Bill and Elizabeth attended the American Hosta Society National Convention in Green Bay, WI in June. If you know the two of them, you know they are wild about Hostas. Here’s what Bill had to say about their experience:

“Our time at the convention was fun. We saw old friends and lots of gardens. There were two days of tours, mainly of Hosta gardens of course. It is always fun to see how others do things differently. One garden that really inspired us was owned by a husband and wife in their 80s. They are seasoned gardeners (no pun intended) and the two of them still take care of their extensive garden which they rarely open to the public these days. About two-thirds of their plants are of their own introduction. He is a hybridizer – someone who creates new varieties of plants. Some people just grab seeds from their garden and see what they create together, but he is purposeful in his creations. Therefore, he knows the mama and papa of each of his hybrids. New varieties take about five years to go from pollination to market and this couple has introduced a significant number to the plant industry. Homeowners can pick up his creations at smaller, specialized Hosta growers. It was incredible to see his operation and garden.

There were two days of official garden tours plus other gardens that were open for us. There were a ton of vendors there too, which meant we bought more plants for our garden. We came home with 41 plants! Elizabeth and I are not good at restraining each other, though we managed to pass up a few varieties. We chose plants that would work well in the organization of our current gardens, plus a new one planned for this summer:

‘Dragonfly Wings’ for my garden;‘

Old Coot’ had to be included in my garden too for obvious reasons;

‘The King’ was won at the benefit auction – we liked the tongue-in-cheek name.

We also grabbed some varieties for Katie’s garden, the Dinosaur garden and our daughter-in-law’s garden which is in the planning process.

We also came across a new hybrid that got us pretty excited. New varieties are highly coveted by early adopters in the plant world. This one has streaking in the leaves and went for $350 per plant. We did not buy one of these! We were tempted by an unnamed seedling but we do not have the time to commit to raising a new variety. We chose plants that we liked or were appropriate for our garden themes.

Elizabeth and I arrived home late Saturday evening and spent all day Sunday planting. We are happy with our additions to our garden. Staying in the loop with the goings-on within the plant world is something we enjoy, but it also adds to the creativity we can bring to our clients.”

Click here to see more pictures of Bill and Elizabeth’s Hosta gardens.