Your National Gardening Association weekly news for January 17, 2017

News from the gardening community

American Hosta Growers Association names 'Brother Stefan' as 2017 Hosta of the Year

The AHGA is pleased to announce Hosta ‘Brother Stefan’ as the 2017 Hosta of the Year. It was registered by Olga Petryszyn in 1998 with the American Hosta Society. Olga, aka 'The Hosta Lady' has been designated as one of the top ten hosta breeders in the United States. She is known for her "Americana Series" of hosta with names like 'Key West', 'Niagara Falls' and 'Continental Divide'. Olga is also known for letting her creations mature for ten years or so before releasing them.

Attention Vegetable Gardeners!

Did you know? We have an amazing Garden Planting Calendar at Garden.org. You just enter your zipcode and it will tell you all kinds of useful information about your vegetable garden. You'll learn when your expected last frost date is, and for each kind of vegetable it'll tell you when to start the seeds and when to transplant them into the ground. Check it out!

The podcast returns

Starting this coming week, our much-loved All Things Plants podcast, hosted by Dave and Trish, will once again resume broadcast on the site. Watch for the next episode later this week!

Articles you may enjoy:

Gardening Indoors with Houseplants

Cold-Hardy Clumping Bamboos

Grow and Enjoy Air Plants

Gardening for Birds

Let Us Grow Lettuce

Grow Your Own Jujube

Broccoli Growing Basics

A Gardening Idea from a Garden.org Member:

By kmspainhou January 11, 2017

Vertical Gardening Make my version of a "topsy-turvy" stack of pots with three materials you might have lying around in your basement. A favorite of bumblebees and butterflies, this vertical gardening idea is also great for areas with little space. Materials needed are one long metal vegetable stake, 4-7 clay pots of differing sizes, and a couple of cans of old spray paint. (99 words - Read the full article)

The most popular images last week from our plant database:

Photo of Tall Bearded Iris (Iris 'Cleared for Takeoff')
By SassyCat:

Photo of Dutch Iris (Iris x hollandica 'Eye of the Tiger')
By William:

Photo of Orchid Cactus (Disocactus 'Petra')
By Fleur569:

Photo of Hybrid Epiphyllum (Epiphyllum 'Clown')
By Hillsepicacti:

Photo of Brazilian Plume (Justicia carnea)
By Totally_Amazing:

Photo of Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Move Over')
By gardenfanaticinMO:

Photo of Begonia (Begonia crassicaulis)
By Fleur569:

Photo of Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa)
By dirtdorphins:

Photo of Anchomanes difformis
By RuuddeBlock:

Photo of Daylily (Hemerocallis 'Birthday Wishes')
By tgarden711:

The most popular Landscape Photos from last week:

Photo by Paul2032:

Photo by Paul2032:

Photo by Carolyn22:

Photo by Paul2032:

Photo by PeggyC:

Photo by Paul2032:

Photo by obliqua:

Photo by Ambrose:

Photo by plantladylin:

Noteworthy acorn tips given this week:

5 people gave for a photo of Dutch Iris (Iris x hollandica 'Eye of the Tiger') by William

3 people gave for post #1346759 in "My Season" by ARUBA1334

3 people gave for post #1350296 in "Banner for January 13, 2017 by dirtdorphins" by dirtdorphins

3 people gave for a photo of Dutch Iris (Iris x hollandica 'Eye of the Tiger') by William

2 people gave for post #1349836 in "Bird Photos, January 2017" by dirtdorphins

2 people gave for post #1349775 in "Saying goodbye to the love of my life." by Dragonkeep

2 people gave for the Landscape Photo #5700 by Paul2032

2 people gave for post #1349637 in "Banner for January 12, 2017 by Paul2032" by Paul2032

2 people gave for post #1351446 in "Banner for January 15, 2017 by sunnyvalley" by sunnyvalley

The most active threads this week:

Check out these numbers from last week:

• 712 members joined.
• 3,985 posts written in our forums.
• 872 photos posted to the plant database.
• 450 plants added to personal inventory lists.