GREAT EXPECTATIONS. Debbie s Dirt. Our Next Meeting August 19, Auction Freedom Hall 349 W. Birchwood Street Morton, Illinois

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1 GREAT EXPECTATIONS central illinois hosta society august volume 20, issue 6 Debbie s Dirt A fter such a harsh winter, has it not been a remarkable summer, with plenty of sunshine, rain and a week of comfortable weather in the middle of July? I can t ever remember going to our July meeting in jeans and a jacket. We had a wonderful turnout for our meeting at the Roth Daylily Farm. We were greeted with sweeping beds of daylilies and other perennials in a riot of color. It was a sight to behold! I m not sure how one could ever pick just one favorite daylily once you have experienced seeing that many varieties in one location. Of course, the same could be said of hostas. I marveled at the clever display of succulents in an old wheelbarrow. Thanks, Teresa for sharing your passion with us. We hope all of you will join us in August for our Bi-Annual Auction and the Banquet in September. More details about each event can be found in this newsletter. Several times this year various members and guest speakers have reminded us that hostas need at least 1 of water each week. Sometimes, I complain because our water bill is really high when it comes due in August for the previous 3 months. But my husband (a.k.a. the Garden Grump) reminds me that we have made a HUGE investment in our collection, so why would you not want to water? Ok. So the way it works at our house, I setup and tweak 2 hoses the evening before; my husband turns them on at 4:30 a.m. the next morning and I turn them off at 7:30 a.m. before I go to work. Well, it seems on one recent evening, I turned the hose off behind the garage and by the time I got up to the house I had completely forgotten about the other hose. Needless to say, it ran for 11 hours UGH. And if that wasn t bad enough, a few weeks later I accidentally left one of the hoses running for 8 hours. All I can say is those hostas better be really big next year-lol. I hope by the next time we meet, I will finally have my 2 dozen new hostas and perennials and half flat of impatiens planted. And I still need to update my inventory, map the beds, and make/replace plant labels. I am really behind this year, but no worries. There s still plenty of time for me to enjoy working in the garden. And like me, when you are done toiling in your garden, may you step back, admire your handiwork and be thankful for the many blessings that come with being a gardener. Happy gardening, Debbie McCollum, CIHS President Our Next Meeting August 19, Auction Freedom Hall 349 W. Birchwood Street Morton, Illinois Setup & drop-off 5:45 pm Auction starts 6:30 pm For the upcoming Auction, we are asking for donations from members. Donations can be anything from hosta or companion plants to yard art or gift certificates.to alleviate insect/disease problems, plant donations should be limited to nursery stock, not from personal gardens. Based on your generosity, we will have an incredible selection of hosta, many of which, you all have adopted and cared for through the summer. For those of you growing these very special hosta, you can submit your guesses of what hosta you might have. There are prizes for any correct guess that are turned in by August 15 th. Continued on next page 1

2 You can Shirley or Donna at or Please submit only one guess, so study it well before you turn it in no partial credit will awarded!!! Directions: From interstate 155 take the Birchwood Exit, east, into Morton. The Birchwood Exit is the first exit south of the I-74 and I-155 junction. Morton Park will be off to your left and the building is at 349 W. Birchwood Street Annual Hosta Banquet Sign up Soon!!! Date: Tuesday, Sept. 16 th Time: Cocktails & check-in 5:30 pm; dinner at 6:30 Place: Coyote Creek Golf Club, near Bartonville, 8201 West Lancaster Road, Cost: $35/person Our Annual Hosta Banquet will be held at Coyote Creek Golf Course, same as past two years. We will have hosta from Q &Z Nursery for everyone attending. The guest speaker will be Jeff Miller from Land of the Giants hosta nursery, in Melton Wisconsin. We visited this nursery last year on the Bus Trip. He will also be bringing plants to give away! Sign up at the meetings or contact Shirley Metz ( ; skmetz43@gmail.com) or Donna Cothrell ( ; dkcothrell@hotmail.com). The Hosta Library If you would like to check out a magazine or book from the Hosta Library, see Ella Maxwell at a meeting or call her at CIHS Calendar If you are interested in opening your garden for a meeting in 2015, please contact Gloria Hicks, Jeanette Smith or a board member. August 19, 5:45/6:30 pm Auction Freedom Hall 349 W. Birchwood Street, Morton September 16 Banquet Coyote Creek June 13, 2015 CIHS Garden Walk June 18, 2015 American Hosta Society Convention Raleigh North Carolina June 27, 2015 Bus Trip Officers President Deb McCollum debmccollum@gmail.com Vice Presidents Gloria Hicks, Jeanette Smith , jameskhicks@hotmail.com cjsmith119@gmail.com Second Vice Presidents Shirley Metz, Donna Cothrell , skmetz43@gmail.com dkcothrell@hotmail.com Third Vice President Deb Schoedel parttime94@aol.com Recording Secretary Sue Eckhoff gardenermom22@gmail.com Corresponding Secretary Maggie Keesey magskeesey@gmail.com Treasurer Dan McConnell drdtm@mtco.com To join: Central Illinois Hosta Society $10/year, form on back cover Midwest Reg. Hosta Society $20/2 years, Send dues to: Kristine James, Membership 523 E. Calhoun Street Woodstock, IL American Hosta Society $30 individual, $57/2 years $34 family, $62/2 years Send dues to: Sandie Markland AHS Membership Secretary Post Office Box 7539 Kill Devil Hills, NC

