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Hosta, The #1 Shade Garden Perennial
By Tony Avent
Plant Delights Nursery, Inc.
www.plantdelights.com
9241 Sauls Road
Raleigh, NC 27603
919.772.4794
Host Blue Mouse Ears
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IN THE BEGINNING
My early recollection was growing up in the mid 1960's with
hostas in our garden. Itdidn't seem to matter how many times I road
my bicycle thru those clumps along thedriveway, they kept coming
back...indeed they proved tougher than was I. Little did Iknow that
the plants that I tried to destroy as a kid would become my
lifelong addiction.
Finally in the fall of 1997, I was able to bring my addiction
full circle by spending amonth trekking around Korea, observing
hosta in their native habitat.
Some folks have grown hostas for years and there is always
someone out there that hasgrown both hostas...the green and the
variegated one. I too had this naive attitude until atthe ripe old
age of 9, my folks took me to visit the garden of Raleigh's Jim
Cooper. Thisperson was really strange I thought, as he had over 50
different hostas, which in 1966 wasa lot. Of course, at age 9, a
place to run and jump was much more important than 50hostas, but I
still couldn't get them out of my mind.
Each successive trip to Cooper's garden found me spending more
time with notepad in
hand, slowly walking around the hostas beds trying to memorize
all of thehosta names(already mastered the states and their
capitols). Being a generous sort, and the unofficialambassador or
hosta, Jim Cooper was always free with a division of anything that
struckmy fancy, although I was aghast when he told me that some
hostascosts as much as $100per plant. Should I call the mental
hospital I secretly wondered, or are there more of thesepeople that
would spend an entire car payment on one plant?
HOSTA EVOLUTION...CULTIVARS AND SPECIES
My first hosta was the common variegated one, Hosta 'Undulata'.
Other than the fact thatit's as tough as nails, I don't know why
anyone would ever buy anotherhosta aftergrowing this dog. It is
tough, divides easily, grows fast, but it sure is ugly! Okay,
inspring, it looks great as it emerges from its winter sleep, but
it picks up ugly again prettyquick. Even the flowers are so ugly,
that I was taught from an early age to run and cut theflowers as
soon as I saw the bloom stalks forming. I figured it must be sort
of likelooking at the Medusa head and if I saw a hosta flower, I
would turn into somethinghorrible...like a kudzu vine.
There was several different Hosta 'Undulata' type hostas on the
market, and being acollector wanna be, I searched for them all.
There was an all green one called Hosta'Undulata Erromena'...the
"undulata mistake". Then came Hosta 'Undulata Variegata' andHosta
'Undulata 'Univittata', and Hosta 'Undulata White Ray', all of
which proved to bethe same when grown under the same conditions.
Only Hosta 'Undulata Albomarginata'turned out to be worth growing,
as the rest were discarded after a few years. I quicklyrealized
that these "collectors" collected plant names, and were not often
interested ingood garden plants.
I next moved into the Hosta 'Fortunei' group of hostas, from
which many of our trulygood garden plants have been derived. They
included the wonderful old favorite Hosta'Francee'. Not only was it
easy to grow and carefree, but the color didn't fade as with
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Hosta 'Undulata'. I later would find dozens of good nurseryman
that had perpetuated themyth that hostas hated fertilizer, and it
made them turn green. I would explain to each ofthem that Hosta
'Undulata' naturally turns green (a process called viridescence),
and thefertilizer only hastened the process. This was certainly not
true of the better cultivar andwas only one of the many garden
myths that abound.
Another of my early accessions was the Hosta 'Fortunei'
selection, Hosta 'Gold Standard'.I love this hosta that has
withstood the test of time as one of the classics. Hosta
'GoldStandard' can appear as three different plants depending on
the light conditions. In brightlight it will be nearly white with a
green edge. In morning sun, it will be bright gold witha green
edge, and in deep shade, it will be chartreuse to light green with
a darker greenedge. The "fortunei" group continues to yield many of
our best garden varieties includingHosta 'Antioch' (wide white edge
on a green leaf, Hosta 'Striptease' (dark green leaf witha wide
creamy center), and Hosta 'Night Before Christmas' (large green
leaf with a widepure white edge, and Hosta 'Fortunei
Aureomarginata' (dark green with a wide goldedge), and Hosta
'Patriot' (a Hosta 'Francee' sport (probably tetraploid) with a
wider white
edge).
