©Richard Ford
Plant Profile
Hosta 'Raspberry Sorbet'
I am a hostaholic! No apologies! I love hostas to bits and have about 120 varieties in our garden - a very modest amount when compared with some members' collections. I have about 20 in a west facing border where they are mostly in shade all day, except for the evening sun, but as they are out of view I only see them when I take a stroll around the garden when assessing what jobs and which areas need prioritising, or at the end of a gardening session when, with a mug of tea or a glass of wine in hand and, if it's not too dark, I can unwind by taking in the fruits of my hard labour.
The rest of my hostas are grown in pots of various shapes and sizes, and are placed on the side and back paths around the house where they seem happy enough with the amount of light and shade they get. Each autumn all these pots are washed then tidied up - moss scraped off, self-seeded annuals from other pots and hanging baskets 'weeded' out, and any lurking rogue slug or snail which has managed to get through my preventative measures are eliminated - prior to being put away in the garage to over-winter. The measure is more for the protection of the terracotta pots than the hostas which, of course, are hardy.
I have been following this routine for a few years now, and when I bring the pots back out in the Spring they are never placed back in the same spot - I have a sort of rotation system. This arrangement means I get to notice and know better the plants in my collection. The ones placed by our back door are the first ones to catch my eye each time I step out into the garden, and amongst them there will be one that becomes my favourite for that particular year as I notice its leaf shape, variegation, size, colour and flower scapes. In 2009 it was H. 'Striptease' and the year before that H. 'Stiletto'. Last year the hosta which caught my eye regularly as I passed this prime spot was H. 'Raspberry Sorbet'. At currently about 10 inches high, this small to medium sized plant has attractive shiny dark green leaves with a lighter underside and wavy edges, all supported on red-flecked petioles which I found most attractive. This is the only red-stemmed one in my collection, but it has fuelled my interest in the varieties with red and/or speckled petioles and this is a good excuse to acquire some more to cram into an already full garden. Indeed, there are quite a few such plants I could choose from, for example: Hh. 'Fire Island', 'One Man's Treasure', 'Cherry Berry', 'Red October', 'Emeralds and Rubies', 'Regal Rhubarb', 'Cinnamon Sticks', 'Maraschino Cherry' and 'Red Dragon'. A few years ago I did purchase a bare-rooted H. 'Harry van de Laar', but I unintentionally murdered it because I placed it outside as soon as I potted it up early in the year - before hardening it off. One learns by one's mistakes!
It will be soon be time to bring out those hostas again. It's always 'pot luck' which ones I place nearest the back door. I wonder which hosta will catch my eye and become my favourite in 2012!