We are offering our best new varieties and sales prices – EVER. The hosta freak, me, ordered to many! Please forward this on to your friends, family, and coworkers and suggest they sign up for the newsletter!
For our hundreds of new readers, welcome! By receiving our HostasDirect Insider newsletter, you, our loyal customers and newsletter readers, get a 3 “head start” on the general public. You will be the first to learn about sales and new hostas that may sell out within hours!
More sales mean more for YOU!
One of our greatest expenses is advertising. With more sales and less advertising, I can afford more hosta varieties, add more workers, take more pics and videos, update our database, and ship orders earlier in the spring. If you know of garden clubs, nonprofits, churches, schools, business owners you can refer to us, it is always greatly appreciated! If you need more business cards to pass out, please email us.
Two job openings
If you live within a few miles of us (Roseville, MN) and are interested in working on an as-needed basis, please send us your résumé.
Customer Service Manager Duties
Oversee order planning, packaging, and shipping operations.
Evaluate inventory reports and coordinate ordering.
Answer customer service questions (can be done from home).
Arrange or bring plant and garden marker packages to regional Priority Mail processing site 2 miles away.
Qualifications
Good knowledge of hostas and gardening experience.
Computer, organizational and management skills.
Attention to detail.
Hours
Hours will depend upon business growth. Responsibilities will include both companies - HostasDirect and IDeal Garden Markers.
Our busiest time is from early March until mid-October. We ship on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and sometimes Thursdays.
Customer service can be via linked computers to your home year-round.
Flexibility in hours as long as the work gets done in a timely fashion.
Plant Specialist
Duties
Watering and fertilizing all hostas – retail site and field grown.
Weeding – do work yourself or hire people to weed and then manage them.
Arrange hostas in greenhouse for optimum growth and best display.
Plant new hosta varieties.
Make display gardens attractive and maintain them.
Winterize hostas in the fall.
Possibly work at our retail site.
Possibly participate in hosta photo shooting and videos.
Qualifications
Experience with growing hostas and gardening experience.
Attention to detail.
People skills.
Hours
Seasonal position. Could possibly begin earlier, but likely will start around the 3rd week of April and end in mid-October.
Hours will depend upon rainfall, weed growth, etc.
I grow the Starter TC in a greenhouse with 75% shade cloth so they do not get bleached, burnt or grow too quickly, which can result in weaker plants and "stretching" of the petioles. The hostas you receive will generally begin growing quickly, depending on your conditions.
Stop fertilizing your hostas at the end of July so that they can begin slowing down for winter.
Hostas need to adjust to more sun
Hosta leaves are like human skin. They need to be acclimated to the sun slowly as they have been grown in 75% shade cloth. Please read your planting instructions enclosed with your order.
No lightning equals no nitrogen fixation!
Have you ever noticed how green everything is after a good lightning storm? Lightning causes oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere to chemically react to combine and form nitrogen oxide, a key ingredient in many fertilizers! We have had a lack of thunderstorms this year in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Don’t worry, we feed our Starter and Advanced Starter hostas every day!
Covering hostas
We strongly recommend covering your hostas the first winter, after the ground has frozen. Place loose leaves, leaves in a garbage bag, or straw over the plants in a way so they won’t blow away. You are trying to prevent the plants from variances in temperatures and from drying out from wind. There could be a warm spell in the spring which causes perennials to start growing, but a cold snap often follows, which damages or kills the plants. Keep them covered until you are very sure there will be no more freezes!
Hosta identification tip:
When searching through our HostaSearch database, it is helpful to have the vein count of the hosta you are trying to identify. When counting, do not count the center vein or the very outer edge. Hold the hosta leaf up to sunlight or a light to get better definition of the individual veins. Although this method is not 100% accurate, it is very good!
HUGE SALE!
328 varieties of all hosta maturities on sale! I found good-sized clumps of additional hostas from my private collection that I am also offering for sale.
Want to quickly see what's for sale? Check out our price list.
If you are concerned about ordering hostas this late in the season, please review our planting instructions.
Top 5 hosta nursery in the U.S.!
HostasDirect, Inc. was recently chosen as a “top 5 hosta nursery in the U.S.” by Dave’s Garden readers. Thanks to all of you that commented - I forward all of them to our hardworking staff. Feel free to add more comments on Dave’s Garden. Here is how you can do it.
We offer the newest hostas on the market at least a year earlier than most nurseries by selling them to you as Starter TC! We give you the opportunity to enjoy watching our good-sized Starter TC grow and save money! With the current economy, I am done ordering hostas for the year. When they're gone, they're gone for 2009! I have these pictured in limited supply.
Maybe the most interesting hosta I have ever seen! We only have one picture, but you can find 7 more by searching for ‘Justice’ at www.hostalibrary.org. where the leaves are streaked green and white. It is a streaked sport of H. nigrescens Eliator, one of my favorite vase-shaped hostas that we also sell. Famous hosta expert Mark Zillis says that ‘Justice’ “can only be viewed with awe.”
Possibly the largest hosta ever! Said to tower 4.5’ tall and 5’ to 6’+ wide! Huge (about 1.5’ feet long), thick dark-green deeply impressed veined leaves form strong upright mound habit. Showy pale reddish violet flowers in early mid-summer. See pictures on www.hostalibrary.org
Laura Nelson has been named Marketing Manager. She worked for HostasDirect last summer. She graduated from University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management with a marketing major in May. She will be in charge of marketing both HostasDirect and IDealGardenMarkers. You will find Laura working in our retail site occasionally learning customer’s needs and helping people with their hosta selections.
Christopher Alexander is working for us part-time this summer and was accepted into the Honors Program at William Mitchell College of Law in the fall. He hopes to become a patent attorney in 3 to 4 years. Chris is a man of many talents; very bright and hard working. I know he will make a very good patent attorney.
Joseph Husby is our Vice President of Operations. He will be a junior in the honors program for the Institute of Technology school at the University of Minnesota. Wait until you see his new website coming soon!
When Leaving Phone Messages
Please speak slowly and clearly when leaving a message and repeat your name and phone number. If we can’t understand you, we can’t call you back!
When Submitting Photos
When submitting photos, please ATTACH the photos with your e-mail. If you have questions please send an e-mail so we can help you. We are always looking for more quality photos!
To certain individuals
I met in the past year:
To the sweet woman who I believe was from La Crosse, WI, that brought me a hosta to identify last year, I am sorry but I lost your phone number. The hosta was H. undulata medio variegata.
To the nice couple from the Mankato area that is involved with the MN Hot Rod Association, please contact me!
On behalf of my workers and myself, thanks very much for your business and telling your friends about our company!
Tom Carlson, President
HostasDirect, Inc.
P.S. We greatly appreciate any hosta photos you can offer including clumps, leaves, blooms, gardens, containers and others. Garden photos also welcome! Thanks again!