3 Feeding Your Addiction! I m not crazy, my mother had me tested Dr. Sheldon Cooper W e as hosta enthusiasts tend to go a little overboard on our purchases. If we see something we like, we buy it. If we see a hosta with a cute name, we buy it. If we see something that we might need, we buy it. If we are on a bus trip, we visit gardens, eat donuts and of course, buy stuff. Anything and everything related to gardening, we buy it. I too have this behavior and highly encourage it. The purpose of this article is to help you buy more stuff, be it hostas, be it garden hardscape, be it anything you need to feed your addiction. To this end the CIHS is having its biannual auction August 19. It was a long, long, cold winter and I lost several plants and had others that were medium to large hostas return as minis. So the auction is an ideal event to replace what Mother Nature has taken away. A wealthy man was asked, How much is enough? He replied, Just a little bit more. I think he was talking about money, but it could have been hostas. If you need to rationalize or justify the purchases made at the auction, try the following; I m thinking of being on the 2015 Hosta Garden Walk and/or host a monthly meeting, and need to fill several areas in my garden. Plants take carbon dioxide out of the air and replace it with oxygen, so I am helping the environment, slowing down global warming and making the world a better, healthier place to live for this and future generations. Why, the more I plant the better chance I have of getting a Nobel Prize. The more I buy, the more I have to plant and working in the garden burns 300 calories per hour, so I will save money by not having to join a gym while still getting exercise. Me and my garden will look great. Auctions are fun. Who doesn t like to watch the bidding on Baggage Battles and Storage Wars. Or to see what something is worth on Antiques Road show and watch them barter on American Pickers. We will have friendly competition for plants and garden accessories with the money going to a good organization. Bring a friend, your checkbook and plan on having a fun evening. We are meeting inside, where the light is plentiful, the temperature controllable, the bugs nonexistent and the bathrooms close. Life is good. Collecting hostas is a healthy addiction, a good obsession and a productive passion. Don t fight it, just give in and go with the flow. You will feel better and live longer because your stress levels will decrease Enjoy your garden and the auction. Dan McConnell Constitution & Bylaw Changes In an effort to correct and update our constitution and bylaws, we are proposing some revisions. Please take a few moments to review the proposed changes by going to our CIHS website and click on Constitution (bottom left tab). If you have any questions or concerns, contact Deb McCollum debmccollum@gmail.com _ Membership Directory T here have been a number of requests for CIHS to develop a membership directory, like many other garden clubs. The board, concerned about sharing such information, has chosen to create a directory with names and phone numbers only. It will be distributed amongst the membership and not shared with any other group. If you wish to opt-out of the directory, please notify Kathy Allen, the Membership Chair or kallenwr@gmail.com 3

4 to me. It can be a couple paragraphs or couple pages and include a photo or two. Bigleaf Aster Aster macrophyllus or Eurybia macrophylla For obvious reasons, I try to cover hosta & shaderelated plants in the newsletter so why an aster? Well, this aster is a good hosta companion, suited for partial to full shade...even dry shade. A wonderful native, it is in height & spread, and, once established, it can become a dense ground cover, spreading by rhizomes. It is a striking, richly-textured, deciduous ground cover with bold heart-shaped leaves that turn mauve in autumn. Soft blue, or white flowers appear in late summer to early fall. It is especially attractive to butterflies, but shows some deer resistance. In much of my design work, I try to include native trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials. These plants have a larger impact, since they are familiar to native populations of birds, bees, bats and butterflies. The garden better fits with the native ecosystem it becomes a part of something larger. Garden The Botanical Gardens at the Springs Preserve Review! L ast summer, Golda and I went to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. After our canyon adventure, we drove back to Vegas. While she was at a culinary convention on the Strip, I got to visit The Botanical Gardens at the Springs Preserve. I will always choose plants over games where you lose money. This garden is home to the largest collection of Mojave Desert cacti and succulents, with 110 acres (yes, 110!) of display gardens, natural gardens, wildlife habitats, walking and biking trails and educational resources. It is a newer garden, established within the last ten years. I found the garden to be amazing in terms, of its collection and education displays. Very exhibit-driven, the signage (bottom right) walked you through xeriscaping, water conservation, vegetable gardening, desert botany, composting, cactus rustling and much more. The architecture and structure blended with the desert and supported the exhibits (i.e. the irrigation exhibit was housed in a giant watering can, 15 in height). The Gardens contain more than 1,200 species of native and desert-adapted plants. More than 400 mature trees and plants, some 20 years old and more than 30 feet tall, were transplanted to the Gardens. The Mojave native plants on display were grown from seed collected in the Las Vegas Valley, making the plants genetically true and better adapted to the climate. Continued on next page Editor s Note: To keep things interesting and increase education opportunities, I will try to include some garden visits or reviews in the newsletter. Whenever we travel, we tend to stumble upon a garden to visit hmm, I wonder how that happens? Anyway, I always take away an increased understanding of gardening, design or the botanical world. Incidentally, if anyone wants to share a recent garden visit, send it 4

