Hostas: a world travelling plant

I never thought much of hostas. Just a plant with big leaves and weird flowers was my thinking. And then the newspaper sent me to take pictures of a fellow who had an award-winning backyard garden filled with hostas, hundreds of hostas.

It was incredible. I had no idea that hostas came in so many varieties. The gentleman bragged that he had almost 200 different varieties. Since then I've learned there are more than 3000 registered varieties with possibly another 5000 unregistered throughout the world. This massive number of plants springs from a much smaller number of hosta species—40 to 45 would be a good guess.

That man made me a hosta believer. I love them. And the rabbits love them, too. It turns out hostas are related to asparagus and like asparagus are edible. The tender, young shoots are said to be best be but rabbits will eat them old as well. Apparently, the Japanese are quite generous in what they look for in a hosta for the table: small shoots, large eaves, even pretty flowers are all considered edible. If you see urui on the menu when in Japan, you are about to be served hosta as a vegetable.

The other day I took my granddaughters to a place that specializes in hostas: Hosta Choice Gardens. I got two new hostas. One promises to be a brute in a year or two. It may be six-feet wide and four-feet tall with giant golden leaves when mature.

Hosta Choice only sells hostas. That said, I saw some beautiful ferns growing there, plus some lugwort and bugleweed or ajuga that was speading wildly on one pathway. I admired all three and soon had a number of ferns, lugwort and ajuga in pots ready to take home. There was no charge for the non-hosta plants. Hosta Choice only sells hostas and therefore would only charge me for the two hostas.

I may live to regret planting the ajuga. It is a very hardy ground cover that sends out runners and expands its territory rapidly. I'm putting it on my hill overlooking my home. A bit of crazy wild ground cover may be desirable on the hill. That said, come back in ten years. My neighbours may be cursing my name.