Hostas for sale

[colonelbuckrobely]

Hey, nobama, Mrs. Robely has been talking about giving it a try at the Pequot flea market. I know where they set up but have never been there on a Saturday that they are open.

Hasset, as you know Mrs. Robely and I are basically hermits. This site and the flea markets are my only contact with humanity. I am getting to know some of the vendors and really enjoy seeing them. I am amazed at how many tee off on Obama with the least bit of prompting. I mentioned elsewhere that the fellow on one side of me last Saturday despises Obambi but says that his sales of knives and ammo have skyrocketed since the sap was elected.

In case any of you are interested, Whirlwind is my favorite variety of hosta. A month or so ago I orderd ten as part of a larger order from Vermont. They arrived huge and they are shipped bare root. I was just getting ready to pot them up and four ladies came in to our house. They took one look and wanted all ten. I sold them nine because we try to keep one of each variety. I never had to pot them up. Here are photos of Whirlwind in case you are interested.

www.hostalibrary.org/wx/whirlwind.html

[hasset]

They are beautiful. A neighbor gave me some plants and I have a small temporary flower garden. We need more dirt around the house before I put in something permanent. My flowers are blooming now. My daughter gave me a shrimp plant and it is something I had never seen before. It has blooms all over it. Have you seen one of those?

[colonelbuckrobely]

I am not familiar with the shrimp plant. One thing I would suggest if you are going to put more dirt around the house is to make sure you have a 2% slope away from all parts of your foundation. I am on properties frequently and am always amazed at how many people don't pay any attention to this basic principle. This is a simple way to be sure that you don't get water in your basement or up against your foundation and to help avoid mold.

[hasset]

Thanks for the information. I wish you lived here so I could hire you to figure out what to do with my backyard. There are six houses that run sump pump hoses towards my back yard and it is always wet. I need to find something that will grow thick in that area so I won't have to mow it. I am not doing a thing to the house until next year when I get some more dirt. Thank you for the information. These houses in this area are new and I think the dirt needs to settle some more before adding to it.

[colonelbuckrobely]

Sounds to me like you need a rain garden. I have designed a number of these for clients in areas that are periodically wet. I just recommend perennials that don't mind wet feet occasionally. If I have some basic measurements and photos I probably could put something together and e-mail it to you. Best of all you might have to weed once in awhile in several years but there is no mowing required.

Three winters ago I did a major design for a developer in California. He sent me all the measurements and photos and I put it together. It sailed right through the design review committee in his town (California has more rules and regulations than all the other states combined). That one was tough. He was located in zone 8-9 hardiness zone. We are in zone 3 here so I had to do a lot of research on plants for his area. I am guessing you are in either zone 4 or 5 which gives you a lot of flexibility.

[hasset]

Thanks, Buck. I think a rain garden sounds so interesting. I did bring a small Italian basket willow tree and a honey suckle to plant somewhere and I think it will be in the wet part, at least the willow will be. That is all I brought for trees. I did bring lots of columbines and some ornamental globe thistles, a few violets and that is all. It will be fun to study over the possibilities on the internet all winter and then be ready to do something in the spring.

[cubbieblue]

I am going to look into getting some hostas to put under my Scotch Pine trees. I still want some paw paw trees but I am having a hard time convincing my husband that they are wonderful. I did find that someone has posted on the internet where some paw paw trees are and we are going to go look at them. They have large maroon flowers in the spring and the fruit is ready in the fall. They are a tropical tree but native to the US. Their leaves are large and beautiful. I hope I can find some place to buy some fruit in Sept.

[cubbieblue]

OOOPs, I just found out I was logged in under my husband's name in the previous post. We have him on one computer and me on another and it sort of mixed up when we use each other's computer. I am Mrs. cubbieblue and not Mr. cubbieblue.

[colonelbuckrobely]

I will answer your question about paw paw trees in the morning. I am so tired right now that I am going to shower and curl up with an episode of "Are You Being Served". Be back in the morning.

[colonelbuckrobely]

Paw paw trees are rated for hardiness zones 5 through 8. You are in zone 5 so they should work just fine. You might have a difficult time finding one at a garden center but you might start at one of the Earl May garden centers that are all across Iowa. They have wonderful stock. Otherwise you might have to purchase them mail order. Good luck with your search.

[hasset]

I was sad to see that "Mrs. Slocomb" died this summer. I love watching "Are you being served" and "keeping up appearances" and I never get tired of them. I have them all taped. My previous dog was named Grainger after Mr. Grainger in "Are you being served".

As for Paw Paws, I found a place near here that raises them. I was warned that you need two trees in order to have fruit. Those trees send up shoots pretty far from the original tree and I was warned that some nurseries pot those shoots and you could be buying two trees that are really like one tree. Why is it there is always something to watch out for? I found someone in my neighborhood who has two trees and they have never had even one blossom after 13 years. I bet they are from the same shoot. I want to get trees that have been grafted so it won't take so long to get fruit.

[colonelbuckrobely]

I am not really familiar with paw paws but they sound like they might be like American bittersweet vine and ginkgo trees where the sexes are separate and therefore you need both a male and female plant. I sell bittersweet and always encourage people to purchase at least three plants since it is impossible to tell which is which, or to wait until later in the year to see which one fruits and which doesn't. I have two left this year and one is going to fruit heavily while the other is not. If you can find two sources it might be wise to purchase one from each to improve your odds.

[hasset]

I had a wonderful ginko tree at my last residence. I did not know it needed another tree to reproduce. I know nothing about them other than I just love their leaves. Next year when I get my deck fixed up with a roof overhead, I would love to have bittersweet growing up the sides. At my last house we had about every kind of tree you could think of but at the present house we need to hold back. Our yard is small and it needs to have more bushes than trees. I really do not think we should have bought a house with a dinky yard but I guess we were thinking that someday we may not like yard work. We had planned on doing some traveling instead of doing yard work. The nature center is near here and they have a lot of greenery to look at.

[colonelbuckrobely]

There are huge and wonderful ginkgo trees in the central campus at Iowa State, both sexes. The fruit from the female tree is much like a plum but after being on the ground awhile it smells terrible. I believe they are doing a lot of cloning since people don't want the fruiting trees and therefore only the male tree. The ginkgo is amazing in that no disease or any pollution bothers it in the least. That is why it is often used in downtown settings. Exhaust, dust, etc. has no effect on them.

[usinawucod]

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