Green & Gold Hosta Society
of Northeastern Wisconsin
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Chit Chats
First Chit Chat and Plant Sale will be at Kyle Gigot's in Ashwaubenon. Member's only plant sale starts at 4 PM.
June 4, 2026. 6-8 PM.
When Mary Beth and I bought our home in 1987 it had a bent grass lawn (replaced with bluegrass and dandelions) and a dozen or so assorted trees. The lone mountain ash, an undistinguished apple, a row of arborvitaes, three white pines, a black spruce, a messy Norway maple, and a diseased blue spruce have been taken out. One spruce, two white pines, a red maple, a black cherry and a birch remain. I’ve added an ash that is treated semi-annually, a magnolia that now rises above our second floor and a curly willow that I pollard each April. Some of you have taken willow trimmings as part of the “garden white elephant” drawing at the annual meeting.
The lawn along the fence, on the north side of the house and under the trees has been replaced by a collection of hostas, most of which are labelled (unfortunately not all correctly) and shade tolerant perennials. The sunny areas have roses, peonies and the types of spring bulbs that are distasteful to bunnies. I’ve also got spring ephemerals, mainly Virginia bluebells, Dutchman’s breeches and trilliums that I rescued from being bulldozed and have been adding pollinator friendly plants so there will be bees and possibly butterflies.
The backyard has paver paths leading to the stone patio that replaced the wooden deck that some of you may remember. The patio will be decorated with planters of annuals.
My vegetable garden features a hop trellis that provides privacy and the opportunity to homebrew beer.
I look forward to sharing my garden with everyone.
Second Chit Chat will be at Gina Burgert in Neenah.
July 16, 2026. 6-8 PM.
We purchased our house 21 years ago and the only landscaping we had were 2 small islands in the front with some trees and over-grown bushes. My first objective was to put in a Koi Pond. That was a yearlong project since I did most of the work myself. I put in a few heuchera and hosta to landscape around the pond. Then my friend Jen dragged me to the 2017 convention in Indianapolis. That’s when I became addicted to hostas! Touring all the beautiful gardens gave me a ton of inspiration. When I got home, I started ripping out bushes and putting hostas in every shady spot. Fast forward 20 years and half of my 2-acre yard is now gardens. Over 1000 variety of hosta fill my yard along with many other shade perennials. On the south side are 3 sunny beds which consist of about 400 varieties of daylily. The gardens are scattered with glass and metal garden art. My other passion that gets me through the winter is indoor plants. I have a very large collection which mainly consists of Euphorbia, Aloe and Agave. The majority of these get moved outside for the summer onto my patio.
Third and final Chit Chat will be at Jill & Scott Reuss in Wausaukee.
Aug. 8, 2026 3-8 PM
Scott and Jill have both been involved with farming and gardening their entire lives. Scott has been a UW-Extension Agent for 30 years helping farms, fruit growers and gardeners. Jill has a long list of greenhouses and landscape businesses she worked for with a lot of experience with perennial gardening. We have lived on our 7-acre property for 11 years. We have a good deal of full sun to shade perennial gardens on one half of the property and a wooded area, chickens, ducks and rabbits, fruit trees and vegetable garden on the other half. Our gardens still have a lot of color at the time of the Chit Chat, and our hosta still look really good in August. Unfortunately, the horrible winter of 2025 stunted many plants but they are recovering nicely.
Visit us on Facebook or our website, concordiaplants1.com. Updates will be ongoing for the next several weeks with new plants we have to offer this year. If people are interested in buying plants, that is fine. We will have help to get orders ready for the day you are all coming.
We look forward to the Green and Gold Hosta Association coming.
Note extended Chit Chat hours.