How To Grow And Care For Hostas

It's easy to understand how so many people can fall in love with the hosta plant. Not only do they provide lush foliage in gardens, but they are also easy to care for. This makes them a preferred, low-maintenance plant for beginners and more seasoned gardeners.

The genus belongs to the family Asparagaceae, or the asparagus family. Native to East Asia, there are as many as 22 species of hostas. These species of hosta and their selections interbreed so readily that myriad forms abound in a mind-boggling array of sizes and shapes. Rounded, heart-shaped, lance-shaped, or oval leaves can be blue, green, chartreuse, or golden with stripes of yellow, cream, or white running down the centers or hugging the edges. In summer they sport spikes of blue, purple, lavender, or white bell-shaped blossoms that may be highly fragrant. The clumps are slow-growing but some cultivars will gradually spread over time.

You can nearly always find easy-to-grow hostas in your local independent garden center or big-box store, and you should be able to look for the selections recommended here right in your community. You can easily scarf up some nice, quart-size plants at reasonable prices to plant any time during the growing season in spring and summer. Hostas can be planted in spring as soon as the soil can be worked until late summer or early fall at least 30 days before your first frost. Hostas are not toxic to humans but can be toxic to dogs, cats, and horses.

Plant Attributes

Hosta Care

Hostas thrive from Canada to the Gulf Coast (USDA Zones 3 through 9). The plants need cold temperatures in winter, during which they go dormant. You can plant sun-tolerant hostas like 'Royal Standard' as far south as northern Florida. Long-lived and easily cultivated, hostas will gradually spread into a beautiful ground cover when they are planted in well-drained, rich soil in dappled sunlight or shade.

Light

Hostas, also known as plantain lilies or by the Japanese name gibōshi, are simply great perennials for shady gardens in the South. The shade helps hostas preserve their color. Plant them in a spot with morning sun, dappled sunlight all day, or full shade. Blue-leaved varieties do best in full shade in the South.

Soil

Good soil is key. Plant hostas in moist, fertile, well-draining soil that contains plenty of organic matter and isn't choked by any competing roots from nearby trees and shrubs. Hostas can tolerate neutral soil, but prefer slightly acidic soil with a pH around 6.0. If your soil is very acidic or alkaline, use sulfur or lime to adjust the pH according to your extension office's instructions.

Hostas don't do well in heavy, compacted clay or soggy conditions. Amend your clay soil with organic matter like composted leaves or composted (not fresh) pine bark to improve aeration and drainage. Sandy soils can be improved with compost.

Water

Mulching around plants and adding organic material to the soil will help retain moisture. Water new plants regularly until they become established, checking if the top inch of soil is dry. The plants are moderately drought-tolerant once established, but look their best when they receive an inch of water a week between rainfall and hand-watering. They should be watered deeply once a week during long dry spells or drought, preferably at the base of the plants so the crowns don't get wet. If the weather is scorching hot as well, you can up the watering to twice a week.

Temperature And Humidity

Spring is the best time to plant hostas, but summer is fine too if you water regularly. Hostas need to go dormant in winter and experience a couple of months when temperatures dip below 40° F. They appreciate a cool, moist, woodland environment. Choose among varieties carefully, as some only perform well as far South as Zone 7. Many will do well in Zone 8, and there are also varieties for Zone 9, the Coastal South.

Fertilizer

Most of the time, adding a layer of compost each spring is all your plants need. If you want to promote the size and lushness of your plants, fertilize them in the spring (just after new growth begins) using an organic, granular, slow-release fertilizer such as Espoma Plant-tone. Feed hostas again when they are getting ready to bloom. Don't fertilize after July as the plants need to slow down and prepare for winter.

Types Of Hostas

• 'June': The golden leaves with blue-green edges reach 12 inches tall and clumps grow 24 to 30 inches wide. 'June' is more sun-tolerant than many hostas and has pale lavender flowers.
• 'Curly Fries': Long, thin, curly, chartreuse leaves grow in clumps 10 inches tall and 20 inches wide. The flowers are lavender.
• 'Stained Glass': Shiny gold leaves with dark green margins grow 18 inches high and the clumps to 3-4 feet wide. This variety has pale lavender flowers.
• 'Guacamole': This hosta has deeply veined, apple-green leaves with blue-green edges and grows to 1-2 feet tall and 2-4 feet wide. 'Guacamole' has fragrant white or pale lavender flowers.
• 'First Frost': This hosta has blue-green leaves with creamy edges that start out yellow and turn white over the course of the season. Clumps grow to 16 inches tall and 2 or 3 feet wide and have light lavender flowers.
• 'Drinking Gourd': Unique waxy, blue, quilted leaves are deeply cupped in this variety. 'Drinking Gourd' has white flowers and grows to 18 to 24 inches high and 2 to 3 feet wide.
• 'Blue Mouse Ears': This miniature has leaves that resemble its name and grows 8 to 12 inches tall and wide. It has lavender flowers.
• 'August Moon': Large, bright yellow or chartreuse, heart-shaped leaves are topped with pale lavender flowers. This variety grows about 20 inches tall and 3 feet wide.
• 'Empress Wu': This giant hosta can reach 5 feet tall and has bluish-green leaves that are 2 feet long. Plant this big beauty as a focal point.

Pruning

Hostas do not require pruning, other than cutting back dead flower stalks to keep your flower bed looking neat.

Propagating

New, prizewinning hosta selections from mail-order specialists can be pricey but don't sweat it. Within a couple of years, individual plants form nice-size clumps that you can divide into four or five plants, providing you with some freebies (unless the variety is patent-protected and cannot be propagated). Do this in the spring when plants send up clusters of spiky shoots or in fall before dormancy but when temperatures have cooled.

