 10 x 6.Could be a small round bowl or anything with these approximate dimensions. Ridges and indentations make interesting troughs. You can shape the trough using either the inside or the outside of the mold. For a rough exterior and a smooth interior, use the outside of the mold. For a smooth exterior and a rough interior, pat the mixture into the mold s interior. You will also need dish washing gloves and, for those who would be willing to mix the concrete mixture, goggles, dust masks and shirts with long sleeves in addition to the gloves. Bring a table for a comfortable work surface.and chairs for the picnic. 2

3 Great Lakes Region Tail Gate 2016 A good time was had by all who attended the Great Lakes Region Tail Gate event sponsored by the Midland Hosta Society. Unfortunately I seem to be unable to pull up the pictures I took except for this one of Donna McMillan s Alice in Wonderland Garden. She made all of the characters herself and had a HUGE Alice overlooking the whole area. There were many very lovely gardens to see spread over several counties. In Karen Edgington s garden we saw borders around her garden of attractive concrete blocks and found she had made them herself using purchased molds. She kindly shared the instructions with us. Thank you for visiting our garden yesterday. Mike and I truly enjoyed meeting you, and especially enjoyed sharing info and experiences with other plant "geeks". The following link will take you to the website where I purchase my stepping stone and edging molds. The molds are hard plastic and last for about ten pours, give or take. There are excellent directions on the site for the cement mixing. I use chicken wire to reinforce the pieces, and add concrete dye for the colors. I use buff when I make troughs and gray when I make edging or stepping stones. I use an acrylic fortifier (liquid) when making the stepping stones and edgers to give the product more durability through freeze and frost. I make all of my cement projects (did you notice my fairy fossils?) in my wheelbarrow---the mixing is good for the soul. Enjoy! Upcoming Events in Our Region s have been sent out with all details A ROCKIN FALL FORUM 2016 FALL HOSTA FORUM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17th, Plus Dinner & Program, Friday night 9/16/16 Edinboro University 219 Meadville Street, Edinboro, PA The Daffodil and Hosta Society of Western Pennsylvania and Western New York Hosta Society Questions?? H8staman@aol.com A nd don t forget North Coast s events: July 30 Trough making & picnic August 13 Trip to Pennsylvania August 27 Show and Tell Meeting 3

