It was definitely hosta mania when the buying committee met this week.

Mary, one of our newest members, is president of the American Hosta Society and past president of the Minnesota Hosta Society. She has injected a big dose of hosta knowledge and interest into the group!

We will be offering a wider range of hosta varieties this year, many from new vendors. Some varieties will be sold bareroot (but still green and fully leafed out), which means you get a better price, but still get a great plant.

New this year, listed in our Perennials section, will be: Allegan Fog, Beckoning, Fantasy Island, Fragrant Blue, Grand Finale, Inniswood, Paradigm, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Sea Dream, Super Nova, Tick Tock, and Touch of Class.

We will also have, in more limited quantities and at higher prices in the Rare Plants booth, some of the most recently developed varieties: Linda Sue, Magic Fire, Smooth Sailing and Solar Flare.

Rich Rodich, specialty gardener and Plant Sale shopper, sent in this photo of the Vesper Iris (Pardanthopsis dichotoma) he got at the 2006 sale. As we wrote in the catalog about this plant, “This species sometimes behaves as a biennial, so keep an eye on the seed pods!” But for $1.50, you could even treat it as an annual, since it blooms like this the first year.

Photo copyright (c) Richard T. Rodich, 2007. Unauthorized use prohibited.

Spring in the garden, with Northern Lights azaleas and Negrita tulips.

Spring also is the time for the native Trillium grandiflora and Bishop’s Cap (Mitella piphylla).

Summer brings an assortment of Clematis (General Sikorski shown) and self-seeded hollyhocks along the front fence.