All About Hostas
Looking for a tough yet beautiful, easy to care for, lush perennial… then look no further than hostas as your garden staple!
The Facts:
Hostas are a leafy perennial that come in a wide variety of colors, textures, shapes and sizes! They are an excellent choice for patios, borders, rock gardens, and containers! Hostas range in color from bright greens to cooler blues, with smooth to more rigid textured, narrow to heart shaped leaves. Most varieties tend to grow between 1 to 3 feet tall as well as extend 1 to 3 feet wide. Mainly known for their fun and bright leafy foliage, hostas also produce long stems topped with light colored flowers from early summer to early fall. Expect to see pollinators such as bees and hummingbirds after they bloom.
Our Favorites:
While the variety of hostas is vast, we’re going to focus on a few of our favorites that we carry and love! To check our stock before you come out and shop, click on the following link to see our current inventory catalog: https://shop.thegoodearthgarden.com/departments/hosta
Guacamole Hosta
Named fondly for its resemblance to a sliced avocado, the Guacamole hosta has large textured, bright neon green leaves with accents of a darker green touching the edges. While no hosta should be planted in direct sunlight (especially with our Arkansas summers), what makes the Guacamole hosta so desirable by many gardeners is that it can withstand more sun, up to 4 hours a day, and hotter temperatures. The Guacamole hosta adds a pop of color to your beds without much fuss. We keep this variety well stocked in 1 and 3 gallon sizes.
Blue Angel Hosta
Also known as the “Plantation Lily”, the Blue Angel hosta is beloved by gardeners everywhere for its lush look! This variety grows very large dark green-blue toned, ridged leaves and long-lasting funnel shaped, pale white flowers. The Blue Angel is great for mixing with other perennials in shadier beds, as its heavily textured, oval to wedge shaped leaves are great background coverage. Fully grown, the foliage can reach roughly 3 feet in height and 5 feet wide, making it an inexpensive investment to cover larger areas of your garden. The Blue Angel hosta is a recipient of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society, and a very popular one for us too! We carry this variety in 1 and 3 gallon sizes.
The Care:
When first planting your hostas:
- Pick a location that receives partial sun to shade.
- When planting potted hostas, plant at the soil level of the original pot. Make sure to plant in fertile and moist, yet well drained soil.
- Add a balanced, slow release fertilizer when planting. Good Earth’s professional grade plant food, Jump Start, is an excellent choice for this.
Maintenance:
- Keep the soil moist, but not soaked. Hostas are drought resistant and fairly forgiving of the forgetful gardener, but will thrive better when properly watered on a regular basis.
- Add mulch around your beds to help retain moisture.
- Remove flower stalks after their blooming period to promote new foliage growth.
- Cut back your hostas after the first or second frost, typically late fall, in order to prevent slugs and fungus from appearing due to mushy and dead leaves.