About
My love affair with the genus hosta began about 20 years ago, five years after my move to a heavily wooded 1 1/2 acre lot in West Chicago, IL. After struggling for several years to grow turf grass on the north side of my home, I came upon hostas as a possible solution. I was so impressed with the four S. Elegans that I started with that I began to search out other hosta cultivars. The hosta collecting bug soon got me good. As my planned retirement from a career as a Middle School administrator began to approach, I started to think about how my love of hostas might fit into my new life as a retiree. I had observed that at least in the western suburbs of Chicago where I live, there were few good sources of the newer cultivars and virtually no sources of well grown clumps of hostas. Beginning in about 1995, I began to plant multiple clumps of my favorite varieties with a thought of offering more mature plants eventually than could be obtained at our local nurseries. As my hosta universe continued to expand, I added more and more cultivars in my nursery beds each year. This past year, I took a thorough inventory of all of my stock and discovered that including plants in all stages of growth, I had over 100 varieties of hostas to sell. As I have been repeatedly asked by my customers to provide a list of all I have to sell, the idea for this net site began to take shape. While I will continue to sell only at my place rather than through the mail, I will bring plants to those hosta conventions and other events that I attend. It is my intention to continue to grow the plants I sell with the best possible care and to offer a mix of the best of the newer plants along with a good selection of the most garden worthy of the classic hostas. As a rule, I only offer a cultivar after I have grown it here and have seen how it fares in my beds. Not every variety that I test in this way is eventually offered to my customers because not every variety fulfills it’s promise as a worthy garden plant. Some do not hold up during our Midwestern summers. Some disclose unsatisfactory growth characteristics as they mature, and some just prove not to be distinctive enough to offer to my customers.
I do not expect to make a living off of what I sell and I do not need to do so. I simply want to offer an array of select hosta varieties which are garden proven and well grown; a hosta boutique, if you will. Such offerings often include established clumps. I do not keep regular nursery hours. My sales will be by appointment or at my scheduled sale days.
Since I love to talk hostas (and plants in general) with people, I also do some Garden Club talks in the Chicago area. Contact me anytime for informtion on the several topics I offer and to check about my availability on a specific date. During the growing season, I will gladly bring along a selection of hostas that you may well not find offered for sale at your local nurseries. At present, I have three presentations developed which are well illustrated digital slide shows. They are: Hostas: America’s Favorite Shade Perennial, Shade Gardening Beyond the Hosta, and The Best Ornamental Trees You May Not Know.
I took the Master Gardening training course when I retired and for the last eleven plus years have promoted hostas at every opportunity during my many volunteer activities with that fine organization. My other hosta related activities include involvement at the local level (the Northern Illinois Hosta Society) and at the regional level (the Midwest Regional Hosta Society) I served as President of both organizations. Such activities have allowed me to meet some people I am proud to number among my best friends. I would be happy to introduce my customers to either or both organizations and I am confidant that they can make any gardener’s experience with hostas more rich and fullfilling.
Lou Horton