Loved for their lush foliage and fragrant flowers, hostas have a special place in gardens all over. These shade loving perennials come in different leaf shapes, size and color. They are ‘plant and forget’ type of low maintenance plants.  They came to Europe in 1700s from Far East and today there are more than 2500 varieties to choose from.

Colors of their foliage range from blue to yellow to creamy white.

Even though they are shade lovers, they do need sunlight. But in direct sunlight they don’t do well. So feel free to plant them under the trees or along the fence. They will thrive regardless.

Dig a deep hole, enrich with organic matter and plant them. Do it once and forget. They will take care of themselves.

Drainage is important. Do not let them sit in the water, otherwise crown will rot.

They are perennials even in the coldest places. They are hardy upto zone 3.

In a few years, they reach their full potential and grow to their maximum. So leave a lot of space in between them, so they will grow to their full size. Some are a few feet across wide.

Once they reach their full size, in spring or fall, divide them and sell… like us.

How to divide Hostas

Dig the whole plant with shovel and take it out.

Water the crown and remove the soil.

Now it is easy to cut through the crown.

Do not try to split with hand. You will damage many plants. Use our Rebel Samurai Pro Hori Hori knife to cut them. Each plant should have a few roots. That’s all.

You can pot them and leave through the winter. They will come back in spring.

Put them on your driveway for sale in summer, not in spring. They will fly off fast.

Why? People can see the full size hostas in your front yard and buy your pot.

In spring, you are competing with the garden stores that sell cheap.

Or plant somewhere else in the garden.

Pests

You may find deer and rabbits loving the leaves of hostas. So take preventive measures to deter them.

Then snails and slugs love to make holes in the leaves and make them unsightly.

Other than them, not much to worry.

Pruning/Trimming hostas

It is not necessary to prune them. but do clean the unsightly damaged leaves for better look.

Once the flowers are dead, trim the thick long flower stems.

(Hey! We are selling great pruners, by the way!)

 

 

Flowers

In the summer, you will have flowers. Some of the varieties have fragrant flowers, that smell like Jasmine.

Bees love them.

You can let them go to seeds. You might get new varieties with cross pollination.

 

 

Fall Care for Hostas

In the fall, you will get lovely yellow foliage. Enjoy them.

After the first frost, cut them to ground level and compost the leaves.

Come spring, they come back to life vigorously.

You can mulch them to prevent weeds.

But heed the warning from the recovered addicts!

Loving hostas can become quite addictive and make you a collector who will go to any length to get strange looking hostas.

There are so many varieties to choose from. Once you are hooked, it is hard to go back.

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