I had also become acquainted with the selections and hybrids of
Hosta sieboldiana, aspecies from Japan. However, it was not until I
began to travel that I realized the truebeauty of this group. It is
the gardeners in the cooler climates that do a masterful job
withthis group along with the closely allied Hosta 'Tokudama'
group. These massive clumpsof corrugated blue foliage were the
plants that we all dreamed about in the south. Itwasn't that we
couldn't grow them, they just didn't have quite the "uumph" that
they didin the north. Oh, part of it had to do with the fact that
the blue on ahosta leaf is wax, andyou can guess what happens to
wax in 100 degree temperatures with humidity to match.Otherwise,
these hostas just preferred cooler temperatures...just like the
folks that grewthem.
Some of the best garden plants come from Hosta nakaiana. The
late Bob Savory of Edina,Minnesota mutated some Hosta nakaiana
seedlings and the result was one of the greatesthostas ever
hybridized, Hosta 'Golden Tiara'. The instability of the genes of
Hosta'Golden Tiara' has produced many other plants with the same
vigorous growth habit andgreat flowering traits as the parent. They
include Hosta 'Grand Tiara' (wide gold marginssurrounding a green
center and probably a tetraploid), Hosta 'Diamond Tiara'
(whiteedges on green leaves), Hosta 'Emerald Tiara' (green margins
and a yellow center), Hosta'Golden Sceptre' (all gold), and a
number of others.
ODE DE HOSTAS...FRAGRANT FLOWERS
Of course, to the envy of our northern neighbors, we could do a
superb job growing thefragrant hostas. The parent of these fragrant
blooming hostaswas one of only twoChinese species, the heat loving
Hosta plantaginea. The common name of August Lilyhad been given by
old gardeners, as the clump of shiny green leaves exploded in
Augustwith 10" long pure white flowers with an overpowering
fragrance usually encounteredonly when sister spends too long
testing samples at the perfume counter.
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It was from this lone species that all of the wonderful fragrant
hostas that we know todayoriginated. Both Hosta 'Honeybells'
(Cummings) and Hosta 'Royal Standard (WaysideGardens) have long
been mainstays of the garden...especially in the south.
Thingschanged in the 1980's however as Mississippi's Dr. Kevin
Vaughn, NC's Van Sellers, and
NY's Paul Aden brought the world of fragranthostas to the
forefront with theirintroductions including the Iron Gate Series
(Sellers), Hosta 'Summer Fragrance'(Vaughn)- the largest and most
vigorous of the fragrant hostas, Hosta 'So Sweet' (Aden)
-vigorously growing round leaves with a wide creamy border and
fragrant light lavenderflowers, Hosta 'Invincible' (Aden) with
thick glossy green leaves and large fragrantpurple flowers, and
Hosta 'Fragrant Bouquet' (Aden) with smooth golden leaves with
acreamy edge and large fragrant flowers.
Since these were introduced in the 1980's the floodgates have
seemingly burst open.Recent introductions include three sports of
Hosta 'Fragrant Bouquet' found by NC's BobSolberg...Hosta
'Guacamole'(chartreuse w/dark green edge), Hosta 'Fried
Bananas'
(gold), and Hosta 'Fried Green Tomatoes' (green). All plants
have flowers identical to theparents.
There are also a number ofhostas on the market with genes from
the fragrant Hostaplantaginea that share some the characteristics
of the parent, but lack the fragrance intheir flowers. These
include Hosta 'Fragrant Blue' (Aden),. Hosta 'Fragrant Gold'
(Aden),andHosta 'Sum and Substance' (Aden). The most desirable
trait passed along to thesevarieties is the ability to continually
produce new flushes of leaves throughout theseason...unlike Hosta
sieboldiana. Hosta 'Sum and Substance' therefore will outgrow
allother hostas, eventually producing a 9' wide mound (Wade Garden,
Ohio).
The real excitement in fragrant flowering hostascame in the mid
1980's when a doubleflowered Hosta plantaginea was imported from
China. Folks were gladly shelling out$200 per plant for a peek at
this 10" long fragrant white double flower. The myth outlivedthe
reality in this case, as the flower would only open if the
temperatures were justright...not too cool and not too hot. The
punishment was that the buds always formed andswelled, and right
before opening...poof...a stem of limp petal mush.
