HOSTA MATURITY
A hosta plant generally reaches full maturity in 4-8 years. Plants for
sale at our nursery are in the juvenile stage. They only show a small
view of what they will look like at maturity, compare it to when you
were a child to what you look like now. Maturity brings full leaf
size, corrugation, cupping, rippling and colour depending on the
variety. From my experiences in my own hosta garden I find that the
first years the hosta clump grows and gets larger and looks great;
then one year it matures and the plant takes on a whole new look.
Hosta 'Patriot' as an example the first few years was growing nicely
but I didn't see anything that great about the overall look of the
plant. Then one season it matured and it was stunning; the nice
upright, crisp look of green leaves with wide extra white margins. So
be patient your hostas will grow to surprise you.
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HOSTA ORIGINS
Hostas originated in Japan, China and Korea and either came from the
lowland areas or the mountain areas. They were first introduced to
Europe in the late 1700s and then came to North America in the middle
1800s.
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| HOSTAS IN THE
SPRING Depending on which species an individual hosta comes from
will determine when it surfaces in the spring. The hereditary genes of
the mountain hosta, because it came from a cold region tells it to
come up later than the hostas from the warmer lowland areas. The
hostas from the mountains were usually found growing on cliffs with
water cascading about them all the time. The hostas from the lowlands
were found in shade and part shade areas Hostas do not all come up at
the same time in the spring. They wait for the soil to warm up and are
programmed to come up a little later than other perennials so their
emerging leaves will avoid late frosts.
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SUN-SHADE
REQUIREMENTS Some hostas grow best in deep shade. Most grow best
in an exposure with some morning sun and afternoon shade. My garden
has ideal conditions; the 50 foot high popular trees with no leaves in
spring allow lots of sun for the early growth and when the hosta
leaves are opening the trees leaves are there to provide shade. The
trees shade the hostas from the sun but do not overhang the plants so
there is lots of daylight and air circulation.
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HOSTA COLOURS
Hosta leaves may be a solid colour such as blue, green, gold, or
yellow. The blue colour is actually a green leaf coated with a wax
that makes it appear blue; the wax will "melt" if exposed to
too much sun and the hosta will appear more green. The waxy blue
colour usually disappears or wears off by late summer because of heavy
watering, sun exposure or just general weathering. There are some
hostas that show seasonal foliar changes. Yellow changes to green or
visa versa. Variegated hostas of all combinations are very popular.
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| WATERING
Hostas love water and is important for optimal growth. A minimum of an
inch of water each week is recommended, and can come from rain,
irrigation or hand watering. Hostas in sandy soil may need more water
because of increased drainage. In general the greatest growth occurs
when water exceeds the minimum recommended rate. Watering hostas on a
regular basis early in the day is highly recommended. If hostas suffer
from drought they will not grow as large as they should and the
affects can even be seen the following year.
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FERTILIZER
Hostas do best in a well drained garden with lots of compost and rich
soil. There are several choices of fertilizer, including liquid,
granular and extended release granular. Be careful not to apply
fertilizer on top of or on the new growth, eyes or leaves of the
plant. A balanced granular fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 5-10-5 can
be applied early in the spring, followed by an application six weeks
later, followed by a midsummer application. Read the instructions for
application rates.
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PROPAGATION AND
DIVISION Hostas do not come true when started from seed. They can
be divided anytime but the best time is early in the spring when the
shoots are emerging from the soil. Dig up the entire clump, wash off
the excess earth from the roots and using a sharp heavy knife cut
between the shoots to divide. You can either cut in half or take off
single shoots with roots attached. If you need to divide later in the
season dig up the clump, just before dark is best, cut off the leaves
to 6 inches from the bottom and divide. Always make sure your newly
planted hostas get proper watering. Divide hostas only if you want
more hostas. If you think your hosta is too big it is because you have
not allowed enough room for growth. When you divide a hosta you lose
its maturity so be prepared to wait for full growth potential again.
