Monthly Archives: June 2016

A Regal Hosta – The Krossa Regal

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Hosta 'Krossa Regal' emerging in April in the garden of the Artist, Mary Ahern.

Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’ emerging in April

This large vase-shaped hosta emerges slightly behind some of my other hostas such as ‘Blue Cadet’. 

This slug-resistant architectural specimen is a commanding presence in my perennial garden. Though planted in full sun with absolutely no sunburn effects, I plan to divide it in the fall and put a portion of it in the woodland near the Hamamelis. I think their V-shaped structure will echo each other offering a nice rhythmic change of scale and will tie the two plants together.

The distinctive vase shape of the Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’ in the garden of the Artist, Mary Ahern.

The distinctive vase shape of the Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’

I’ve put that project on my to-do list for the fall. The spreadsheet keeps growing. Soon I’ll have to employ a Gertrude Jekyll type labor force to keep up with all my ideas.

I bought this plant in the early 1990’s from a mail-order house that I don’t think still exists. At least, they don’t have a web presence at this point in time. I still remember the excitement I felt when a box with the plants showed up on my deck.

It was my first plant mail order purchase. I’d worked so hard to pick and choose varieties of hostas with different leaf shapes and colors. I was still in my newbie phase of disdaining variegated plants so all my purchases were solid greens and blues.

Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’ in the perennial garden of the Artist, Mary Ahern.

Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’ in the perennial garden

I remember how horrified I was when those straggly roots came out of the package. I felt so robbed. I’d never seen or even heard of bare-rooted plants at that time. Was I ever that young and naïve?

Well, I planted them all and they all lived. But over time many of my plant labels were lost or destroyed or misplaced so I no longer can easily identify some of them. The Krossa Regal is an exception since it has such distinctive charisma.

Heralding Hostas

The Garden Artist Posted on by
Hosta ‘Blue Cadet’ emerging in April in the garden of the Artist, Mary Ahern.

• Hosta ‘Blue Cadet’ emerging in April

There are so many stages of hostas that I enjoy seeing. None of them include slugs by the way.

Having a shade garden I naturally grow many different cultivars of hostas. This particular one is named ‘Blue Cadet’ and was given to me years ago by my son Chris for Mother’s Day. Two Cadets and a Phlox subulata, I made out like a bandit!

Hosta ‘Blue Cadet’ top view from the garden of the Artist, Mary Ahern.

• Hosta ‘Blue Cadet’ top view

Each year I try to catch the hostas as they emerge from the ground but each one has its own timetable and the prime time is very short. If you go into the garden in the morning to look at their progress, by the afternoon’s stroll they’ve changed again.

I’m always glad when I take these worm’s eye view shots with my Sony digital with a swivel screen so I no longer have to lie in the mud like the good old days. I can thank my friend Elise for nodding in the right direction when it came time to buy my first digital camera.

I love the textures of the newly emerging hostas and the changes in coloring at the base. I love the unfurling spirals so dramatic from the top view. Each leaf unfolds with its own personality and destiny.

Hosta ‘Blue Cadet’ in June in the garden of the Artist, Mary Ahern.

• Hosta ‘Blue Cadet’ in June

I don’t grow hostas for their flowers but some of them do have quite beautiful and in some cases, fragrant blooms. The Cadet has a nicely formed lavender flower emerging by the end of June. The heart-shaped leaves have a blue tinge to them and in my garden is almost slug free. It forms a compact, well-balanced medium sized tidy mound like the rest of the tokudama clan of which it is an offspring.

I think I should transplant some of my Athyrium nipponicum ‘Pictum’ to create a vignette. The scale of the two might get along nicely.

Anemone coronaria in the Garden and in Art

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Anemone coronaria in the garden of the Artist, Mary Ahern.

. Anemone coronaria

My Garden and my Art go side by side. Both require me to make aesthetic judgments about composition, scale, color, texture and style. When I’m deciding where to plant the flowers I’ve hauled home on my endless trips to the nurseries it doesn’t seem that much different to me then when I’m deciding how to compose them on a two-dimensional surface.

I think about what style I’m looking for, what colors will work together, whether the scale of the placement works for me. I think about the type of flower and texture of the leaves. I make decisions about the 3D composition of the garden much like the 2D composition decisions on a painting.

Anemone coronaria in a Watercolor Painting by the Artist, Mary Ahern.

. Anemone coronaria – Watercolor Painting also, available as a print.

The garden adds so many additional layers of complexity since the artwork is moving in time with nature, the seasons, the elements, and time. The painting remains caught in a moment.

Capturing that ephemeral moment is so gratifying to me in my Fine Art. I control it, unlike my Garden which is usually out of control.

This watercolor painting is available directly from me, Mary Ahern, as an archival print on Fine Art Paper, double matted and ready for framing.

Please contact the Artist directly for purchase information.