Our March meeting will be held on March 30th, Saturday, in the Bellevue Library, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. Our speaker is Nar Ranabhat and his program is called Virus Transmission in Plants. 

Dr. Ranabhat will speak about virus transmission in plants, their common symptoms and diagnosis, and will include Hosta Virus X.

A short business meeting will follow.

Our speaker will be Clive Lodge and his topic will be Improving Your Soil Structure: Fertilizing and Feeding. Clive was trained in England and held a head gardener position throughout the country for decades. He moved to America as head gardener for Oscar De La Renta's country estate. His work has been featured in many books and magazines. Clive presently works as an advisor and consultant.

The meeting will held on Thursday, January 25, 2024, from 10:00 AM to noon in room 200 at Woodmont Christian Church, 3601 Hillsboro Pike in Nashville, TN. To find room 200, come to the part of the church that fronts on Hillsboro Road, but is on the side closer to Woodmont Blvd., cross a bridge from the parking lot, enter the building, and turn left.

A short business meeting will follow.

Please put the following date on your calendar. Thursday, October 26, from 10:00-11:30 AM, Rm 200, at the Woodmont Christian Church. Our speaker will be Steve Cunningham and his topic will be the 2023 American Hosta Society Convention Field of Hosta Dreams, in Ames Iowa.

Seed Give-Away

We will have a Seed Give-Away and a Plant Swap from 10:00 to 10:30. Bring any seeds that you want to share. There will be some hosta seeds available with suggested directions for planting and raising them. Purple coneflower and zinna will be seeds available. Want to try something unusual? Try growing Four-O-Clocks (an old-fashioned, sun-loving flower that blooms in August) Hearts-a-bustin' (a native shade bush with unusual seed pods) or Paw Paw trees.

Snack-size baggies and markers will be available. You can select some seeds that you want, put them in baggies, and label them. You don't need to bring seeds to participate.

Plant Swap

If you want to participate in the plant swap, which is optional, bring a plant (or two) that you want to give away. Hosta are wonderful, of course, but other perennial plants are fine, too. Please label, and include the cultivar if you know it. It can be in a pot, which is preferred, but bare-root is also acceptable. If you bring a plant to participate in the swap, you will write your name on a piece of paper. Names will be drawn to see who has the “first pick” of the plant you want to take home. This is a great opportunity to thin out wonderful plants that have grown too abundantly in your garden, and maybe you can take home something new from another garden.

We will be having our August meeting on Saturday, August 26th. The famous hosta hybridizer, Bob Solberg, will be with us that day. His presentation will cover Hosta Propagation and Production, New Hosta Development, and Hostas for the South. The presentation will be from 4:00 until 5:30 PM at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 5566 Franklin Pike Circle, Brentwood, TN 37027. You can drive to the back of the hotel to enter the meeting room, or go to the front lobby and ask for directions. This Holiday Inn is conveniently located just off of Interstate 65 at exit 74A and close to a Panera Bread Company. The presentation will be followed by a short business meeting. You do not have to be a member to attend this presentation. All are welcome. 

About Bob Solberg

Bob is a nationally known lecturer on the subject of hostas and writer of many articles on hostas. He has edited the “Green Hill Gossip” since 1996 and the “Gossip Jr.”, a twice yearly subscription newsletter since 2004. When the hostas are up and glowing in the garden you may find him on the road, bringing hostas and hosta stories to a town near you.

Hosta hybridizing has been a passion of Bob’s for almost 30 years. In 2008 he was awarded the Eunice Fisher Distinguished Hybridizer Merit Award by the American Hosta Society for his work with hostas. He has introduced about 100 hostas to date and has plans to add five or so to that number each year. 'Guacamole', introduced in 1994 and Hosta of the Year in 2002 is probably his best known cultivar and is probably in your garden. 'Orange Marmalade' PP#16,742 is his first patented hosta and destined for a wide distribution. ‘Corkscrew’, ‘Ginsu Knife’, ‘Cracker Crumbs’, ‘Crumb Cake’, ‘Tongue Twister’, ‘First Frost’, ‘One Man’s Treasure’, ‘Smiley Face’, ‘Sweet Sunshine’ and ‘Curly Fries’ are some of his better introductions, along with some of his newest hostas, 'Ambrosia'PPAF and 'First Blush'PPAF.

These two garden tours will be on Saturday, July 15th, from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM. You can make a day of it with a friend: tour one garden, have lunch, and then tour another one!

Riverside Garden - 10:00 AM until 1:00 PM

This Riverside Garden is a hidden gem along the scenic Duck River with garden art, sculptures, and a sanctuary throughout. It has an upper observation deck and lower park-like area with a fire pit and picnic table. They are always developing their garden which features iris beds, roses, crape myrtles, hostas, and a fenced lower garden and upper raised bed garden. The terraced back area includes various trees, hydrangeas, and various hostas throughout the property.

Tranquility Franklin - 2:00 PM until 6:00 PM

A Garden called Tranquility. Cornelia has been growing hosta since the late 1990's and also grows Rohdea, the Sacred Lily of Japan and China. Cornelia was a founder of the Middle Tennessee Hosta Society. You can view wonderful photos of her garden on our Facebook page, and her garden has been filmed for the PBS TV show Volunteer Gardener.

The Tranquility Hosta Garden at UT Knoxville started with a donation of 600 hostas from Tranquility-Franklin. A large portion of her hosta is grown in pots.

These tours are for MTHS Members Only