HOSTA VISION 2020

 Did you know that there is NATIONAL hosta convention every year??  I did not know that until this year.  I won part of the price of registration at a meeting $200!! Registration was $60 more. 

It was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota which is a 12 hour drive from Grand Rapids, Michigan—- not too bad- so the hubby said he’d drive but stopping halfway for the night.  We left at our leisure on Tuesday morning and drove as far as Dubuque, Iowa.

Chicago was a challenge because of all the summer construction but the traffic was slow .. not stopped at any point.

We took secondary roads across Illinois and Iowa. Our goal was seeing the Mississippi River. We crossed it many times on this trip. 

Neither  Google maps nor Waze were able to get us to our hotel ... it’s a confusing big city I guess, so we finally had to call the hotel. Extremely frustrating for driver and navigator!!!

The hosta convention was interesting...you really need to LOVE hostas and want more exotic ones for your yard, have LOTS of money and a way to get the hostas you bought home.

Hostaholics want unusual hostas for their collections and they pay big money to get them! They most often order them online because few places sell more than just the common ones that you can get in the local nurseries and big box stores! 

The other place they buy them is at the annual convention from the venders there. One guy had an a rare mini hosta priced at $100. I don’t think he sold many!! 

Every convention, either local, regional or national has an auction.  One lady told us that one year she bought a large new and rare hosta for an amazing $3900.00!! at the auction! She sold 10 shoots of that plant over time for $1000 each! 

 This year there were two that sold for $450 each! It’s an auction, it’s for a good cause, it’s fun etc! 

I came home with four new hostas. Two were free. I really restrained myself BUT  I do have a long wishlist!

I have Blessings, Tea and crumpets, and the convention hosta Phoenix Feathers. I also bought a big pot of Golden Tierra which it turns out I have already in abundance so I’ll divide them and try to sell them!  They are all in the car!

The tours of local gardens is also a big part of the convention.  For an extra $100 you could sign up for a pre-convention day-long trip to see gardens in Rochester (breakfast and lunch included). On two other days morning tours of local gardens were offered for $40.  7:00 to 12:30, six gardens per day.

Minneapolis is not flat and every one of these 12 gardens were awesome and park like because of the terrain! Amazing!,

It was an interesting experience attending the national convention.  I came away with lots of ideas and a bit of hosta overload!