Archive for Hosta Giantland Sunny Mouse Ears

The Mice Have Multiplied Again

Posted in container gardening, containers for shade, hosta, miniature hosta with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 20, 2015 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

Mouse Ears CollectionMy Mouse Ears Hosta collection in pots, back row left to right: ‘Mighty Mouse’, ‘Mini Skirt’, ‘Mouse Cheese’, ‘Lucky Mouse’, front row left to right: ‘Green Mouse Ears’, ‘Pure Heart’, ‘Desert Mouse’, ‘Funny Mouse’.

Our 2016 Miniature Hosta Catalogue is now on line, click here.  It lists all the wonderful little hostas that are available for pick up at the nursery and by mail.  Local customers are encouraged to pre-order.

I love Mouse Ears miniature and small hostas.  I like them because they are cute, they have a look all their own, they have adorable names, their colors are beautiful, I would actually grow them for their flowers, and their thick leaves give them a unique presence and repel slugs.  There are two new Mouse Ears this year: ‘Mini Skirt’ and ‘Pure Heart’, but I am also including photos of other members of this captivating family of hostas.

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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Hosta 'Mini Skirt'Newly introduced ‘Mini Skirt’ has the same variegation as ‘Mighty Mouse’ but with heavily ruffled leaves—stunning and already a customer favorite!

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Hosta 'Pure Heart'Newly introduced ‘Pure Heart’  has the reverse variegation of ‘Mighty Mouse’.  This tiny Mouse Ears hosta is named after Pearl Pureheart, Mighty Mouse’s cartoon girlfriend.

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Hosta 'Mighty Mouse'‘Mighty Mouse’ is still one of the best Mouse Ears both in the ground and in a pot.

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Hosta 'Mighty Mouse'‘Mighty Mouse’ in my miniature hosta rock garden.  I hope you can stop by this weekend and see all the minis growing there.

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Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears'‘Blue Mouse Ears’  started it all and is still the best of the bunch if you are just getting into Mouse Ears.  It is much larger than the other Mouse Ears and is not considered a mini hosta.  The American Hosta Society defines miniature hostas by their leaf size.  The leaf blade area, length x width, can be no greater than 6 square inches.  Clump spread is irrelevant.

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Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears'Another photo of  ‘Blue Mouse Ears’  highlighting the silver edging on the almost perfectly round leaves.

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Hosta 'Mouse Cheese'‘Mouse Cheese’ has the look of ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ with thick round leaves and lovely proportionate flowers but starts out chartreuse and turns more and more gold throughout the season.

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Hosta 'Green Mouse Ears'‘Green Mouse Ears’ has really taken off this year in a pot.  Always one of my favorites because of its ultra thick leaves, its bright green color is a nice contrast to the other Mouse Ears.

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Hosta 'Holy Mouse Ears'‘Holy Mouse Ears’ is slow growing but remains one of my favorites.

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Hosta 'Sunny Mouse Ears'Like ‘Mouse Cheese’, ‘Sunny Mouse Ears’ changes from chartruese to gold over the course of the season, but it has rounder, tinier leaves.

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That’s it for my Mouse Ears update.  If you would like to read more about little hostas, click on any of the following links:

New Miniature and Small Hostas for 2014, Part 2

New Miniature and Small Hostas for 2014, Part 1

New Mice for 2014

2013 New Miniature and Small Hostas

Miniature (& Small) Hostas

I LOVE Mice

Beyond Mice

Hostas Containers and Companions

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Carolyn

Nursery Happenings: The 2014 Miniature Hosta Availability for mail order and pick up at the nursery is here.   Our next open hours are Saturday, May 31, from 10 am to 2 pm.  Our final big spring sale, featuring miniature hostas and summer and fall blooming shade plants is Saturday, June 7, from 10 am to 3 pm.  Customers on our list have gotten an email with all the details.  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.

If you are within visiting distance and would like to receive catalogues and information about customer events, please send your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net. Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information.

Facebook: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has a Facebook Page where I post single photos, garden tips, and other information that doesn’t fit into a blog post. You can look at my Facebook page here or click the Like button on my right sidebar here.

Notes: Every word that appears in orange on my blog is a link that you can click for more information. If you want to return to my blog’s homepage to access the sidebar information (catalogues, previous articles, etc.) or to subscribe to my blog, just click here.

New Mice for 2014

Posted in container gardening, containers for shade, hosta, miniature hosta with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 5, 2014 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

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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Mouse Ears HostasClockwise 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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Hosta 'Sunny Mouse Ears'‘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'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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Hosta 'Ruffled Mouse Ears'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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Hosta 'Mouse Cheese'‘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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Hosta 'Church Mouse'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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Hosta 'Church Mouse'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

Miniature (& Small) Hostas

I LOVE Mice

Beyond Mice

Hostas Containers and Companions

.

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.

If you are within visiting distance and would like to receive catalogues and information about customer events, please send your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net. Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information.

Facebook: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has a Facebook Page where I post single photos, garden tips, and other information that doesn’t fit into a blog post. You can look at my Facebook page here or click the Like button on my right sidebar here.

Notes: Every word that appears in orange on my blog is a link that you can click for more information. If you want to return to my blog’s homepage to access the sidebar information (catalogues, previous articles, etc.) or to subscribe to my blog, just click here.