HostasDirect Insider: Retail Opens Friday, 2009 New Hostas, Shipping

"The Insider" Newsletter

Retail Site opens Friday, May 8

Special 1st Weekend Hours

Fri May 8: 8am-8pm
Sat May 9: 8am-7pm
Sun May 10: 11am-5pm

2009 Regular Hours

Thurs-Fri: 11am-7pm
Saturday: 9am-4pm

Our retail site is located across from the southeast corner of the Minnesota State Fair on Como Avenue, just 100 yards west of Snelling. All of the Starter TC (same as Best Value TC) will be available for sale, as well as IDeal Garden Markers, garden tools, and apparel. There will also be the brand new, Hostapedia book on display!

New hosta! Gentle Giant!

We just added a spectacular hosta, H. ‘Gentle Giant.’ I believe there is only one place you can buy it, and that is as a division for $74. We are offering it as "Starter TC" for only $25.95. A mature clump measured 46" tall by 68" wide. The registered leaf size is 13" x 12" wide when mature. It grows similar to H. 'Sagae,' with an upright and vase-shaped form. It is intensely blue with light rippled edges, deeply cupped and moderately corrugated leaves. Good substance and for a blue hosta, amazing sun tolerance – even in the south!

Winners of our Minneapolis Home and Garden Show drawing

Congratulations to the five winners of $100 worth of hostas! To protect privacy, we have included a portion of the winning email addresses below. Please email us to claim your prize!

It was fun to meet everyone and hope to see you again. We hope to work other trade shows around the country next year. Please let us know if you have suggestions.

brak...@mchsi.com
nklinker....@comcast.net
tomdarl....@aol.com
huemme...@gmail.com
TGJennek...@charter.net

New website will be launched in the coming weeks

We have been working long, long hours growing plants, getting ready to ship, and fine-tuning our new website before its launch at the end of the month. Thanks to the hard work of our superb webmaster, Joseph Husby, and his assistants Chris Alexander, Laura Nelson, and myself, this new site will offer many advantages!

New varieties in 2009!!!

View all the new in 2009 hostas!

Aphrodite
Cat and Mouse
Fantasty Island
Gentle Giant
Limey Lisa
My Claire
Ocean Isle
Peanut
Pineapple Upsidedown Cake
Prairie Sky
The Razor’s Edge
Red Hot Poker
Remember Me
Sandhill Crane
Tiny Tears

Mother’s Day is May 10th!!!

Gift certificates, hostas, garden tools or hosta apparel all make wonderful gifts! Due to the lateness of the hour, though, we cannot guarantee delivery by Mother's Day. We will, however, try to get the orders out as soon as we can, which will be in the next week or 2 for any orders that do not contain Division or 3.5" pot hostas.

We will begin shipping this week

By next week we should be caught up on most orders without divisions. We had a longer winter, and a colder and cloudier spring than usual, which has delayed the shipping schedule. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Next year will do some things different.

The new Hostapedia book by Mark Zillis

I have my own copy and it is fabulous! Mark spoke at the Minnesota Hosta Society last month and it was fascinating to learn about all of the work he put into his book. The book has data on 7,200 hostas and features beautiful photographs with accurate color. My hat is off to Mark! You can purchase it on our website.

Our E-Newsletter

We have several hundred new readers this issue. I try to keep the letter succinct but it is not easy as I am trying to cater to a wide variety of hosta lovers. I do know that people are busy, so I try to keep the business information at the top and the less pertinent information at the bottom.

We now have people visiting our web site from 101 countries! I even spoke with a customer stationed in Iraq recently. She will be home for two weeks and hopes to plant her hostas. "B.," thanks for your service to our country, your business and your call!

We appreciate your business and positive word-of-mouth.

I hope you enjoy watching your hostas pop out of the ground and grow as much as I do. One of the highlights of my day is seeing a greenhouse full of Starter TC that have grown from the previous day! They all have different structures, forms, colors and more, even when they are only one inch tall.