Garden Notes

Giant Sum and Substance hosta thriving in shade garden

A few years ago when I was just starting to plant my perennial garden, I was concerned about the cost of buying so many plants at once. Luckily one of my garden friends told me about the orphan table. She said that in early autumn, many garden centers have great prices on perennials that have not sold and sometimes they have an orphan table with small plants that were a real bargain. That fall I went to our local nursery and found a table with a lot of sad looking little plants that were on sale for $3.00 each. None of the plants had identification tags and they all looked a little wilted in the sunshine. I picked out 3 little hostas that had a nice chartreuse color and decided to give them a good home. I purchased my selections and planted my little orphans in the side garden with an east exposure. I watered them in and hoped for the best.

When spring came I was happy to see that they all had survived the winter, looked healthy and had kept their nice yellow green color. That first year they grew to be about a foot high and maybe 15 inches wide. I was very happy with my purchase and vowed to check the orphan table every year. Then of course, life got busy and my orphans were just part of the garden.

The second year when the tulips were finished blooming and the hostas started to break ground, I could not believe the size of my orphan hostas. They had become giant clumps about 5 feet in diameter and their leaves were at least 15 inches long. They looked like they belonged in Jurassic Park!

Once I got used to their huge size, I noticed how their color and scale made those hostas look very tropical and added a whole new dimension to the shade garden. I made adjustments to accommodate their size and since I had originally planted two of them very close together, I dug one up and divided it into several new plants. I gave one to my sister who had been admiring my orphans and planted the rest in other shady areas of the yard. Finally, when another sister came to visit from northern Wisconsin, she recognized my orphans and told me the giant hosta were actually named Sum & Substance.

Sum & Substances has become one of my favorite hostas because of its huge size, great color and the fact that it is very slug resistant. Also, I have since shared this hosta with a few friends and everyone loves it!