Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/06/2016
7:30 pm
Location
Kilmington Village Hall
Categories
Hotfoot from the Chelsea Flower Show, where medal-winning Bowden’s had displayed their hostas around a luxury coach from a Pullman train, Peter Savage told the story of Bowden’s Hostas, how it came into being, flourished under two consecutive owners, and won acclaim with many gold medals at Chelsea and a Royal Warrant. Peter has worked at Bowden’s for 12 years and knows a thing or two about hostas: he told us they came from the Far East and have been in Europe since the 18th century. They were officially classified as hostas in 1812, named after an Austrian botanist named Host. They are hardy perennials with 45-55 species and over 7,500 registered hybrids. Renowned for their low maintenance, they are widely used in public gardens, especially in America.
Peter illustrated all the good points of hostas: the wide range of size, variations in leaf shape, and choice of colour, greens, yellows and blues, plain and variegated. Not all hostas require shade; variegated leaves require some sunlight to retain the variegation. The one essential requirement is a cold rest in winter. All locations are suitable – containers, mixed borders, woodland and streamside and although they like damp places, they do not like their roots in water. Propagation is easy – take a clean spade and slice the clump into pieces. There were some bad points, he conceded, illustrating occasional reversion of colour, rare malformation by virus, possible infestation by vine weevil and, inevitably, damage by slugs and snails. Peter had an answer for all these problems: cut out the reversion growths down to the rhizome; burn any virus-infected plants; use chemical insecticide for vine weevil, and slug pellets for snails. Before rounding off his talk with a list of some recommended varieties, Peter presented one lucky member with a prize Bowden’s hosta and all members with a 2016 catalogue of plants available from the nursery at Sticklepath, near Okehampton.
Sydie Bones