5 Almost all of the native cacti and Yucca species were salvaged from local lands that were being developed for residential or commercial use. For a really cool look at the desert, natural gardens, like a Mesquite Bosque or Meadow, can be found along 3.6 miles of trails that meander through acres of native habitats and archaeological sites (ancient civilizations not mobsters). The garden is open daily from 10 am to 6 pm. General admission tickets seem a little steep at $18.85, but it also includes entrance to two other museums. Also, if you are a member at any another garden, participating in the American Horticultural Society's Reciprocal Admission Program, they offer free admission when you present your membership card at the gate. Lastly, in July it was little toasty (but as you know it s a dry-heat). I felt like a roller hotdog at a gas station. My advice is to wear spf 50, stay hydrated and take it slow. Generally, cacti bloom in the winter/spring when the desert gets a little precipitation so that would be a great time to visit. If you re planning a visit, you might inquire about bloom times. Credit where Credit is due: The Paul Aden Registrations I n April 2012, The American Hosta Society president appointed the AHS Cultivar Origination Commission with this mission: Investigate origins of Paul Aden s registrations and report findings to the International Registrar for the Genus Hosta for modifying the Hosta Registry. Members were Tom Micheletti (Chair), Warren I. Pollock, W. George Schmid and Mark R. Zilis. Tom was AHS Immediate Past President and a member of the AHS Executive Council. Mark is author of the 1125-page instant classic The Hostapedia and the just published 428-page Mark Zilis Field Guide to Hostas. George and Warren co-chair the AHS Nomenclature Committee and are members of the AHS Board of Directors. George wrote the classic reference The Genus Hosta Giboshi Zoku. The Commission s first report was published in the 2012 issue of AHS s Online Hosta Journal, pages 5 6. The second and final report was in the 2013 issue, pages 4 5. The Commission found that many hostas assumed to be creations of Paul Aden, who died in 2010, were originated by Kevin C. Vaughn, now residing in Salem, Oregon, and the late Florence M. Shaw, who lived in Weston, Massachusetts, and died in Both were prolific hosta hybridizers. Widely know are Kevin s H. Bette Davis Eyes (registered in 1987) and H. Tijuana Brass (1988), and Mrs. Shaw s H. Birchwood Elegance (1986) and H. Birchwood Parky s Gold (1986). The Commission has determined alternate originators for fewer than 50 hostas of the more than 200 that Aden registered or were registered for him. For details, please refer to the reports, which also were published by the Hosta Registrar, Kevin P. Walek, in the blue-cover Registrations 2012 and Registrations 2013 editions of The Hosta Journal. We will only mention here a few of the altered cultivars that hosta fanciers likely have in their gardens. First and foremost is the popular H. Sum and Substance. You ll now be noting that (F. Shaw ) is cited after this cultivar name; the original registration date remains. Also, (F. Shaw ) now marks H. Blue Angel. Others are H. Blue Cadet (F. Shaw ), H. Big Daddy (F. Shaw ), H. Big Mama (F. Shaw ), H. Love Pat (F. Shaw ) and H. Zounds (F. Shaw ). Kevin Vaughn now is credited as originator of H. Fragrant Bouquet, registered in We also recognize H. Fragrant Blue (K. Vaughn ), H. Fringe Benefit (K. Vaughn ), H. So Sweet (K. Vaughn ) and H. Sweetie (K. Vaughn ). At this writing the registrar has not yet altered the registrations in the online AHS Hosta Registry. This is a huge task requiring considerable time of a computer programmer. Since many parentages stated by Aden are incorrect, changes will be considerable. We understand that the registrar plans to start the project this summer (2014). Publications of The American Hosta Society now reflect these changes, for example in the Photo Indexes at the end of recent issues of The Hosta Journal. And some nurseries have modified their catalogs and lists, citing K. Vaughn or F. Shaw instead of P. Aden. But, frankly, the conversion process in the industry has been slow. Simply put, folks just are hesitant to make changes to things they ve been accustomed to for years and years. Continued on next page 5

