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Lots of hosta
Springfield garden a huge draw for plant lovers
By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff - Published: June 30, 2008
SPRINGFIELD — They came from as far away as Michigan, Missouri and Virginia for a chance to walk down the wet paths of Glen Williams' fabulous hosta garden.
Members of the American Hosta Society, holding a convention this weekend at the Ascutney Mountain Resort in Brownsville, toured two hosta gardens, including Williams' three-quarter-acre paradise on Dewey Street, in a small neighborhood near Springfield High School.
Williams has about 2,000 hosta varieties, and he's been hybridizing his own unique hosta varieties for the past 10 years.
The conference, called First Look VIII, is devoted to the "first look" at new hosta varieties hybridized by commercial or expert amateurs.
The hosta, once reviled as an impossible-to-kill plant for those shady places around a home, is now the most popular perennial in America, and boasts the most varieties. The plant is mostly valued for its striking foliage, although more attention is being paid to its lily-like flowers by hybridizers.
Williams said that he started growing hostas about 20 years ago, lured by the false promises of a well-known garden catalog.
"I was never too much of a gardener," said Williams, who has turned every inch of his lot into an intriguing hosta Mecca.
Williams said that the Wayside Garden catalog, using "garden speak," promised "low maintenance and easy to grow."
"I bought into it," said Williams, who said of his 2,000 different hosta varieties, about 500 to 800 are his own work. Of those, he said modestly, only 50 are really worth noting.
The Sunday morning tour, which began at 8 a.m., was a rare occurrence. Williams said he doesn't usually open the garden to the public simply because he said it's rare that it's all weeded at the same time.
He calls his garden "Weed Heaven" but its name seemed just as misleading as that original Wayside Garden catalog.
Williams sat in a chair Sunday morning, greeting the hosta aficionados, and offering plants to his fellow gardeners.
"It's fresh to them, and that's lovely to see," he said, as gardeners, professionals and hobbyists, walked around with their mouths open, and it wasn't over their al fresco breakfast of scrambled eggs and muffins.
"This is a fabulous garden," said George Donsky of Buffalo, N.Y., who said he had about 400 different hosta varieties at his home.
"Glen has one of the best collections and beautiful gardens. He's highly respected in the hosta world," said Kathie Sisson of Avon, Conn., president of the Tri-State Hosta Society.
C.H. Falstaff of Zeeland, Mich., president of First Look, said the Williams garden was famous to those in the know.
"People have come from halfway across the United States to see his garden," said Falstaff, who works at a commercial wholesale nursery.
Falstaff said that when he started working for that nursery 27 years ago, the company only offered seven different varieties of hosta. Now the company has 140 different varieties in stock.
He said that there are 7,500 different registered varieties of hosta.
"Glen has said it has never looked so good," said Falstaff, looking around the garden as people studied the plants with the air of scientists. "There is a lot of work in maintaining it."
Donsky said that the big attraction in growing hostas is their variety. The plants can be as dainty as a teacup, with its individual leaves "as small as mouses' ears" or large jumbo specimens, with leaves "as big as dinner plates." Williams' garden provided both.
The convention is devoted to giving hosta lovers a "first look" at what other breeders are creating. There was judging and awards, and on Saturday there was a public sale of plants.
Williams said he was attracted to the hosta because of the different textures the leaves can achieve, as well as the variegated colors of green, and green … and green, with a little blue and white thrown in.
He uses traditional flowering plants, such as peonies or roses, as accent plants, or special evergreens. "It makes the color stand out more," he said.
Donsky and Williams agreed that the biggest enemy to a beautiful hosta garden are slugs, and both use slug bait to keep them at bay.
"It's colored blue so the birds can't see it and eat it," Donsky said.
Deer also love hostas, both men said, although Williams said deer make rare visits in his neighborhood.
"Rats with white tails," muttered Donsky. "They think this is their salad bar."
"Who can shoot Bambi?" Williams asked. http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806300380
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