First day of Winter! "Het HostaBlad nr. 48", the Hosta magazine for The Dutch Hosta Society, has been published and sent to all its members! Lots to read! The Arie van Vliet Collection, Hosta Virus, Hostas on Location, Hosta Top 10, The Keukenhof, Hostas and Friends, reviews from the Hosta trips and articles written by members telling their tales of their own experiences with Hostas fill this issue! A great Winter read!

 A great day out with The Dutch Hosta Society yesterday!

 26 C and almost 80 members ejoyed visiting 3 very different gardens!

A big THANK YOU to all the Gardeners who opened their gardens for us!

September in the Hosta Garden!  Hostas are still looking great! The Hosta Garden Tour is this Saturday, 8 September! Have you all signed up? Ready to visit private gardens?  Members of  The Dutch Hosta Society are opening their gardens to us!  We'll be in Best, Veghel and Zeeland! A great weekend ahead with Hosta friends and Autumn sunshine! See you there! For more info www.hostavereniging.nl

Floriade 2012!

If you're in The Netherlands and visiting the Floriade there will be Hostas on Show! The Dutch Hosta Society, a member, www.heemskerkplants.com  and two sponsors are setting up a great display in the Villa Flora building! The Hosta Field www.hethostaveldje.nl is displaying: Hoata Avocado, Blue Mouse Ears, Captain Kirk, Gypsy Rose, June, Minuteman, Old Glory, Pandora's Box, Pauls Glory, Praying Hands, Summer Breeze, Theo's Blue and Winter Snow! Jan van den Top of Hosta World www.hostaworld.nl is has Hosta Justine, Mourning Dove, June Fever, Fragrant Queen, Great Escape, Heat Wave, Holy Mouse Ears, Lucky Mouse, Green Mouse Ears, Sleeeping Stars, Windfall, Tropical Dancer, Secret Treasure and Hosta Orange Star on display! Sounds like a great show with Hostas of all shapes and sizes and colours! Have a great time at Floriade 2012!

Great seeing Dutch Hosta Society Members on German T.V.!

8 September is our next Hosta members Garden Tour!

 The Dutch Hosta Society also has members that live in Belgium and Germany! Lisa and Lothar, two German neighbours with a passion for Hostas, regularly visit "De Kleine Plantage" http://www.dekleineplantage.nl/ in Eenrum! A few weeks ago, on June 30th, they visited "De Kleine Plantage" during their themed Shadow Plants and Hosta weekend!

The German TV station WDR went with them that day to "De Kleine Plantage" and filmed them there, on location!  On Saturday, August 11th at 6:20 pm(18.20), station WDR, Hier und Heute/Doku, we can see what happened! more information: www.wdr.de/tv/huh/sendungsbeitraege/2012/08/11.jsp?smonat=2012-6

 Today, I thought that I would share a few photo's of "Slugs in a Hosta garden!" with you! As you all know Slugs play a big role, or even star, in Hosta gardens!

 This one must be on its way to a Hosta leaf!

 The rainy start to July brings them out even in the afternoon! 

 I wonder what's going on here, between these two!

 Just when the Hosta flowers were looking good... 

 This happened!!

 Let's take a closer look!

 You can almost hear him chomping his way through!

I always wondered how they ate!

It was like Slugs attending an all you can eat Hosta buffet!

A bit of a tidy up and the Summer continues!