6 However, we hope that home gardeners will take the lead in modifying relevant plant labels and records. If you have questions, please contact Warren at or George at Submitted by the American Hosta Society Nomenclature Committee Growing Hostas from Seeds E veryone seems to have their own technique for planting hosta seed, and yet there is general agreement on a number of key paints. Start the seeds in flats with a clear plastic dome (or similar high humidity setup). Wash the flats and use a sterile soilless mix to minimize fungal problems. Cover the seed lightly to a 1/8 to 1/4 depth. Germination typically occurs in 12 to 15 days. Target an air temperature of about 75 deg F. Heating mats can be useful when working in cooler basement settings. And don't forget to label if you are planting various hybrid crosses! Timing on starting seed is a variable with some starting in October or November while others wait until February. Lighting is critical when gardening indoors (although not relevant to seed germination). Use supplemental lighting (cool-white fluorescent tubes) to give hours of daily lighting. Maintain the lights about 2 above the dome or (later) 2 above the plants. Never let the seedlings dry out. Keep the soil moist but not soggy. Grow until the tops of the plants touch the dome. Then transplant (typically at the 2 or 3 leaf stage) and begin using a water soluble fertilizer. How much water soluble fertilizer you use will depend on how much you want to push the process. Culling can be a painful process but most seedlings will be rather plain looking. Unfortunately many characteristics (other than color) take time to develop. Balance your culling habits with the number of seedlings you are managing. Before moving seedlings to the spring garden, don't forget to harden them off - just like a tomato plant that was started inside. Seed is available from a number of commercial sources. Seed can be stored in plastic photo film canisters and placed in the freezer until ready for planting. By Rob Mortko, reprinted from the Western New York Hosta Society newsletter, Hosta la Vista, February 2014 Hosta Spotlight Hosta plantaginea Guacamole An aptly named rich green, large-leaved variety with chartreuse centers (the color of freshly sliced avocado), edged with wide, dark green margins. Large, fragrant soft lavender to white flowers add interest late in the season, around august. Expect a plant with big impact. It is beautiful when combined with blue Hostas or Ferns. When using fragrant plants, I like to place them where one can fully appreciate them. Plant them along a path or patio, near a bench or near an entrance. The places within the garden where you pause or rest are the most likely places for fragrant plants. This fast-growing plant was named Hosta of the Year for Although it is fairly sun and heat tolerant it gets its best color in some morning sun or dappled shade. In too much sun the margin will bleach and in too much shade the center won't lighten enough to notice. Related hosta include: Avocado, Fragrant Bouquet, Fried Green Tomatoes, Fried Bananas, Holy Mole 6

7 White Oak Nursery Specializing in Hostas and Daylilies Internet and mail order only. Please visit our website for an online catalog of offerings. We have 150 varieties of Hostas for 2014 and will be adding an additional 100 varieties for We are giving away a copy of Mark Zilis' The Hostapedia, a $79.00 value. Orders totaling more than $50.00 will be eligible for the drawing to be held in June, White Oak Nursery Washburn, IL (309) hostas@whiteoaknursery.com Scene: Walking back to the car after our last meeting. Script: (Bob speaking to Golda) We need more sun and more daylilies we can put some next to the Limelight, maybe the alley...! Anyway inspired by our visit to Roth s, I had to include a daylily. B ela Lugosi Daylily Hemerocallis 'Bela Lugosi' is a Designer Daylily with 6" flowers that are a deep burgundy/purple with a vivid lime green throat. It is an excellent grower with lots of buds and wonderful branching. It received the American Hemerocallis Society's Honorable Mention (1998) and Award of Merit (2001). 'Bela Lugosi' is considered a "Designer" daylily, which means that it has been selected as a highly performing plant with exceptional bloom performance, substantive, vibrantly colored flowers, complete winter hardiness in northern zones, and a vigorous habit. Daylilies are some of the easiest plants to grow and are a good choice for any gardener. They will grow in almost any soil and handle drought to wet soil conditions. Use for mixed borders, foundation planting, rain gardens, edging, or in container gardens. Planted together in masses, they quickly crowd weeds and make a carefree and colorful ground cover. 7

8 Central Illinois Hosta Society P.O. Box 3098 Peoria, IL First Class Postage Check us out! For information regarding dues or membership, contact Kathy Allen at or Newsletter Deadline: 20 th of the preceding month Submit items for publication to: Bob Streitmatter CIHS Membership Form (please print) Name(s) Address City State Zip Phone How did you find us? Friend/Word of Mouth Website Newsletter Event/Presentation Facebook Newspaper (which one) Other 8 Dues are $10/year: New Renewal Amount enclosed Make check payable to CIHS and mail check/form to: Central Illinois Hosta Society, P.O. Box 3098, Peoria, IL