Early Hostas

This is one of our hosta gardens.  It was a bed full of weeds and poison ivy when we moved here - heavy on the poison ivy - so feel free to be impressed at the transformation.   We edged it with rock from our creeks and filled it full of hosta.  

The sun dial is pretty there, but it's a dumb place for it since it's in the shade most of the day.   I like it there because it looks nice. 


Sundials aside, this pic is why I love the hostas this time of year, when they're just up and unfurling.   They get a lot bigger than what you see above.

You can't beat all these ruffled and curled edges.  I love them. 

Winter Garden Pretties

I am a huge lover of winter gardens.  One of my favorite quotes about gardening is this one:

Dilettante gardeners love the spring and summer; real gardeners also love the winter." - Anne Scott-James 'Down to Earth' (Bloomsbury Gardening Classics)

Winter gardens are full of interesting surprises, especially if you forget to cut down last year's spent flowers. 

These are the hostas in Lily's garden.   They make for some beautiful structure this time of year. 

The seed pods of most hostas make beautiful winter gardens - if you can bear to look at them through the fall.    These were tucked away in a part of the garden that we didn't see much in the craziness of the fall.  

I'm glad. 

Butterflies

K2 is very patient with the camera and she waited a while for these butterflies to settle so she could snap the pics.

This is a Great Spangled Frittilary on one of our naturalized echinaceas.   Pretty.

This looks like a dark version of a tiger swallowtail knee deep in one of our hosta flowers.   I rescued a few of these hostas from a property where they were being mowed down and over the years they have multiplied.  And multiplied.   The flower stalks are about three feet high and the butterflies, hummingbirds and bees cannot get enough of them.   The nectar must be really terrific.

Bees Love Hostas

The bees loved the hostas this year.   They completely ignored the lavender and hung out all over the hostas instead.    Interesting.

If you blow up the pic you can see her all covered with pollen.