Lift the entire clump from the ground and shake the soil from the roots. Use a sharp knife or spade to cut completely between the shoots, leaving individual shoots in each clump with roots attached. Replant them all and water well. The divisions will need frequent watering while they are getting established.

How To Grow Hosta From Seed

Most gardeners don't bother growing hostas from seed as the resulting plants often revert to plain green and lose many of the interesting characteristics of the mother plant. Also, many varieties are sterile and don't produce seeds. But if your plants do develop seed pods in summer, you can easily start the seeds and see what the resulting plants look like. If you are looking for a winter project, you can start them indoors anywhere from December to February:

1. Collect the seed pods once they start to turn yellow and the seeds are mature (you should see black seeds inside the pods). Lay them out in a warm spot to dry and open up. If you are collecting from multiple varieties, you may want to keep the seeds separate and label the containers you put them in.
2. Fill small pots with seed-starting mix and moisten it. Remove the papery wings from the seeds. Plant four or five seeds in each container, barely covering them with soil.
3. Cover the containers with a clear dome or clear plastic and set in a warm space around 75° F. Keep the soil moist. Seedlings should emerge in 10-20 days.
4. Place containers in a spot indoors that receives some morning sun or under a grow light. Once the plants develop four or more leaves, you can decide which ones you want to keep and discard the others.
5. Move seedlings to containers with a nutrient-rich or compost-rich potting soil. If you delay this step, you'll need to lightly fertilize the plants since seed-starting mix does not contain nutrients.
6. Once all danger of frost has passed, harden off the plants over the course of a week outdoors. Then plant them in a suitable location.

A more hands-off approach is to do as nature does and leave the seeds outdoors over winter. You can sow the seeds in containers in fall and bury them in the ground so they are at soil level, then see what pops up in spring.

Potting And Repotting Hostas

Hostas look great in containers, especially the smaller varieties. Choose a pot that provides 2 or 3 inches of space between the root ball and the container wall on all sides. Make sure the container has drainage holes or add them if necessary. Use fresh, high-quality potting mix that contains compost. Plant so that the top of the root ball is at soil level, loosening the roots a little bit first. Cover the soil surface lightly with mulch and water well.

Hosta containers should be placed in an area with light shade. Water them when the top inch of soil is dry. After a few weeks, fertilize with a balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10, following package directions.

Your hosta has outgrown its pot when the roots start to emerge out of the bottom or it is difficult to keep the plant watered. When this happens, repot in a container that provides an extra 2 inches of space on all sides, using fresh potting mix. Alternatively, you can divide your hosta into two or more plants and replant them in multiple locations.

Companion Plants

Though a hosta plant can be beautiful by itself, it's even more stunning when accompanied by other plants that prefer similar growing conditions. Combine coarse, big-leaved hostas with perennials that offer narrow, long, or finely cut foliage, such as astilbes, ferns, wild columbines, and toad lilies.

To create color echoes in your garden, marry hostas with other plants that display yellow, chartreuse, or cream in their leaves—like variegated Solomon's seal, golden Japanese forest grass, 'Ogon' sweet flag, 'Evergold' and 'Everillo' Japanese sedge, and 'Mrs. Moon' lungwort. Some of hosta's other best buds include heucheras, hellebores, wild ginger, and lily-of-the-valley.

Overwintering

Hostas are very winter-hardy, usually down to Zone 3, and don't require special protection in the South. Adding a fresh layer of mulch or shredded leaves in fall can help to keep soil warmer during hard freezes.

Common Pests & Plant Diseases

Hosta leaves make a tasty salad for deer. They will eat to the ground all that they can find or leave leafless stems that look like celery stalks. Regularly applying deer repellent is the only defense. Surrounding hostas with plants that deer don't like to eat may help. Rabbits can also cause this type of damage on a smaller scale; use a barrier and/or rabbit repellant.

The other arch-foe is a mouselike critter called a vole. Voles munch through hosta stems at or just below the soil line, leaving wilted, dying leaves in their wake. Chemical vole repellent results aren't always reliable. Because voles like to hide under mulch and leaves to avoid predators while they feast, pull away all of the mulch, leaves, and other debris from around your hosta plants and hope for the best.

Slugs can be discouraged by sprinkling diatomaceous earth or sand around plants. Spray plants with insecticidal soap if other insects start feasting on the foliage.

Hostas occasionally get infected with anthracnose (dead brown spots or large brown areas on the margins of leaves). Dispose of affected leaves and improve spacing and air circulation around plants. With root or crown rot (yellowing, wilting leaves and stunted growth), you will need to dig up and throw out infected plants. The same goes for Southern blight, a fungus that can attack during warm, humid summers. Southern blight causes the base of stems to turn to mush and leaves to yellow and wilt.

How To Get Hostas To Bloom

Hostas are mostly grown for their attractive foliage, though the purple or white flower spikes can be pretty in summer. Some flowers also have a nice scent. Your hosta should bloom as long as it is grown in rich, well-draining soil and receives adequate water. If you have deer, do everything you can to protect the plants so they have a chance to bloom. Plants grown from seed will take a couple of years to start blooming.

Common Problems With Hostas

Hostas have relatively few problems aside from the pests that like to munch on leaves. Here are two problems to watch out for:

Torn Leaves

When tears appear in your hosta leaves, it's usually a sign of weather damage. A late frost can damage tender shoots, which open up to reveal long, jagged tears. Hail can also tear the leaves. You don't need to take any action here, unless you want to remove some of the worst damage for aesthetic reasons.

Bleached Or Scorched Leaves

Hosta leaves will bleach when exposed to too much sun. Bleached leaves can eventually turn brown and fall off. Browning around the margins of leaves is an indication of scorching. Move your hosta to a more sheltered location and keep an eye on soil moisture during dry spells, watering when the top inch of soil is dry.