Hostas To Consider For Your Garden

 

   Hostas tolerate both sun and shade, but the colors of the leaves show best if they’re planted in shade.  Here in northern Kentucky in the full sun, the sun scorches the leaves in the heat of the summer.  My experience has been that the hostas do better in shade.  When you have a newly built home, shade is not always possible.

    There are three different varieties around the pond next to the patio, which you can see in the picture above from a year or so ago.  (You can also see the fish tower in the lower pond.  Click here► for the directions to make your own!  Yes, they actually swim up into the tower!)

 

   On one of our trips to visit Dave’s family in northern Wisconsin, we stopped at an antique shop close to Ladysmith.  The family had a couple of old buildings filled with all kinds of interesting things, but the path between the buildings and the house led to a backyard filled with monstrous hostas.  They circled around the trees and I can remember thinking what a beautiful picture they made.

 

   Until that day, I had not recognized the beauty of the humble hosta.  Since that day, I have had it in my mind to create a similar look!  Yes, they sure do have a beauty all their own.  While the lily-like blossoms are pretty, they are not the reason for planting hostas.  The beauty is definitely in the gorgeous leaves!

    After almost twenty years, we finally have some pretty good shade from the Red Maple and the Crabtree. Under the trees, I have tried to create a large ‘S’- shaped swirl of hostas.  Some of the plants under the trees have been rescued from other flower beds where the sun took a toll on the leaves.  It’s a work in progress.

 

   In retrospect, I wish I had planted the largest plants in the middle, planting a smaller variety on each side, then a smaller variety on each side of those, and continue that to the very smallest.  That would have created a swirl progressing from small to large and then back to small on the other end.  Why didn’t I think of that before?  

 

   One day, I might get industrious and actually transplant those hostas to do just that, but not today!  

    The Hosta ‘Albo-picta’ is a large sized plant growing 18-24″ tall and 24-36″ wide.  In the spring this hosta’s leaves are a bright cream color in the center and then in the summer, the cream turns a green color similar to the darker green of the edges.

 

    The Hosta ‘Aurea’ is a large sized hosta growing 18-24 inches tall and 12-24″ wide.  It grows best in part shade.  The pale lavender flowers bloom in late summer.  The bright glossy yellow variegated lance-shaped leaves of spring turn to chartreuse by mid-summer.  This little fellow was suffering in the sun where he was planted and he has been moved under the trees.  His leaves are looking better and by next year, he should be a larger and a better-looking plant.

   The name of this hosta is a mystery to me.  I have tried to record each plant after planting them in the garden, but somehow this one was missed.  The leaves are more lance-shaped and they have a creamy white margin.

  

   The Hosta ‘Frances Williams’ has large puckered blue-green leaves with a wide yellow margin. The margins become wider as the plant matures.  These plants grow 22″ tall and spread 48″ wide.   In mid-summer, white lily-like flowers are displayed on 30″ scapes.

 

   The Hosta ‘Moerheim‘ grows up to 30″ tall and 36″ wide.  It has beautiful heart-shaped green leaves with a silver-white edge.  Lavender lily-like flowers on spikes bloom in mid-summer

   Hosta ‘Sagae’ grows 28″ tall and 24-36″ wide.  The large frosty green leaves have yellow margins and prominent veins.  Pale lavender flowers bloom in mid-summer.

 

    The Hosta ‘Patriot’ grows in a mound 12″ tall and 30″ wide.  The dark green leaves are edged with bright white margins.  

◄ Lavender bell-shaped blossoms open up in July.  The ‘Patriot’ is one of my favorite hostas because of the bright white margins.

 

   The day after most of these pictures were taken, a deer, or a couple of deer, ambled through the backyard and nibbled most of the leaves from a couple of these plants.  They ate mostly the Sagae variety and nibbled a leaf or two from some of the other varieties.  Fortunately, they haven’t been back!

 

   Hostas are such a beautiful plant to fill in and around your other perennials, but they can make a huge statement on their own, too.  Maybe this post will inspire you to find some Simple Hostas To Consider For Your Garden.