Is summer really over? Can it possibly be October? According to the calendar, the blooming Toad Lilies, and the fields of golden-brown corn, autumn has arrived, but it sure doesn’t seem like it! The summer of 2009 was filled with fun, friends, and a few surprises along the way.

Back in early June we headed to the Midwest Regional Hosta Convention in Champaign, Illinois. With the exception of one garden, all of the tour gardens were fairly small. They were all very different and what they lacked in size, they made up for in personality! Many of the gardens featured amazing stone accents that we apparently don’t have access to in Iowa. Another fun focal point was the garden railroad that circled the beds in one back yard. Everyone (me included) was fascinated by the bog full of Pitcher Plants, Sundews, and Venus Flytraps in the Weber garden. You can see all of our MRHS Convention photos in the 2009 Midwest Regional Hosta Convention gallery.

The Saturday after returning from Illinois we hosted our third annual Hosta & Dessert Social. It was a fun day filled with much hosta talk! About 20 people participated in the hosta swap and hosta nuts from as far away as Minnesota visited that day! Roxanne Meyer took home the prize for the Biggest Leaf contest with her monstrous leaf of good ol’ Hosta ‘Sum and Substance’…and she claims she didn’t even pick the biggest leaf on the plant! We were excited to be able to debut Hosta ‘Baja White’ at the Social. This is an exclusive introduction with ruffled, white-backed leaves that Mark Zilis brought back from Japan. Didn’t get your ‘Baja White’ this year? Don’t worry…we have some left for spring!

Just three days after our Hosta & Dessert Social, we took off to Lansing, Michigan for the American Hosta Society National Hosta Convention. We left home about 1:00 am Wednesday and after a number of rest stops, arrived in Lansing mid afternoon that day.

This was a trip of firsts. Not only was it my first time to visit Michigan and the furthest we’ve ever traveled for a convention, but it was also my first time attending an AHS Board meeting. I was not very excited about this prospect, but the meeting was relatively painless. That is, as long as you overlook the four hour duration! It was a great opportunity to get to know the other Board members…one can never have too many hosta friends!

Hosta auctions are always fun, even if you just watch. Where else do you get to see new, rare, and one-of-a-kind plants sell for hundreds of dollars? After Elizabeth Lachman accepted the Eunice Fisher Distinguished Hybridizer Award on behalf of her late parents (William and Eleanor Lachman), a special hosta was brought out and auctioned off. This plant was described as the last of the Lachman hosta introductions. It was an unnamed seedling from Hosta ‘Lachman’s Guest’, a plant that likely does not exist anymore. Elizabeth Lachman was given the opportunity to name this plant. Hosta ‘Mid Summer’s Day’ was the chosen name for this large plant with rounded, blue-green leaves edged in gold. The entire room was silent as the bidding rose to $2500!

It is always great to catch up with old friends and meet new friends at these conventions. Many people will tell you that is why they keep coming - for the people, not the plants. I had the opportunity to finally meet a couple people I’ve been communicating with online for about fifteen years. Hopefully it won’t be another fifteen years before we cross paths again!

Another highlight of the 2009 National Hosta Convention was visiting the garden of Jim and Sandy Wilkins. Jim has served as past President of the American Hosta Society and has hybridized many well know hostas, including ‘Wolverine’, ‘Spartan Glory’, and ‘Millennium’, among others. The Wilkins’ home is surrounded by timber and borders a lake - a beautiful setting for a garden. And what a garden it is! One bed flows into the next and all are filled with all sizes, shapes, and colors of hostas and other shade plants. A large portion of the hostas are seedlings under evaluation - some quite spectacular! I’m not sure how long we spent wandering around the Wilkins’ garden, but I know we didn’t see everything. I don’t know how the people riding the tour buses managed with only an hour to take it all in!

You can see all of our AHS Convention photos in the 2009 National Hosta Convention gallery. For even more photos, check out the new photo gallery on the American Hosta Society website!

Next year both the Midwest Regional Hosta Convention and the National Hosta Convention will be very close to home. The Midwest Convention will be in Des Moines from July 8-11, 2010 and the National Convention will be June 23-26, 2010 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

After running at top speed through the month of June, the remainder of the summer was spent recouping and trying to catch up around here. That was easier said than done, as the weather was less than cooperative. It was a summer of never ending rain. Whenever it was nearly dry enough to work in the garden, the next round of showers and storms rumbled through. August was especially wet, with areas of Iowa receiving record totals of over 12 inches of rain during the month! I was beginning to think Iowa had turned into a rain forest.

It certainly would not have been a tropical rain forest, though. The entire summer was one of the coolest on record. We only had a handful of days over 80*F. The warmest stretch this summer was the week between our Hosta & Dessert Social and the National Hosta Convention. During that week in mid June we did reach close to 90*F. Unfortunately, the heat came out of nowhere and the plants had no time to acclimate. Many of the hostas burned badly, even big, mature plants in the garden that have never burned before!

Another casualty of the strange weather, this was the first time in about six or seven years (maybe more?!) that we have not grown a Victoria water lily as the centerpiece of our big pond. As heat lovers, our summer just was not favorable for growing Victorias this year. The pond looked empty without the giant pads. We’ll try again next year!

Now here we are, getting the garden ready for winter with the first frost possible any day. September 27th I have the pleasure of speaking to the Harshbarger Hosta Society about New Hostas for 2009/2010…and beyond.

Our fall newsletter will be posted on our website in early November. Also be watching for our web store to be updated for 2010 in November. We’ve got lots of exciting new hostas and perennials in the works for next spring!