A little bit of appreciation for a winner from way back

  This past august with a temporary lull in COVID numbers, we decided to take a driving trip to Gaspe Quebec to do a lot of good, socially distanced, outdoor activities. On the way we stopped in to visit one of my favourite gardens in the world, the Montreal Botanical Gardens. I always come away from there fully inspired about horticulture. There are lots of things to talk about but I think I would like to start with my observation of their mass planting of Hosta Royal Standard in the area of the Chinese Garden. First off I should mention that in a big sweeping landscape a mass planting can go a long way towards making a garden look like an authentic landscape - plants in the wild often grow in large colonies - not in little dribs and drabs.  The robust deep green and nicely bushy and upright growth of Royal Standard makes it well suited to this kind of display but more importantly I have to say that every year I am slightly taken aback by what a spectacular flowering plant this variety of Hosta is. The flowers are produced in abundance and they are bright clean white, held well above the foliage for best show but most significantly they also have the sweetest, though most subtle fragrance that you could hope for..... not cloying, not overwhelming - just life affirming. Every year hundreds of new Hosta cultivars come onto the market - always exciting and always expensive but all the novelty in the world will not change the fact that this old gem is a real winner.