Hosta 'Fortunei Albopicta'

Hosta 'Fortunei Albopicta'
Hosta

Closeup of bloom, June 2003.

I have a few hostas under an oak tree. Even though most nursery people say not to grow them here due to slugs and pill bugs, mine do fine. I really like the purple striations in the one you posted. Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks, Hazel. What I like about the picture is how it shows the transparent edges of the flower petals. I usually clip off most of my hosta blooms, leaving only my dark purple H. 'Ventricosa' and fragrant white H. plantaginea. Some wood ashes around the base of the plants deters slugs pretty well. Handpicking is best, early in the morning, if you have the stomach for it.

Yes, this great photo shows the delicate nature of the bloom very well. The hosta blooms have always appeared very regal to me. They sure last a long time. Even if the hostas didn't bloom, they would be a great addition to a garden with their beautiful foliage. I have put beer out in shallow containers and captured a few. The only problem was my dog became drunk ... :o) just kidding. I don't think that I am up to handpicking. I have had to resort to slug and snail bait. I really hate to use any kind of chemicals, but occassionally it becomes necessary.

Last year, in January and February something ate all of my cyclamen, viola, Mexican petunia and any thing else it could find down to the ground. Almost every plant around my patio was eaten. This would happen at night. It was driving me crazy. The culprits were field mice and rats! They needed the water. I had to use mice/rat poison and it made me very upset to see these animals die a slow painful death. I had tried traps, but could catch nary a one.

We occasionally have trouble with mice getting up in my car engine and building nests. One time they chewed my airbag line in two and DH had to solder it back together. We use a live trap to catch them, baited with peanut butter. We don't use poison because of our cats...they might eat a poisoned mouse and then die. We put the cats up at night in the woodshed because we have some coyotes around that have killed several in the past, so that is why we have the mouse problem. Haven't had mice in the house in the past 15 years because we have 3 cats in the house.
Chipmunks like to eat flower buds, too, but they are so cute I could never think of killing one. Our cats keep them to a minimum, I see them rarely.

I have never had mice in my car engine. Cats do a good job controlling the mouse problem. Coyotes can be a real problem. Squirrels were digging in my hanging baskets until I put mothballs on top of the dirt. The smell bothered me a lot. Then, I sprayed the baskets with Liquid Fence Dog and Cat Eepellent and this has proved to be sucessful. I sprayed it along the top of my privacy fence and the squirrels do not run along it anymore which keeps my big old dog from chasing after them and damaging plants. Several rat snakes have taken up residence in several flowerbeds and I have chosen to leave them there to help with the mice and rat problem. I don't bother them and they don't bother me. When we haven't had much rain, rattle snakes have ventured in the yard for water. These I capture and take off to the my husband's old deer lease which is about 8 to 10 minutes away from my house. Possums, skunks and armadillo visit often. I don't know which ones have been digging in my flowerbeds for grubs. I think it is an armadillo or skunk because it had dug a whole under my fence to access the yard. The possums don't have to dig in. They run my fence and then climb down a tree or bush. The second year we lived here a bobcat was comig in the yard at night for water. Since this area is now almost completely developed with subdivisions, I thought the bobbcats had moved on. This fall, I thought I heard on in my tree. I mentioned this to my neighbor who told me that one was in a yard 2 blocks over a few months ago. They are beautiful animals. When we first moved here, there was much empty land behind my house and to the east. For several years, deer and jackrabbits were fun to watch. Then, the owners sold much of it for housing developments and these animals moved on. I still have a much smaller field behind my house and to the east with fully developed subdivisions surrounding it.

I think the residents of suburbs sometimes see more wildlife than those of us in the countryside...The animals have a lot more hiding places where I live and rarely venture out in the open where we can see them. We are starting to find armidillos here as roadkill...they are supposed to be pretty bad garden pests, digging for worms and such. Maybe this cold weather (ground frozen for about 2 weeks now) will drive some of them back south.

That would be a blessing, I am sure.