Who enjoys growing HOSTAS?

[thefed]

Can I see some pics of your hostas? I've grown fond of these hardy plants and just took a tour of a Hosta farm...very beautiful...some small...some 7 ft widex 3ft high!! Some green, some blue, some yellow, some variegated....

unfortunately i also spent $150 while i was there on a plant that's always been given to me for free because they grow and spread so well...

 

[FinanceDude]

I'm having some landscaping put in in two weeks, and we have some variegated ones put in with blue leaves, will post pics when they are in......

 

[thefed]

sounds good.

i figured with all these old fogies hangin' around there's be more gardening talk!

 

[Goonie]

I have quite a few hostas in our landscape, and I was going to post some pics earlier, but couldn't find any decent pics to post. I'll try to get out tomorrow with the camera and get some shots.

I have all green, green with white/cream edges, green with white/cream stripes, blueish-green, yellow-green, and probably some that I can't remember off hand. Most of them are what I'd consider mid-size hostas, though I have some very small ones, and a couple that are fairly good sized but not gigantic.

I love 'em because they need so little care or attention once they get established. They normally look good from the time they poke out of the ground, until the croak for the winter. They can be divided.....or not. If you divide them, you have 'free' hostas to plant.....or give away...or exchange with someone for one they have that you don't!!!

I've got about 8 of them planted around our oak tree, and interspersed in and amongst them, I have red dianthus growing. The hostas provide a lush background for the abundant 1"-1.5" bright red dianthus flowers in that part-shade area!!!

 

[thefed]

does the dianthus come back? or is it an annual?

 

[UncleHoney]

Hey Fed

I'll take some pictures tomorrow of some hostas, a little dark tonight.

Got plenty of them tucked in around the yard. I've been splitting and moving a few the past week.

Got a couple of real monsters, sieboldiana 'elegans' and sieboldiana 'Francis Williams' are real treats.

Ever been here?

Wade and Gatton Nursery

 

[Goonie]

does the dianthus come back? or is it an annual?

They're said to be an annual, but mine have been coming back year after year. Each year they spread a little...not much and certainly far from being invasive. And each year they're quite a bit fuller. They can take full sun to part shade, and they're not water hogs. After the first year, once the roots grow deeper, they can stand a little dryness. If they wilt, water 'em and they pop right back to attention. Also, they don't have too many pests that bother them.

The dianthus I plant are the annual ones that usually come in the little 4 or 6 packs. I've tried growing the perennial variety but not with much success. And the really nice thing is that the annuals are a lot cheaper to buy than the perennial variety! The flowers are pretty much flat, about 5 or 6 petals, and the edges are a little toothed or serrated. They come in everything from white to bright red....and everything in between, like white centers with red or pink edges, and red or pink centers with white edges.

If they start looking a bit ragged and worn, you can shear them back about half way, and they'll put on another show of color......from mid to late spring until at least the first hard frost.

Besides 'dianthus' they are sometimes referred to as 'pinks' or 'garden pinks'. They're also quite happy in containers, and they'll come back year after year in those containers!

 

[cashbalancetrouble]

Hostas and a little Friend

The hostas I have are great for filling a large garden and keeping work to a minimum. Each spring I am amazed how they seemingly come from nowhere so quickly. I am able to split them now every 2 or 3 years. I am up to approximately 60 aroung the yard. One morning I looked out the window to find a new fawn hiding in them

 

[Khan]

One morning I looked out the window to find a new fawn hiding in them

An outdoor Bed & Breakfast.

 

[Kronk]

Stupid things are like weeds. I once tried to get rid of some with Roundup. Didn't work.

Of course, I don't try very hard. I avoid landscaping types of chores more than any other kind of household chore. As a result, our yard looks like crap.

 

[Bestwifeever]

The hostas I have are great for filling a large garden and keeping work to a minimum. Each spring I am amazed how they seemingly come from nowhere so quickly. I am able to split them now every 2 or 3 years. I am up to approximately 60 aroung the yard. One morning I looked out the window to find a new fawn hiding in them

That photo of the fawn hiding in the hostas is adorable.

 

[Orchidflower]

Last year our hostas looked very puny due to way too much rain the year before, so I put gobs of epson salts around them to put nitrogen in the soil. They looked somewhat healthier then, and started to grow back.
This year they are so large, I'm on the verge of splitting them! Next year I will have no choice but to do that.
Epson salt works for my indoor plants, too. I learned that trick from two old ladies once, and it works. Just passing it on to those who might be interested.

 

[haha]

Last year our hostas looked very puny due to way too much rain the year before, so I put gobs of epson salts around them to put nitrogen in the soil. They looked somewhat healthier then, and started to grow back.
This year they are so large, I'm on the verge of splitting them! Next year I will have no choice but to do that.
Epson salt works for my indoor plants, too. I learned that trick from two old ladies once, and it works. Just passing it on to those who might be interested.

While I am sure it works as you say, it is not likely due to epsom salts putting nitrogen in the soil. Epsom salts is magnesium sulfate. Plants need Mg too- I suppose they might tend to get deficient?