4 Hostas That Tolerate Dry Shade Dry shade can be the result of several different situations. The first scenarios that came to my mind were areas that couldn't be reached by a water hose, gardens that rely on the limited availability of well water and the areas directly under wide roof overhangs. I was reminded that hosta gardeners regularly experience dry shade conditions due to plantings under trees, most notably shallow rooted trees like maples. Without amending the soil prior to planting and receiving average amounts of moisture, there may not be any hosta that will grow well year after year in dry shade. This article focuses on hostas that when grown in well prepared amended soil will tolerate dry locations, but not actually prefer this condition. A top dressing of organic mulch (garden compost, mushroom compost or well-rotted wood chips to name a few) will keep the soil cooler, retain moisture longer and reduce evaporation. When hostas are grown under trees, possibly the most important factor is the type of tree itself. Oak and hickory trees (deep roots) are reasonable to grow hostas under, silver maples are not (shallow roots), at least not without daily care as Lou Holverson does in her wonderful garden. Kay Dye believes that the most difficult area to grow hostas in is anywhere in the vicinity of the outer edge of a tree s drip line, no matter what type of tree, as their roots are most competitive in this area. As far as hosta that will tolerate dry shade, Kay developed a list of good performers in her gardens using the following criteria: They were growing in an area that either is not watered or experienced periods of hotter sun conditions, causing the soil to dry out, even if they do get occasional water. They maintain or increase in size from one year to the next. They are not typically susceptible to crown rot. They look good from August until first frost. Below is her list, in no particular order. The majority of the following are large hostas. Possibly their tolerance to dry shade is due to a larger root system being more capable of extracting moisture from the soil. An interesting side note, Kay has not noticed any of these hostas form the fairy ring (center clump dieback). *Kay believes these hostas actually prefer well drained to dry conditions. Abba Dabba Do Abiqua Drinking Gourd Bright Lights Choko Nishiki / On Stage * Christmas Tree C ity Lights fortunei Albomarginata fortunei Aureomarginata Gold Edger ** Gold Regal Gold Standard Golden Waffles Halcyon High Noon Invincible June Leola Fraim Most of the Tiara Group Mountain Snow nigrescense Olive Bailey Langdon * Permanent Wave Prairie Glow Sagae Shogun Sparkling Burgundy Summer Serenade Sun Power Sweet Home Chicago Tenryu ventricosa ventricosa Aureomarginata Zounds * **In Kay's garden, this hosta has been susceptible to crown rot, but it made the list because it has proven to be such a trooper in hot dry conditions. Keep in mind that the above are Kay's thoughts based upon plants grown in her gardens. I am sure if you asked other gardeners, there would be some duplication of names plus some additional names. Ray Wiegand (Ohio) states Sweet Susan, Undulata and Fortunei Albopicta survive in areal dry northern exposure under a roof eave. Additionally, I did find two references stating Jason and Katie will tolerate dry conditions. Of course, there are no guarantees all of the above will tolerate the variable dry shade conditions in every garden. Recapping, I think it is safe to say there are hostas that will tolerate dry shade, but to improve the likelihood of success, keep the following tips in mind: Improving the composition of the soil, adding significant amounts of moisture retentive well rotted composts is critical. Use an organic mulch (not fresh) to retain moisture. It is important to pull the compost a few inches away from the base of each hosta to lesson the possibility of crown and/or petiole rot. A consistent season long watering program will also improve your chances for success. There are a couple pluses to gardening in dry shade. Slugs do not live in dry locations and the likelihood of crown rot and/or petiole rot is significantly less. Of course, most people would agree there are more severe negatives than positives. These include: Hostas without sufficient amounts of water through out the growing season are more likely to develop dry rot of the crown over the winter, resulting in much smaller hostas the following season and possibly the complete loss of others. Competition for moisture and nutrients from shallow rooted trees is a constant challenge. Hostas grown under shallow rooted trees typically require more watering for optimum size increase. Keep in mind that tree canopies often prevent light rains from reaching the ground. In years of average or more amounts of rainfall, mature clumps of hostas can survive with no supplemental watering. Remember the advice of Bob Solberg; if you are not going to water DON T START, if you are going to water DON T STOP! By Ray Rodgers July 2011 Vol 17 Issue 5 of GREAT EXPECTATIONS The newsletter of the Central Illinois Hosta Society 4

5 July Hosta Tips from Rob the Hosta Guy Printed with permission from the July 2016 issue of the Prairie Hosta Herald (Illinois Prairie Hosta Society) activity. When watering blue leafed hostas, avoid overhead watering of the leaves which can slowly destroy the glaucous bloom (i.e. the waxy covering that makes a green hosta appear blue). Residual water droplets on any leaf which is followed by sun exposure can also result in leaf burn. Use of soaker hoses or drip irrigation work well in this regard. Hostas prefer an evenly moist condition. And so as we enter the "dog days" of summer, the hosta care tips become shorter and shorter, but no less important. In fact we could sum it up this month in one word --- WATER. Moisture is critical at this point in the growing season as we encounter prolonged hot, dry spells. The reason why many of us have seen smaller hostas in recent years as compared to the prior year can be attributed to lack of adequate moisture. Beware of the Drought Most reference books on hostas will report that they are quite adaptable to drier shade conditions once they have become established. While this may be true, there is also a practical limit to most generalizations. Remember the back-to-back summer droughts of recent years? During the growing season the hosta rhizome (or crown) is building reserves that will be used the following spring. Large amounts of water are also required to replace the natural transpiration that occurs with their large mass of foliage. When it encounters a prolonged spell of hot, dry weather, the rhizome will expend its own reserves in an attempt to support itself. Ever wonder why a hosta appears OK at the end of the year, but reappears much smaller and/or less vigorous the following spring, or (even worse) fails to reappear altogether? This is most likely the result of a decline in the crown mass the previous summer due to a lack of water. So what to do if we do encounter a summer with day upon day of hot temperatures and extended dry spells? Help your hostas avoid the stress by watering deeply at least once a week during the summer if you don't receive any help from Mother Nature. Optimum moisture for hostas is between one and one and a half inches of water per week during the growing season. This is especially important if your hostas receive significant levels of direct sun exposure. Watering time is also important. Watering in the morning will help discourage both slugs and fungal Prairie Hosta Herald Editor: This year we also have the perfect setup for Southern Blight - lots of rain that is followed immediately by hot temperatures. If you see hosta petioles that flop over at the base, it is likely the result of a fungus called Southern Blight. The fungus eats away the tissue at the base of the petiole so the petiole pulls away easily from the clump. You may also notice colored "mustard seeds" at the base of the clump and a white thread-like mycelium. Quick action can save the clump. Apply a fungicide product that contains tebuconazole as a soil drench. The product is contained in a number of Bayer fungicide products that are commonly available at box stores, hardware stores and garden centers. Just keep thinking, I will remember this in January! 5

