... and there are nine more hostas in Oak Hill Gardens! Such a fun adventure that took us all the way up to Swanville and Montville, Maine on Sunday. We were in search of a shade garden nursery called Fernwood that we had heard of from the people who own Plainview Farms. Rick Sawyer is the owner, a wonderful, knowledgable man with a very down-to-earth attitude about gardening and an amazing selection of hostas as well as other shade-loving plants. I envy his ability to distinguish varieties. He made sure the plants I bought were well tagged before I took them. We actually spent far more time just chit-chatting with him, as we were his only customer during the two hours we were there. He told us how he really isn't the best of businessmen as he gets much more joy selling his hosta to someone who buys a few they really love and have an interest in their characteristics as compared to the person with the landscaper that comes in to buy hundreds of dollars worth with no love of the plants themselves. He also opened my eyes to an idea which is right up my alley. Hosta theme gardens! The hosta cultivar often times bear very unusual names and apparently some hosta collectors take advantage of these names when planting. He told us of one such gardener who had a "Naughty Garden" planted with such varieties as "Striptease", "Hanky Panky", "Climax", etc. Although it would require some moving, looks like theme gardens such as this could definitely be in the forecast for Oak Hill.
We have yet another visitor at the Lodge! We hope he stays around for a long time. Drew and Vanessa got to hear him when last they visited. After hearing him again this weekend, we decided to try to discover what he was. Lucky for us, his song is VERY distinctive, so we didn't need Ranger Rick to figure out who our new friend was. Another wonderful sound to hear in the night! Check out this video to see and more importantly hear how lucky we are! 
