Spring Newsletter 2005

Now Open for the Season!!

Spring is just around the corner and it is even more welcome than usual after the especially snowy winter! The snow is gone, now…let’s hope it stays that way. After all, the calendar says spring is officially here!

As you know, spring is an exciting time for gardeners and we hope we can make your gardening fun with some of the new garden décor and plants we have to offer this year. Add a touch of whimsy to your garden with one of our rustic iron creations. The small bench holds two flower pots and would work great in an area that needs a little extra color. If you have a fence or wall that needs sprucing up, our iron suns are perfect. They come in different sizes and their clay face centers will make visitors smile!

If iron décor doesn’t add the special touch you are looking for, maybe a small concrete statue is what you had in mind. We’ve got a large selection of concrete statues ranging from playful bunnies and puppies to watchful angels and secretive elves. Have you always wanted a turtle for your pond? We’ve got those, too…and these won’t wander off!

Speaking of ponds, we’ve got a lot of new water plants for you water gardeners to try this season. Water Zinnia grows into a spreading mat in shallow water and blooms all summer with bright orange flowers. Frogfruit is another plant that works great along the pond margins. Delicate pink flowers seem to float above the foliage through late summer. If your pond calls for something a little more dramatic, check out the Aztec Arrowhead. Its bold green leaves rise 2’ to 4’ and are highlighted with sprays of white flowers with dark red centers.

The number of new hosta varieties that hit the market every year is impressive. What is even more impressive is that hybridizers continue to create new plants that are unique from anything already available. 2005 brings over 50 new hosta varieties to our list. Among the best is ‘Paradise Glory’, a sport of ‘Paul’s Glory’ with extremely heavy leaves that have a wide blue margin surrounding the gold center. ‘Hanky Panky’ is a new sport of ‘Striptease’ that does a neat flip-flop of colors as the season progresses. ‘Lakeside Cupcake’ is perfect for a small space. The cupped leaves really stand out with the white center and wide blue edge. For the die-hard collector in search of something really different, we offer ‘White Feather’. A European plant that emerges snow white and gradually becomes streaked with green.

Perennials are the work horses of the garden and we’ve got an interesting selection of unusual perennials for your low maintenance garden. Ornamental grasses add winter interest to the garden. All of our grasses are hardy in Iowa, including the new gold variegated Calamagrostis 'Eldorado'. If you are a sucker for variegated plants, Coreopsis 'Tequila Sunrise' will liven up a sunny spot and 'Snow and Sapphires' Jacob’s Ladder will add interest to a shady corner. Finally, if you’ve ever stopped out in late spring, you may have been one of many visitors to stop in their tracks to take a second look at the Clematis growing on the stump right outside the shop. Clematis ‘Josephine’ is unlike any other Clematis with its large pink flowers and full, feathery centers. We are happy to be able to offer this small vine this year…these will go fast!!

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Mosquito Hawks in the Backyard

Not only are dragonflies beautiful and fun to watch, but our water gardens are an important part of their environment. They lay their eggs on submerged plants and the dragonfly nymphs eat water bugs, tiny tadpoles, and baby fish until they are ready to leave the water. The nymphs then climb up a plant stem, shed their skin, and fly away. It is important to note that dragonfly nymphs are a threat to only the tiniest baby fish. In fact, larger fish will likely eat the nymphs. Here are some other fun facts about dragonflies:

• Dragonflies consume huge quantities of flies, gnats, and mosquitoes every day.
• Dragonflies can fly up to 60 mph!! They can also hover, fly backward, sideways, and straight up as well as stop on a dime.
• Dragonflies are ancient insects. They were around before the dinosaurs! The largest known prehistoric dragonfly had a wingspan of 24”.
• Dragonflies have a 360* field of vision.

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Hosta Virus X

Hostas have a great reputation for being pest and disease free. Unfortunately, this has changed due to a disease that has spread through the marketplace like wildfire.

About five years ago, a few "lucky" hosta growers found what appeared to be new, interesting sports of otherwise common hostas. A few individuals became especially concerned when these oddly marked plants began showing up in great numbers over the next couple years at many of the big chain stores and nurseries.

Dr. Ben Lockhart, of the University of Minnesota, discovered the cause of this mottled coloring: Hosta Virus X (HVX). It is unclear exactly where Hosta Virus X came from, but it is very clear that it has quickly reached epidemic proportions.

Symptoms of Hosta Virus X

Typical Hosta Virus X symptoms.

Hosta Virus X affects different hosta cultivars in different ways, so it is impossible to give a definitive description of symptoms. The most common visual symptom is blue or green markings on a light colored leaf. These markings usually follow the leaf veins and bleed out into surrounding tissue giving the plant a mottled appearance. The tissue often appears lumpy, puckered, and of different thickness or texture that normally colored tissue. Less common symptoms include dried, brown spots and twisted, deformed leaves. It may be difficult to detect off colored mottling on dark, solid colored leaves. Some green tissue will show lighter colored mottling along the veins, but it is not as pronounced as the markings on gold tissue. To make matters worse, some hosta cultivars don’t seem to show any visible symptoms of being infected with HVX and it may take a year for symptoms to show after a plant has been infected.

Preventing Hosta Virus X from Spreading

The best way to prevent Hosta Virus X from infecting your collection is to simply not grow infected plants. Always avoid strangely spotted or mottled plants you find at nurseries. Not all infected plants show visible symptoms, though, so if one plant in a group shows symptoms do not buy healthy-looking plants in the same group. If one has it, it is very possible some, and maybe all, of the others do. Any plants that came from the large bulk wholesalers should be considered "on probation" for the next two years. This includes most hostas found at the "big box" stores. Watch for signs of HVX, don't cut them, and throw them out if any suspicious symptoms appear. Whenever you are dividing or trimming plants, always sterilize your tools using bleach, rubbing alcohol, or ammonia between each plant.

Dealing with HVX Infected Plants

Hosta Virus X infected plants will not recover, so they must be prevented from spreading the disease to healthy hostas. If you have a virus infected hosta in your garden, it should be destroyed. Dig up the plant and send it to the landfill or burn it. HVX can not survive in the soil, so as soon as the infected roots remaining in the garden have decomposed you can safely plant another hosta in the same location.

For more detailed information on Hosta Virus X, visit our complete article on Hosta Virus X.

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