New Mice for 2014
Nursery News: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
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Clockwise from upper left: ‘Holy Mouse Ears’, ‘Frosted Mouse Ears’, ‘Blue Mouse Ears’, ‘Green Mouse Ears’, and ‘Mighty Mouse’.
In 2012, I wrote a very popular post called I Love Mice about little hostas in the Mouse Ears Series. In that post I talked about ‘Holy Mouse Ears’, ‘Frosted Mouse Ears’, ‘Green Mouse Ears’, ‘Mighty Mouse’, and the little hosta that started it all, ‘Blue Mouse Ears’. I extolled the virtues of their round, rubbery slug-repelling leaves in beautiful colors, their symmetrical habit, and their lovely proportional flowers. Since then some new mice have arrived on the seen, and I want to introduce them to you.
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‘Sunny Mouse Ears’ is tiny and adorable in a new color for mouse ears minis.
It was just a matter of time before someone selected a gold-leafed mouse ears hosta, and ‘Sunny Mouse Ears’ is it. It has tiny, perfectly round leaves 1 3/4″ long by 1 3/4″ wide. It forms a mound 3″ tall by 10″ wide. ‘Sunny Mouse Ears’ is the first gold-leafed cultivar in the Mouse Ears series, although there is another described below. It has the same thick substance that repels slugs and the same enchanting, pixie-like pale purple flowers in July as the rest of the mouse ears clan.
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Hosta ‘Ruffled Mouse Ears’ in the foreground contrasts nicely with the rounded shape of most of the other mouse ears hostas, here ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ in the background.
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A close up of ‘Ruffled Mouse Ears’
‘Ruffled Mouse Ears’ is another new addition to the group. It has blue-green leaves 2 3/4″ long by 2 1/2″ wide with highly ruffled margins. Although it has the same rounded, thick, rubbery, slug resistant leaves as its parent ‘Blue Mouse Ears’, its rippled and frilled margins provide a great contrast to the other mouse ears hostas. ‘Ruffled Mouse Ears’ forms a mound 6″ high by 14″ wide and has the same desirable flowers.
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‘Mouse Cheese’ is definitely a clever name for this gold-leafed mouse ears hosta.
‘Mouse Cheese’ is the other new gold-leafed mouse ears hosta available this year. At 2 3/4″long by 2 1/2″ wide, its leaves are larger and not as round, but they are bright gold with the same thick texture as the other mice we have come to love. ‘Mouse Cheese’ forms a slightly larger mound 4″ tall and 12″ wide. It has very cute pale purple flowers in July and retains its gold leaf color all season.
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The texture of Hosta ‘Church Mouse’ stands out in a mixed planting. Photo courtesy of Walters Gardens.
‘Church Mouse’, the last of the four new mouse ears hostas, has very blue leaves with unique, highly ruffled margins that make a good contrast with other mouse ears hostas. It has the same thick substance that repels slugs and adorable, well-proportioned lavender flowers in early summer. It forms a larger mound 8″ tall by 15″ wide, but has the same neat and symmetrical habit.
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A close up of ‘Church Mouse’, photo courtesy of Walters Gardens.
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If you would like to read more about little hostas, click on any of the following links:
2013 New Miniature and Small Hostas
Hostas Containers and Companions
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Carolyn
Nursery Happenings: The 2015 Miniature Hosta Availability for mail order and pick up at the nursery is here. You can sign up to receive emails by sending your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net.
Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.
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CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS 
May 5, 2014 at 8:47 am
I always like those little Mouse Ears. They look wonderful in pots. Mine are not even poking out of the ground yet. I wanted to share them with our garden club sale, but with the late start to the season, it is not going to happen.
May 5, 2014 at 10:40 am
Donna, The mice are just opening here and the hellebores and VA bluebells are still blooming, interesting season. Carolyn
May 5, 2014 at 12:45 pm
Which of the new mice do I like best! Made up my mind and the winner is ** Church Mouse, looking great alongside Brunnera Jack Frost.
May 5, 2014 at 12:58 pm
Alistair, I am pretty excited about Church Mouse. I have seen some photos of it on other sites where the center is smooth and just the edge is a ruffle, quite interesting. Carolyn
May 5, 2014 at 3:25 pm
They are adorable.
May 5, 2014 at 7:38 pm
Denise, I was saying adorable so much when writing the post that I had to look for synonyms, but adorable really is the word. Carolyn
May 5, 2014 at 9:57 pm
the garden is just waking up so I hope to see my mice soon.
May 6, 2014 at 6:10 am
Donna, I love to see Blue Mouse Ears emerging. It looks just like a blue rose, very beautiful. Carolyn
May 5, 2014 at 10:51 pm
Oh yes, I really enjoy those tiny Hostas! I’m going to have to try some. I think I have a few good spots for them, too. Thanks!
May 6, 2014 at 6:12 am
Beth, The mouse ears are, of course, great in containers of all kinds. Blue Mouse Ears and the other larger mice look wonderful at the front of beds because they have a quite substantial presence. All of them are also lovely in a rock garden type area. Carolyn
May 7, 2014 at 7:11 pm
I remember your post from 2012! And you also had one where you wrote about Hosta stiletto, which I already had, but it vanished one wet and cold winter. I love these Hostas that are on the smaller side and had planned to find a place in my garden for a group of them. Now you have reminded me that I really should make one. I am planning to make a miniature garden in a container, perhaps some of the smallest one of these could be the foliage for a miniature garden.
May 7, 2014 at 8:20 pm
Helene, I have a shallow dish garden with five kinds of miniature hosta plus sedums and hens and chicks. But I think the best thing for you would be a strawberry pot with a mini hosta in each pocket. I have 16 in mine going on its sixth year. Carolyn
May 12, 2014 at 9:19 am
Church Mouse is definitely number 1, and Sunny Mouse Ears follows as second choice. I will have keep an eye open for these new ones.
May 12, 2014 at 12:20 pm
Patty, Church Mouse is very interesting as the edges are highly ruffled but the interior is completely smooth. I love it. Sunny Mouse Ears has very cute, very round leaves. Carolyn
May 18, 2014 at 1:42 am
We have a block of remnant bush on an urban lot in central Auckland, New Zealand. We are taking out the exotics and planting natives, its a struggle! Our garden had been neglected for 20 years prior to us arriving 18 months ago. Having spent a long time clearing away the accumulated rubbish, we have now started to plant and irrigate. We love looking at your suggestions and would love your feedback on our project http://thecorinthcanal.blogspot.com
May 18, 2014 at 6:25 am
I don’t know a anything about gardening in the southern hemisphere, but it sounds like you have your work cut out for you and you are taking the right approach. Carolyn
May 28, 2014 at 8:28 pm
Love all the mouse hostas, I have an old blue mouse ears that is huge that I once used for hybridizing. It gave me a lot of nice seedlings. check out my post on hostas; http://michaelswoodcraft.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/hosta/
May 28, 2014 at 9:21 pm
Michael, I don’t think that ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ qualifies as a true mini—it gets a little too big, but it is still wonderful. Carolyn