Review of Ann & Roger Bowden
February 1998
by Steven C. Chamberlain
105 Academy Street
Manlius, NY 13104
Steve_Chamberlain@isr.syr.edu
Ann & Roger Bowden
Sticklepath
Okehampton
Devon EX20 2NL
UNITED KINGDOM
Phone: 01837 840481
FAX: 01837 840482
Catalog by request
Owner: Ann & Roger Bowden, Members BHHS, Members AHS
In the past I have purchased the following hostas from Ann and Roger Bowden:
All but one of these, H. 'Curlew' which is struggling, have done well in my garden. This year, I sent in my order the day the catalog arrived!
The 1998 Illustrated Hosta Catalogue from the Bowdens is a 24-page, full color publication. It has 54 color photographs of hostas. Hostas are listed by price. There are 11 cultivars at £2.00; 10 at £2.50; 22 at £3.00; 12 at £3.50; 33 at £4.00; 22 at £5.00; 30 at £6.00; 32 at £8.00; 23 at £10.00; 15 at £12.00; and 4 at £15.00. There are 34 additional hostas listed as still available from previous catalogs. Thus, a total of 248 species and cultivars are offered. Each offering is well described, except the 'still available' list of 34 which each have an abbreviated description. The listings for 1998 include the Devon series, H. 'Devon Blue', H. 'Devon Gold', H. 'Devon Green', H. 'Devon Mist', and H. 'Devon Tor' which are typically not available from American suppliers. They also include the new Dutch Paradise cultivars, H. 'Paradise Joyce', H. 'Paradise Power', H. 'Paradise Puppet', and H. 'Paradise Standard'. There are a number of other British cultivars typically not widely available in the United StatesH. 'Lemon Delight', H. 'Oriana', H. 'Phyllis Campbell', and H. 'Nancy Lindsay'. New this year are H. 'Sheila West', a sport of H. 'Fortunei Hyacinthina' with a bright gold center and grey-green margin and H. 'Beauty Substance' another gold-margined sport of H. 'Sum and Substance' similar to H. 'Lady Isobel Barnett'.
Hosta prices are low by American standards. Although you must pay for transAtlantic air shipping and phytosanitary certificates, the effective conversion rate is equivalent to about $2.50 per British pound sterling. Thus H. 'Oriana' costs about $6.25 delivered, H. 'Devon Green' costs about $12.50, and H. 'Sweet Tater Pie' costs about $20.00. Their new 1998 introduction H. 'Sheila West' costs $37.50. All of the plants I have received have been adult divisions, usually mature tc plants. Credit cards are accepted and orders are charged when they are shipped. Orders are acknowledged only if a SASE is included with the order.
Hostas are shipped in small boxes conforming to the 'small packet' category for air mail. Every one has arrived in upstate New York in perfect condition. H. 'Yu Lei' had the barest beginning of mold on the surface of the crown, but recovered nicely when given the dilute chlorox treatment. The Bowdens are able to get hostas tissue cultured by British universities which have an agricultural support mission at a very favorable cost. Many of their offerings are mature tc plants, but at very good prices. Other cultivars are field-grown divisions. They hold part of the British National Reference Collection of hostas and their display garden is simply stupendous. Some of their commercial stock is grown in walled medieval plots that have been under cultivation since the 15th century. You can stick you hand into the soil up to the elbow with little difficulty! The Bowdens are one of the most important British hosta suppliers and they certainly rank with the best American growers.
Some of the hostas I've gotten from the Bowdens are among my favorites. H. 'Devon Green' is the shiniest of the green sports of H. 'Halcyon' and is a vigorous and stunning plant. H. 'Sherborne Swift' is vigorous and makes a ground-hugging clump of frosty blue, lanceolate leaves with heavy substance. H. 'Snowden', which is available from American sources, is growing into an enormous clump in my garden, although it is still far behind the humongous plant of this Eric Smith cultivar that Ann and Roger have growing in their pergola garden.
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