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Re: [SG] HOSTAS

Roberta, Re your question on TC hostas, I bought 3 'Winfield Blue' for a
total of $9.75 from Q&Z this spring (I was participating in a large order
placed by members of our local garden club). I traded one to someone for
another neat little TC hosta (Maui Buttercups), and still have two sturdy
and thriving little hostas for a total cost of $10, if we consider Maui
Buttercups a freebie--so this was not too bad a deal. 'Winfield Blue' is
listed in the HOSTA FINDER for an average price of about $20, I believe.

For $3-5 you should be able to buy a BIG clump of an old, established
hosta, things like Golden Tiara, Gold Edger, Antioch, from any retail
hosta nursery. The TC price on those old favorites should be in the 75
cent range, in my opinion--certainly no more than a dollar each--in lots
of 25 or so. I would try to find some better deals than what this catalog
is offering you, since you ask for advice. If you are interested in large
numbers of a particular hosta, I'm sure that retail hosta nursery would
love to quote you special prices on same.

I am an amateur hosta grower, not a nursery, but I would say a TC plant
would need at least two years of growing on before it was anything like
saleable size, and a field-grown clump at least one year. Many nursery
owners would disagree with this philosophy, but it's what I think.

The other interesting point about TC nurseries is that some of them put
out more than one catalog--each with a different set of prices, depending
on whom they are marketing to. I was sent a Shady Oaks TC catalog,
purportly wholesale, last year with fairly high prices (not quite retail)
in it, and happened to compare those prices with a friend who has a small
nursery. He had received a Shady Oaks catalog too, but the prices in it
were MUCH lower than what my catalog had! Caveat emptor, as they say.

Bobbi Diehl
Bloomington, IN
zone 5/6
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