by Connie Oswald Stofko
You don’t have to be a member of the Western New York Hosta Society to enter the show to be held this weekend at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens.
The show will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 9 at the Botanical Gardens, 2655 South Park Ave., Buffalo.
Admission is $11 for adults, $10 for seniors (ages 62 and older), $9 for students (ages 13 and older with ID), $6 for children ages 3 to 12 and free for Botanical Gardens members and children 2 and under.
The name of the show is “Woodstock: 50 Years of Peace, Love and ‘Paisley Print’.” The beginning of the title refers, of course, to the famous rock concert held in 1969. The last part of the title refers to ‘Lakeside Paisley Print’, which was selected as Hosta of the Year for 2019 by the American Hosta Growers Association.
For the Hosta of the Year, the association chooses hostas that are good garden plants in all regions of the country, are readily available and are inexpensive.
‘Lakeside Paisley Print’ has heart-shaped leaves with wavy edges. The creamy white markings create a feather pattern. The plant gets lavender flowers in mid-summer.
How to enter the hosta show
“Hostas are shown as single leaves, not whole plants,” said Mike Shadrack, president of the Western New York Hosta Society and author or photographer of several books on hostas.
That’s pretty easy. But here’s the hard part: You do have to know the name of your hosta plant. You can’t just use a pretty leaf from an anonymous plant for judging.
If you don’t know the name of your favorite hosta, you’re not alone. Even some members of the hosta society are stymied because they lost track of the names, Shadrack said.
If you do know the name of your hosta and want to enter, choose an unblemished leaf, cut it as far down the stem as you can, and put it in a vase of water. Take it to the Administration Building at the Botanical Gardens between 8:30 and 11:30 a.m. Saturday, June 8 and the organizers will give you more details.
If you aren’t planning to enter but would like to see how the leaves are classified for judging, you are also welcome to check out the set-up on Saturday, Shadrack said.
Then everyone must leave the area for judging, which begins at 1 p.m.
After judging, all of the exhibits will be moved to the main building where the public can view them on Sunday.