Show off your hostas - then and now!

[kaylyred]

I love to look at how hostas progress as they mature. I'd love to see some of your then and now hosta photos for comparison. I'll get things started.

Going through my photos, I was struck by the difference between 'Twilight' in its first year (last year) and how it looks this year. It just keeps getting better and better!

Here's 'Twilight' last May...



And here it is just over a year later...

[Noreaster]

That's a pretty one, Laura. What a great idea for a thread, too. I love seeing before and after pics of any kind and particularly love to see how hosta evolve thru the years. I'll try to find some of mine tomorrow to post.

[JaneG]

Mine "then" pictures are from May 23, 2007, that was around the time hubby and I got married and I started turning "his" house into "our" house. From very few plants to a lot more plants! The after pictures were take May 22 of this year, so you can see that 3 short years can really make a difference. Sleep, creep, leap!!

The 'danica' globe arborvitea were no bigger than basketballs! Hostas (l to r) Sagae, FlowerPower, Guacamole
I don't like the rock, but DH prefers a 'neater' look in front of the house. Gardens are much more informal in the back.

[Linda P]

Great idea for a thread. I wish I could go back to the first pics I took of my hosta gardens, but they are on CD, and this computer has a dead CD drive.
Jane...that is amazing. You can hardly see the rocks now out front, not to mention the arborvitae. Are they still in there?

Here's my backyard ash tree bed, the first pic is from 2006.
THe hostas in the foreground here are Cascades, Mary Marie Ann, Blue Dimples.
Behind them is Sweet Home Chicago, and just on the left edge is a leaf of tokudama Flavocircinalis.

Ash tree bed from southwest May 25 06.JPG (69.84 KiB) Viewed 2870 times

Here are two views of the same spot this year, neither one from the exact angle.
I added a Twilight Time in the formerly empty space between Cascades and tok Flav.

[kaylyred]

Wow, really amazing transformations, Jane and Linda! I'm looking forward to my new front bed "leaping" like that in a couple of years.

[Patrushka]

Great pics Karen, Jane, and Linda. I'll join the fun.

You can't see the hostas very well in the then pic from September 2003 but you can see all of the bare ground. The right section of the bed was just beginning.

The now pic was taken today.

[kaylyred]

What a nice, peaceful scene, Pat! Is that 'Liberty' in the center and a bit to the right? It sure stands out.

[Patrushka]

Thank you Karen. Yes, that is Liberty and it surely does stand out. This is the same bed I posted pics of in Linda P's thread "Favorite spot in the garden". You can see some of the hostas closer up there.

[ViolaAnn]

Here's one garden that was new in 2006.

The garden in its first year.

Same garden 2010. Most of the plants are still the same.

[ViolaAnn]

My newest hosta garden. Spring 2008. It was built in 2007 and planted in 2008.

The new garden July 2008.

Same garden in 2010, albeit from a different angle.

[JaneG]

This is a fun thread!
Linda - every one of your pictures are beautiful, you have an eye for arranging the plants (or is it just luck as you throw them in the ground)?
Pat - what a difference, the second picture really looks like a woodland cottage setting.
Viola Ann - those beds progressed nicely, if that last picture is from 2008, I'll bet those hostas have really filled out the space by now.

Here's another of my beds, it's the back (north) side of my DH's shop. Can't really be seen well from our own yard. It faces the neighbors so I hope they get some enjoyment from it!

[kaylyred]

Hostas and hydrangeas...what a WOW combination!

I love seeing everyone's photos. It helps me imagine what my bed is going to look like a couple years from now. Here it was in May of this year...



I suppose I do have an "after" photo of sorts, because I expanded the bed at the beginning of June, so here's the new bed now...




A couple years from now, I'm hoping it'll look more like some of the beautiful "after" photos in this thread.

[JaneG]

Karen, that bed will be beautiful! Sagae and Regal Splendor will be nice big backdrops for all the rest. Funny how a new plant makes you expand a bed that's only a month old!

[Noreaster]

I'm enjoying all these before and afters, everyone. Jane, those are some amazing leaps! My garden seems to be making more baby steps compared to that....or maybe it's just slow and steady here. What do you have in that soil??

Laura, that Sagae is gonna be huge by next year!

After reviewing my pics, I realized that the one I've always complained about being slow is actually one that has grown the most since I bought it (Tokudama Flavocircinalis).. I wasn't great about taking pics of individual plants in the beginning, but here are some bed shots. I am always moving stuff around a lot, so many hosta can't be compared, but you get the idea.

This is the left bed in 2006, which is when my garden was started. Regal Splendor was actually bought in 05 and moved from the side of the house to this bed (and a second to another bed) in 06


Same bed today



left side of that bed in 06...most of those hosta came out except Tokudama F and Big Daddy.


today



Tokudama F in 08 and 09


today


The other Regal Splendor in 06


today


Remember Me is the ONE hosta that I think I planted and then never moved....and it has repaid me by barely growing at all, which is actually fine for where it is.



today

[renaldo75]

I'm enjoying all of the changes.

[redcrx]

A shot from 2008 and a shot today. One of the rodis got beat up with all the snow last season. The hosta are Moonlight and similars with some others.

[redcrx]

Some shots of the same Touch of Class over the last three years.

[kaylyred]

'Touch of Class' is such a great hosta. I've gotta add that one to my list of must-haves.

[redcrx]

Finally remembered that I have a series of Risky Business.

Risky Business 6/27/2008

Risky Business pinwheel look 4/29/2009

Risky Business later in the season 7/26/2009

Risky Business this season

[ViolaAnn]

When you get to pictures of individual hostas, I've been putting mine up on SmugMug. The address is in my signature below. I have pics from 2008 and 2009 and expect to add some from 2010 within the next two weeks, but not THIS week as I'm preparing for a major garden tour on Saturday and have just been away for a week.

Ann