The Chiot’s Run Hosta
Eight years ago I started purchasing hostas for the gardens of Chiot’s Run. We’re surrounded by HUGE trees on 3 sides thus making 75 of the garden pretty shady. The first hostas I purchased were ‘Frances Williams’ and the other one I cannot remember at the moment. They lived happily in the garden for years. Each year I kept adding hostas and they lived happily multiplying slowly in the shady side gardens. Four years ago I acquired a ‘sieboldiana Elegans’ hosta. There’s something about this hosta and ‘Frances Williams’ that makes the perfect match. Ever since then the hostas set seed and tiny hostas pop up all over the garden and walkways and pretty much everywhere.
They so sweet when they’re tiny seedling, these are new ones that just germinated this spring. As you can see they’re smaller than a penny. These are the big corrugated leaf hostas, so they grow very slowly. They also have no variegation in the leaves and the color is neither the blue from ‘sieboldiana Elegans’ or the colors from ‘Frances Williams’. The leaves aren’t quite as corrugated as either of the parents either.
The second year they’re only about 4 inches all and will have one or two more leaves. The third year the leaves are bigger but still sparce. I think it will take about 6 years to mature from seed. I think next year I’ll have my first mature hosta offspring!
I wish they grew a little faster so I could use them to fill in areas along the woods, but alas they take their jolly old time (especially in the lean soil here).
I’m guessing these hostas are one of the parents of the two that cross pollinated, I could look them up and figure it out. But I think I’ll just call them ‘Chiot’s Run’ hostas.
Do you have any plants that have cross pollinated to create new varieties in your garden?
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On Being Lucky + Ethel Glove Giveaway
I never set out to become a photographer, writer, blogger, or social media strategist – those things just kind of happened along the way. Often the best things life are those that we stumble into because of an interest or hobby that we have. It’s not that I’m especially lucky; I work hard, put in lots of hours, and I’m finally reaping some rewards (a few more great things in the works). The quote by Thomas Jefferson, “I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” is quite true, at least in my case.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know that I started working for Ethel Gloves last year. After singing about my love for them here at Chiot’s Run, they contacted me and wanted me to blog for them. Then they started asking me to use a few of my photos in their publicity. Pretty soon they were sending me gloves to shoot for their various campaigns.
Now, pretty much all the photos you see at Ethel came from my camera (my hands, Mr Chiots shooting). My keyboard is the one that updates their Twitter & Facebook accounts, and yours truly is curating their Pinterest Boards. I’m happy to work for a company that makes a product I love and use almost every day.
The great thing about this job is that it helps me pay the bills associated with this blog. Since I had to upgrade to a virtual private server a few months ago the bills are getting quite high each month! Another great thing about it is that I get to do giveaways! All you have to do is comment on this post and you’ll be entered to win a pair of Ethel Gloves. Congrats to Crazy Lady Farm who is the winner of this contest.
What has you feeling lucky lately? If you’re lucky enough to win a pair of Ethel Gloves, which ones would you like?
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Plant Spotlight: Erythronium Pagoda
Somewhere in my reading I came across the Erythronium or the dogtooth violet. I can’t remember for sure where, maybe in a wildflower book. If I had to guess it would be from one of the books written by Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd, most likely I read about it in A Year at North Hill : Four Seasons in a Vermont Garden. It doesn’t really matter where I found out about it, I’m just glad I did.
I ordered bulbs for erythronium ‘Pagoda’ last fall and they arrived nestled in one of the boxes of my 2500 bulb order. I double checked my invoice with the included items, everything had arrived and I didn’t think about these boxes in the garage for a few days. When unpacking and organzing the bulbs a week later, I noticed the pack of Erythronium said “PLANT NOW!” (yes in all caps with an exclamation point- oooops). I grabbed by trowel and planted most of them in the east facing side flowerbed and a few in the north facing bed by the back door.
Erythroniums are native to the Northern Hemisphere and prefer forest and meadows with slightly acidic soil. They can take part to full shade which is one of the reasons I purchased them. Being surrounded on three sides by very large trees, I have an abundance of shade here at Chiot’s Run. I’m often struggling to find something besides hostas that will thrive in the shady corners of the garden. Since there are forest natives I knew they’d love the conditions in those beds, they are essentially just like the forrest floor.
This little plant isn’t of the viola family even though it’s nickname suggest it, it’s of the lily family (Liliaceae). It’s nickname “Dog Tooth Violet” comes from the corms which are white and shaped like a dog’s tooth. It also has a host of other nicknames as well. Sadly, I didn’t take any photos of the corms when I planted them so I can’t show you what they look like. You’ll have to take my word that they did in fact look like giant canine teeth.
Erythronium is usually grown as an ornamental garden plant, but it’s also edible. The leaves and flowers may be consumed raw or boiled. The corm can also be ground and used as a starch. From my research, it was often used for making thin noodles. In Japan the ground corms are used to thicken sauces and make tempura. It’s been used medicinally as well, the leaves can be dried and used in teas, or they can be crushed and used as a poultice. It is high in alph-methylene-butyrolactone which prevents cell mutation and may help fight cancer. Native American Indian women were said to use the raw leaves as a contraceptive, Roman soldiers used it for foot related issues and it was used throughout the ages as a diuretic, fever reducer, to treat gout, to aid in decongestion, and to help reduce ulcers and shrink tumors.
I won’t be eating mine any time soon, I want them to multiply and grow into lovely little patches. You can believe I’ll be trying to find a few other varieties, which are different sizes and colors, to add to the garden though and when I get a good patch going I’ll try eating them in a variety of ways.
Have you found any new and interesting plants recently?
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Taking a Bit of a Breather
The forecast is quite nice for this week, it looks like I’ll be able to get a lot of garden chores checked off my list. Which is good because the list was getting quite long. In order to find the time, I’ll be take a bit of a break from the Non-Toxic Cleaning Series so I can spend a little less time writing and a little more time in the garden (series will be back next week). I also have a few new cleaning recipes that I’m trying out. The backlog of garden topics is getting long, and I want to get out of the way so I don’t forget. I also have a few great giveaways this week and next.
As always, Dexter is the star of the Taking a Day Off post. He certainly knows how to stop and smell the roses, or enjoy an open window in this case.
On my to-do list this week: finish building rock wall in front of tulip garden, harvest compost, sow beets, mulch garlic and flowerbeds with chopped leaves, plant ranunculus, seed hanging baskets & containers with nasturtium in basement, etc.
What garden chores are on your to-do list this week?
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Morels Can’t be Trusted
Morels can’t be trusted. They’ll be nowhere in sight when conditions are just perfect. You’ll hunt in the ideal places and end up scorned with nothing but an empty basket. Then another day they’ll throw themselves at your feet, carpeting the ground before you. They are fickle, wily tricksters. But, God help us, we’re totally shameless if our passionate pursuit of these little dimples darlings.
Connie Green
(The Wild Table: Seasonal Foraged Food and Recipes)
I’m wondering if we’ll have a morel season this year here at Chiot’s Run. I found three small mushrooms in the garden a few weeks ago, but no more have been spotted. I think the hot dry spell we had a few weeks ago may have made the mushrooms decide to take a year off.
Only time will tell if the morels will be up this year, they’re elusive that’s for sure, which is what makes them so great. I won’t write them off until mid-May, if I don’t have any by then I’ll know they’re taking the year off.
Have you ever eaten morels? Do you hunt them in your area?
