Long-time readers will know that hostas are a major feature in my gardens. For years, I went for plants that had glorious blooms. One after another, I lost those plants. All right. I’ll admit it. I craved a cottage garden. But, when you live in the woods, you are doomed to heartache if you try for a cottage garden.
A few years (and tears) ago, I gave in to hostas, especially in the driest beds. My moister beds do have a little more variety, but even in them, there are many plants that won’t thrive.
Slowly, I learned to appreciate hostas and the wave of various shades of green they bring to the front yard. Their blossoms are modest but pleasing. (Be gone, all thoughts of corn flowers!) But here’s the most important factor of all: They grow and flourish where most plants just fizzle. Snail and slugs might munch their leaves to lace, but the hostas are not intimidated. Each year, they rebound with vigor. Surely there is a lesson in all of this.
My blogging friend Judy of New England Garden and Thread is also a fan of hostas. Last year, during the height of the pandemic, she sent me a package, which—lo and behold!—contained a hosta. It was a little droopy, but I know how sturdy hostas are, and I planted it right away.
Judy, you will not surprised to learn that this hosta is thriving. Here is a picture of that beauty, whose name I’ve unfortunately forgotten.
Many thanks, Judy!
And here are a couple more pictures of some of the hostas in my garden. Just because.
Notes From the Hinterland 
Oh Laurie, I too have drooled over pictures of gardens simply dripping with layers of flowers … alas I know this will never be me. Instead, I rejoice with even single blossoms that survive. At least the hostas you show here are beautifully green – and show several hues of green too!
Yes, yes! Well put. We feel each other’s longings. 😉
Hostas sound a very good plant for gardeners who live in a wood!
They surely are!
I think your hostas are beautiful. I may need to give them a go since I have no luck with most blooming plants.
Hostas might very well be the plant for you. And there are so many different varieties that you will be able to have a range of greens and patterns.
Sounds like something I would like and enjoy having.
Oh, I do love hostas, and it was as much fun for me to send that to you as it was for you to receive. There is something about walking around in your garden and knowing a plant came from a friend. It just brings a bigger smile. I was given two hosta for my nursing home project so, of course, I pulled their lovely roots apart and made five plants. 🙂
Many, many thanks! That hosta makes me smile every time I look it. I really like the color, too. Different from the other hostas I have and a great addition to the garden. Five plants out of two hostas sounds like a miracle akin to the one of the fish and the loaves.
Hostas are great – survivors in most gardens.
Plant warriors!
I am a fan of hostas too. Yours look good.
Thanks, Tootlepedal!
My favorite kind of hosta garden is when it looks like a random mixture of greens and sizes and patterns. And they are so durable.
They surely are!
Hostas are the perfect plants for you. I am always reminded of friends when I am in the garden, if they have given me a plant or a flower.
What a pity I can’t give all my US/UK blogging friends a plant called Kangaroo Paw!
Kangaroo paw! What a great name.
Thanks to you and some others, I’m finally learning to (1) recognize, and (2) appreciate hostas. Yours really are lovely, and there’s more variety to them than I’d ever realized.
A lot of variety, and as my blogging friend Quercus reminded me, green is a color, too.
How thoughtful was Judy!
I am so glad that the Hosta survived and is thriving.
Beautiful Hosta shots!
A lovely, unexpected gift.
What a lovely gift from your friend Laurie and I love the different shades and patterns in hostas – they look like such happy plants 💚
Thanks so much! The hostas are indeed happy. So far, the slugs and snails seem to be at a minimum.
I think most gardeners have flowers they dream of but which will not grow where they live. I love the scent of pinks and carnations but have had to accept that here they will not survive. Your hostas are a good solution to a very tricky site and ones that remind you of friends are the best type of all.
Yes, yes! And lovely in their own quiet way.
We’re lucky enough, in England’s green and pleasant land, to have an abundance of flowering plants but we still love hostas for the shadier spots and, even though ours have been through a lot – transported from France, frozen and hailed upon- they are now recovering nicely in the late Spring weather.
Yours are looking lush.
Those hostas are resilient, that’s for sure. Plenty of flowering plants in Maine, just not in woods where I live.
A fine adaptation to the conditions
Thanks, Derrick!
Like you, I dreamed of a cottage garden, but between the shade and backyard visitors (who always managed to eat my favorite flowers) I’ve discovered I can always depend on my hostas and lilies to survive.
A lesson there, too. 😉
I love hostas, but so do the slugs. We have the big ones out here, 4 or 5 inches long.
Those are some slugs! Fortunately, ours are not that big, and the dry weather slows them down. At least a little.
We have a couple of hostas growing in pots on the patio. Their luxuriant foliage brightens up the garden every spring, until they succumb to the snails! I refuse to use chemicals to get rid of these ravenous pests, and instead remove them to another part of the garden where – hopefully – they will do less damage. However, they always find their way back to the hostas, munching away greedily until, by mid-summer, the leaves are no more than sad, lacy skeletons. But, as you suggest, hostas are resilient and always bounce back the following year, ready to do battle once again.
Yes, there is much to learn from hostas.
I must admit that the title of this post was very cryptic (to the non-gardener) and enticing. First, I asked, who is Judy? Second, what is a hosta? or was I just misreading it.
After some googling and reading your post through, I was very self-satisfied and pleased that I got my Aha!s and am now a little wiser.
Thank you for sharing your lovely peeks of verdant green growing in your lovely garden!
Between slugs and deer, Hostas are becoming nearly impossible to grow in my gardens. Yours are looking lovely, esp. laced with raindrops.
Thanks, Eliza! So far, the deer leave ours alone. So far.
I’m envious! If they ever do munch anything, hanging pieces of Irish Spring in netting around plants seems to help deter them, but has to be close by.
I will definitely that in mind. Plenty of deer in the back woods. Someday they might come around front to nibble on the hostas.
Hostas! Looks very healthy!
Yes! And may they stay that way.
They are gorgeous and I see no munching. I can’t grow them at all! There is enough variety in hosta leaves to be quite satisfying. Also, here I am at last for a relaxing spell catching up with your lovely blog.
A-a-a-w, thanks so much! No munch yet on the hostas. That will come later in the season. 😉
One more comment because I think maybe your spam filter is set to block comments on older posts? My problem for catching up late. I am pleased no mow May is popular there, too. If I had a bigger lawn, we’d mow just paths because I do need short grass to walk on or my dodgy knee hurts. I was sorry when our neighbor had us start mowing her whole meadow (large back lawn) flat instead of just paths through it…although it does help control the bindweed.
I also relate to your cutting back on blogging. It was Mr T who inspired me to write daily, which seems kind of nutty sometimes. I don’t write every day like he does; I’ll take a day off and churn out four posts, hoping they don’t look too churned. It’s winter when I quit for awhile because that’s reading season!
Yes, the spam filter is indeed set to block comments on older posts. I was having quite a problem getting bombarded with lots of spam comments. Sigh.
We didn’t quite make it until May, but we made it a good way through the month and we were sure to leave the dandelions alone. 😉
If blogging were the only writing I did, I would probably write more often, and do some of the many fun challenges posted by my blogging friends. However, I also write fiction and publish a book every other year. So…I will probably stick to the twice a week posting. One less post has really decreased the workload.
I don’t do those challenges like “bloom day” because I always have something of my own to kvetch about….I mean, to say. And I am too wordy for Wordless Wednesdays 😹
I planted hosta last year, Laurie, and they all came up this spring. I can so relate to the problem of growing flashy sun-loving blooms while living in the forest. Sigh. But hosta are beautiful. And how sweet to get on as a gift in the mail! Enjoy.
Many thanks!