6 2016 NCHS Garden Tour Our thanks to those who opened their gardens to us and to Tom Rabung for his hospitality for the picnic. See our Facebook page for a video of part of the tour. Ralph Zilch explaining how his garden is his serenity. It is a peace-filled place! 6

7 Garden of Diane and Bruce Morris Bruce built these raised beds which is wonderful for showing off the potted hostas. Admiring the water feature... 7

8 Our special thanks to Phil DeCarlo, professional landscaper and owner of DeCarlo Enterprises. His home is a labor of love. Marilyn and Carol Schmid found the perfect spot for enjoying a cool one. 8

9 Garden of Larry and Janet Hudak. Note their extensive use of raised beds. Eliminates root competition and saves backs! How about those big blues! Jim Will and Becky Salamon enjoying the picnic and showing off their door prize winnings. 9

10 GARDEN GOSSIP: BY CINDY HUGHES Welcome to our newest member, Jessica Johnson of Bay Village. Because of the drought conditions, I have included a couple of articles from other newsletters regarding watering and choosing hostas for dry shade. Don t for get your reservations and plan some items to bring to Show and Tell..ideas or questions. Club Co-Op Supplies As in previous years we are again offering our members Co-Op items. We have the following items available: Liquid Fence Fertilizer Plant Markers Slug Bait Garden Gloves in small, medium and large Handbook on Troughs Cookbooks For current prices please consult the web site. Please call Carl Schmid at to preorder these items to be brought to the next meeting. No individual deliveries. Membership in NCHS gives the following benefits: Members Only prices on Club special purchase hosta Great prices on our Hoop House plants. Member prices on slug bait, fertilizer, deer repellant, etc. Preferential registration and reduced registration fee for Hosta College The club provides meat and beverages at all of our Potluck picnics and meetings. The opportunity to learn and share information about hosta culture. Developing friendships with other people who love hostas. And Much, much more! 2016 North Coast Hosta Society Membership Family Membership $10.00 for one year - Calendar year Jan1 - Dec 31 NAME STREET CITY STATE ZIP PHONE AMOUNT ENCLOSED ( )Renewal ( )New ( )1 year ( )2 year Please list names as you wish on your card: Please send your check made payable to: NORTH COAST HOSTA SOCIETY Attn: Jim Spuhler Bridgecreek Circle Strongsville, OH

11 Officers: President: Barb Rauckhorst phone: Vice President: Mike Kovach Phone: Treasurer: Jim Spuhler phone: Secretary: Bonnie Erickson phone: Newsletter Editor: Cindy Hughes phone Directors: Sue Gold phone: Carl Schmid phone: Rich Coblentz phone: FIRST CLASS Invite Other Plant Lovers to Join the North Coast Hosta Society 2016 Monthly Calendar of Events. July 30 - Hypertufa making and Picnic and at Emerald Forest.10:00 AM Be sure to RSVP August 13 - Trip to PA to DJ s Greenhouse - Fairy garden workshop All are invited, but we need your reservation and your money if you plan to make a garden. August 27 - Parma Library - Show and Tell Pizza Party 11:00 AM Watch for more details. October 22 - Annual Jon Soucek and Bob Kuk Memorial dinner and meeting at the Club House. 11