We don’t often close the shop during the gardening season, but after the craziness of the spring rush things slow down a bit and it feels refreshing to get away for a few days. That is exactly what we did July 12-15 when we headed to Davenport, Iowa for the Midwest Regional Hosta Convention. How crazy is it to take a break from the garden to go surround yourself with more plants and gardens??

Last summer the Midwest Convention was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so Davenport was just a short two hour drive compared to last year. We had tables reserved in the vending room and arrived early Thursday afternoon to unpack and get all set up before the vendors opened for business at 4pm. These things definitely are not all play and no work. Loading and unloading plants, carting them through the hotel, and setting up the tables is a lot of work. Vending hours are crazy, too…we didn’t close the doors before 10pm all weekend!

Not only did we take along lots of plants, but we debuted some new hosta gift items that we’ve been working on for a while. The t-shirts were the most popular, but we also had wooden signs, greeting cards, mailboxes, Christmas ornaments, stepping stones, and even lawn chairs with hosta themed designs! These things are now available here at the shop and some are available in the Hosta Gifts section of our online store. More items will be added online in the near future.

One of the winners of the Midwest Preview Seedling and Sport Competition. This cool little plant is a seedling from Hosta ‘Pineapple Upside Down Cake’. It doesn’t even have a name, yet, but I can’t wait for it to become available!
The most talked about hosta in 2007 - Hosta ‘Stitch in Time’. An amazing sport of Hosta ‘Summer Breeze’ that we should have for sale next spring!

All the fun makes up for the work, though. One of the best parts of the Convention is seeing friends from all over the country…and the world! I had the opportunity to finally meet a friend from the Netherlands who I’ve known via the internet for a few years! With the Convention being so close to home, many of our local hosta customers attended. I know it was a first for some of you and I hope it won’t be the last. Catching up with old friends is great and that list of friends grows longer with every Convention!

Of course, I can’t forget the plants. Going to a Hosta Convention can be a total hosta overload…if that is possible. The vending room is full of the best of the tried and true, rare plants for the die hard collectors, and the latest and greatest.

All day Friday things were hopping in the vending area as all of the 200 or so attendees arrived. People were preparing their leaves for the cut leaf show and tweaking their trough and design entries. After judging, the show is open to the public and is quite a sight with all those beautiful, perfect hosta leaves. Friday evening we all headed to Vander Veer Park for a picnic and to check out the hosta display. Afterwards it was back to vending.

Saturday morning was the garden tours. We only took in two of the five gardens, but they had to have been two of the best. Dwarf conifers were a common theme in both…I don’t need another plant addiction!! How convenient that one of the vendors had some dwarf conifers. I couldn’t resist…

Saturday afternoon was possibly the most exciting part of the Convention…the auction! It is fun watching the bidding and fun to bid, too. The auction is where you’ll find the real treasures…plants straight from the hybridizer’s garden, huge, instant specimen plants, and rare collectibles that you may never have another chance to own. Being the Midwest Convention, you normally don’t see too many outrageously high bids. A couple plants did bring $300 or more, though!

Saturday evening was the banquet - the closing to a wonderful event. After the meal, we got a sneak peek of next year’s Convention and Don Dean gave an interesting presentation on hybridizing hostas. This being our first full year at actively hybridizing, Jim and I really enjoyed the presentation. We still have much to learn, but picked up some helpful tips and new ideas that we will definitely try out.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed home. Why does it always seem like we come home with more than we took?? There were a number of optional gardens open to tour on Sunday for anyone who still craved more hostas. We stopped to see a good friend’s garden on the way home. Then it was back to reality until next time!

See all of our pictures from the Bix Blues: 2007 Midwest Regional Hosta Convention in Davenport, Iowa.

Next July the Midwest Regional Hosta Convention will be held in Chicago. 2008 will also bring the National Hosta Convention to St. Louis, Missouri. Two Conventions within driving distance…oh, boy!

After the Convention, it took a few days to come down from the hosta-high. The weeds had gotten out of control - it was just too hot to be outdoors during the last two weeks of July. The heat finally broke and the weeds are back within bounds…kind of. July was extremely dry and the garden was starting to show it. Once August arrived, someone turned on the rain and it hasn’t let up, yet. I don’t want to complain, because this time of year is usually very dry. Not too far north of here, though, the monsoon-like rains have caused lots of damage.

Check out some pictures from the garden in the July 2007 Garden Gallery.