Magnesium sulfate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ha

 

[rocketdog]

Man, am I jealous! Hostas are slug candy here in Portland OR. If I want to grow them, I have to surround them with moats of beer or slug bait. I end up with disgusting dead slugs festering in beer or curled in pools if slime due to the slug bait. Ugh.
Once the weather gets drier, the slugs take a holiday, and the hostas take off and look beautiful. But first they have to survive the slugs.
rocketdog

 

[UncleHoney]

Some pictures.

The top right picture is sieboldiana 'elegans', one of the ones that gets huge. This year it's not so big cause I divided it and got the two in the bottom right picture.

 

[UncleHoney]

Man, am I jealous! Hostas are slug candy here in Portland OR. If I want to grow them, I have to surround them with moats of beer or slug bait. I end up with disgusting dead slugs festering in beer or curled in pools if slime due to the slug bait. Ugh.
Once the weather gets drier, the slugs take a holiday, and the hostas take off and look beautiful. But first they have to survive the slugs.
rocketdog

We get slugs in Ohio too. Deadline slug stuff stops them in their [-]tracks[/-] slime trails.

 

[unclemick]

Love to blame it on the slugs - but I think it's me, da gardener. Separated a root bound bed near the back patio(unknown age) and replanted this spring various places around the back and front yard with decidedly mixed results.

I think I croaked about half of them.

heh heh heh - . I think maybe I should take up kayaks - or fishing. I hear the Pats have a good football team.

 

[Achiever51]

OK, you hosta mastas out there....I need your advice.

A neighbor of mine has the most beautiful hostas I've ever seen outside of a botanical garden. Lots of different varieties that all came up a lot earlier than anyone else's in the 'hood (I noticed this from walking the dogs twice a day.) And now, in early June, all of them are HUGE -- where my hostas are just starting to develop their shapes.

So, one day while I'm out with the dogs, I ask my neighbor what's his secret to growing these spectacular hostas. Do you use compost? Special fertilizer? ?? His answer was "no, nothing special, we just let them come up and occasionally divide them."

I think he's holding out on me. What IS the secret to growing beautiful hostas? Please share....

 

[brewer12345]

Man, am I jealous! Hostas are slug candy here in Portland OR. If I want to grow them, I have to surround them with moats of beer or slug bait. I end up with disgusting dead slugs festering in beer or curled in pools if slime due to the slug bait. Ugh.

Heh, you just need a "helper" like my friend's dog: If they didn't watch carefully, the dog would trot over to the pans, eat the dead slugs and drink the stale beer.

 

[UncleHoney]

OK, you hosta mastas out there....I need your advice.

A neighbor of mine has the most beautiful hostas I've ever seen outside of a botanical garden. Lots of different varieties that all came up a lot earlier than anyone else's in the 'hood (I noticed this from walking the dogs twice a day.) And now, in early June, all of them are HUGE -- where my hostas are just starting to develop their shapes.

So, one day while I'm out with the dogs, I ask my neighbor what's his secret to growing these spectacular hostas. Do you use compost? Special fertilizer? ?? His answer was "no, nothing special, we just let them come up and occasionally divide them."

I think he's holding out on me. What IS the secret to growing beautiful hostas? Please share....

I don't do anything special most of the time when I plant them. I do add compost if the soil really gunky clay. Hostas like a lot of moisture and don't do well in dry soils.

Could be the variety of hostas the guy is growing that makes the real difference. I have a few that will grow into monsters and some that are only a few inches tall. Hosta sieboldiana 'elegans' is one that grows to monster portions and has nice dusty blue-green leaves.

 

[rocketdog]

Heh, you just need a "helper" like my friend's dog: If they didn't watch carefully, the dog would trot over to the pans, eat the dead slugs and drink the stale beer.

Hmmm.. that's an idea. Maybe I can train our dog?

 

[Goonie]

Can I see some pics of your hostas?

I have quite a few hostas in our landscape, and I was going to post some pics earlier, but couldn't find any decent pics to post. I'll try to get out tomorrow with the camera and get some shots.

I've got about 8 of them planted around our oak tree, and interspersed in and amongst them, I have red dianthus growing. The hostas provide a lush background for the abundant 1"-1.5" bright red dianthus flowers in that part-shade area!!!

I finally did get around to taking some pix a couple of weeks ago, and finally downloaded the camera the other night so here's a picture of one of my small hosta beds around our oak tree, with the red dianthus. The hostas have grown and filled in a little bit more since this picture was taken, and the first flush of dianthus blooms have faded and I trimmed them back about 1/3 to 1/2, and they're starting to get new buds on them.....they'll bloom off & on until after our 1st hard frost. Also the hostas are beginning to bloom now too.

 

[Bram]

Here are some of my hosta, along with a lurking critter:

 

[OldGuy]

Believe me, I had nothing to do with the nurturing of these. In the fall, DW the gardener cuts them back, and the sn*w covers them until spring, when they just get stronger every year: