The Hosta Gardener
by Tom Micheletti

ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED: 1995 Spring

In 1994, the Hosta became the number one selling perennial in the United States. It's no wonder, because few other perennials offer so much season-long interest for the shady to partly-shady border. Their boldly-colored and textured foliage, their shapes, sizes, and fragrances all add to their usefulness in landscape design. While some people don't care for Hosta's typically lavender flowers and cut them off, no one would dare cut off the fragrant white, 5" flowers borne by H. plantaginea, a species from China also known as the August Lily. New Hosta coming on the market today are being bred for flowers as well as foliage -- there are now even double-flowered Hosta!

Contrary to popular belief, Hosta do not do well in deep shade. They may tolerate it, but they will not flourish in deep shade. They generally desire about a half-day of sun, preferably morning sun rather than hot afternoon light.

Hosta want the soil which so few of us have: rich, moisture-retentive and well-drained. Keep adding organic matter! They also appreciate ample amounts of water, but do not like to have water standing around their roots for any length of time. To keep the foliage looking its best, I recommend an application of 10-10-10 fertilizer in early spring as the plants emerge, and once more in early summer. That's it. Don't be heavy-handed or you'll burn these plants.

Hosta increase slowly every year by putting out more divisions. You can divide your hosta at any time, but early spring is the best time since you can easily distinguish the divisions and little damage will be done to mature foliage. Moved in the spring, they'll have all summer to re-establish themselves.

Hosta suffer from very few pests, but slugs do love them. I'll be writing another TWG column soon on controlling slugs, but my favorite control for slugs (and cutworms too) is toads. A great predator!

I encourage you to join the American Hosta Society ($19; Robyn Duback, 7802 N.E. 63rd St., Vancouver, WA 98662). Closer to home, join the Northern Illinois Hosta Society. It's only $5/year! For that, we have 4 meetings with guest speakers, visit lots of gardens, have a plant auction, and produce a quarterly newsletter.

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