Dividing and using the same variety of hosta is good for mass
plantings but to divide the same variety of hosta just to fill a
garden is losing the excitement and wonderful diversity of size and
colour that hostas produce. Until you've seen a hosta garden with
100-200 different varieties of hostas you will not fully understand
the addictive world- wide love that people have for hostas.
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| GROWING
HOSTAS IN THE SUN The hosta species originally grew in cool, wet
areas but when they migrated to other parts of the world, these
conditions did not always exist and hence shade became a good
substitute. Hostas expire a lot of water via their leaves. The hot
afternoon sun will tax their ability to supply sufficient water to the
leaf. Heat deteriorates the hosta leaf from the edges inwards.
Fragrant hostas require more sun to bloom well and can tolerate an
excessive amount of afternoon sun. Here are some tips for growing
hostas in full sun. Some are more light tolerant than others, see our
hosta list for sun tolerant hostas. Hostas with thin leaves do not do
well in the sun; thick-leafed hostas or hostas with a heavy substance
are better choices. Blue hostas will grow well in sun but tend to lose
their blue sheen. When you move hostas from a shady area like the
nursery or shade garden to a sunny location they will experience
burning for the first year. With age the hosta develops a light
tolerance. Mulching under the hosta will substantially reduce soil
moisture lose by evaporation. Try to create some shade from the
afternoon sun by using tall perennials or shrubs. Avoid planting
hostas where the glare from water, windows, rocks or bricks will
unnecessarily heat up the hosta. Watering is the most important factor
in successfully growing hostas in the sun. Try to avoid over-watering
the leaves; make sure the water gets into the roots. Water deeply as a
superficial watering is not beneficial to the hosta. Once a hosta
matures in full sun it produces many leaves. For May and June my sun
hostas suffer almost no burning and look great. When the heat of July
arrives some of the leaves start to experience burning around the
edges of some leaves; I then pick off the burnt leaves and the plant
looks clean again. Full sun will also change the natural colour of the
leaf, either turning a yellow leaf more yellow (good), or changing a
blue leaf to a greenish-yellow colour (not so good but still a very
attractive specimen plant). Some hostas actually look better in sun.
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HOSTAS IN
CONTAINERS Hostas look wonderful in large containers and are very
versatile. The pots can be placed on the deck, patio, around the pool,
along a walkway or in the garden with the rest of your plants. They
also can be strategically placed around the yard taking advantage of
any shade if you lack garden space. They only need regular watering
once or twice a week depending on weather and some fertilizing. To
winter over the container hostas ensure they have a good watering in
late fall and then at the end of October tip them on their side in the
garden. This prevents the water and ice buildup over winter that can
be fatal. Another winter-over method is to take the hosta out of the
pot in late October and heal it in anywhere in your garden. Hostas in
containers need to be repotted with fresh soil each spring. Do not
winter-over hostas or any plants in ceramic containers as the
container will crack.
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STREAKED HOSTAS
Streaked hostas have unstable colouration. Each leaf on a plant will
be different. Streaked hostas are very unstable and can try to revert
back to an all, one colour hosta. I recommend that if leaves do this
you dig up the clump and cut out the offending leaf with its root.
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| SLUGS AND
SNAILS Slugs and snails are nocturnal foragers and are the cause
of the holes in leaves. By beginning a program of slug-bait
application in the spring slugs can be controlled. A granular
fertilizer, such as 14-14-14, should be spread around the hostas in
early and late spring. The ring of fertilizer will act as a barrier to
slugs and fertilize your plants. When the slugs crawl through the
fertilizer, the salt (in the fertilizer) will kill them. Be careful
not to put fertilizer on the leaves. Apply even if you don't see slug
damage as the program will control the population. I recommend Safers
Slug and Snail Bait which is non-toxic to animals. It is a granular
product that is spread by hand under and around the plant. Other
methods of control, such as beer traps, have limited success. Slugs
will eat all hostas so there is no such thing as a "Slug
Resistant" hosta. They attack the thin leaved hostas first and
the thick leaved hostas last. One can say that if a thick leaved hosta
hasn't been eaten in a particular year then it is slug resistant, but
it only means your slug population isn't large enough to get to it
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