Then came the two variegated edge plantagineas, Hosta 'White
Shoulders' PP (whiteedge) and Hosta 'Heaven Scent' PP (yellow
edge). These highly promoted newhostaswith variegation and the
giant fragrant flowers soon also did a belly flop. After
Hosta'White Shoulder' made it through one winter, it returned as H.
'No Shoulders'. After that,it wasn't long before this weak grower
faded into the sunset. The same was true for Hosta'Heaven Scent' as
it too quickly found it's way out of gardens, replaced by varieties
thatactually grew. Only recently has a true variegated H.
plantaginea entered the market withan edge that actually grows.
Hosta plantaginea 'Ming Treasure' from Mark Zilis ofRochelle,
Illinois promises to be that long awaited pot of variegation at the
end of therainbow.
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hostas will usually produce green offspring, blue hostaswill
produce some blue, somegreen, and some gold offspring. Gold hostas
will produce some of each also. Edgedvariegated hostas will NOT
produce variegated offspring. Only hostas that have whitestreaks
(streaky) in the center of the leaf will produce variegated
offspring. Whitecentered hostas will produce all whitehostas which
usually die in the seed pots due to a
lack of chlorophyll.
In my travels to visit "hosta breeders"around the country, I was
shocked to find that theterm breeders was being used...shall I say,
quite liberally. Gardeners who foundhostaseed growing in their
garden considered themselveshosta breeders...I think not.
Inreality, there turned out to only be a small handful of breeders
actually making hostacrosses in the entire country. This is in
sharp contrast to the daylily world, whereeveryone who grows
daylilies is a daylily breeder. To avoid having 50,000
varieties,many of which are undistinguishable, I have strongly
promoted my 10 foot rule ofbreeding. If a new plant cannot be
recognized by name from a similar looking plantalready in the
trade, it should be discarded. Obviously, for this to happen,
breeders need
to have a good familiarity with existing varieties.
What is the future of hostas? The future ofhostas is
unlimited...both the exposure and thebreeding possibilities.
Imagine a plant that was not listed in the top 20 of the
perennialpopularity poll some short 15 years ago, but has been #1
for the last five years. This andthere are still folks that haven't
even heard of hostas. Consider red leaves and redflowers...how
about hostaswith fragrant reblooming hostas, how about hostasfor
hotclimates such as Texas and Florida...how about slug resistant
hostas? Do I think this is anexciting group of plants...you
bet!
CULTURE
The are few perennials that are as easy to grow as hostas...if
you remember a few rules.Hostas like rich organic soils, prefer
moisture, and plenty of light (without afternoonsun). Mosthostas
are found in prairie settings, and the ones that are found
naturally inwoodland settings look pretty poor. Morning sun is
always best, as the temperatures aregenerally cooler at this time.
As hosta leaves are large, they transpire more moisturewhen grown
in more light. This simply means that you will need to apply more
moistureto accommodate the increasing evaporation rate.
Hosta are heavy feeders. Ideally, an organic fertilizer should
be applied in early spring,then again in mid summer. Whilehostas
will grow without such care, there is nothingquite like a well
grown clump.
PROPAGATION
Hosta can be increased by dividing the clump. In the ground, the
best time is early spring,when the new buds just begin to show. The
clumps can be divided later in the season, butseem to suffer more
later in the season. Large clumps can be quartered with an axe
orsharpshooter shovel.
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To divide the clumps further, remove them from the ground and
wash the soil away.Using a sharp knife, the plants can be divided
much smaller. You will quickly learnwhich clumps divide easily, and
which are difficult. Also, not all plants divide at thesame rate. A
three year old clump of some cultivars may still have only 1 crown,
while
others may have 100 in the same time. This obviously is
reflected in the cost of thesevarieties.
In container grown hostas, they can be divided from early spring
thru September withoutany problem. The only time that I like to
avoid is when then the new leaves have justexpanded. I containers,
hostascan be divided down to single divisions if watering
isattended to afterwards.
For large scale production, tissue culture is the method of
choice. As many "off types" areproduced, a competent culling
process is needed to assure uniformity.
Hostas can also be grown from seed (see "hosta sex"). Seed can
be sowed outdoors in thefall, where they will sprout the following
spring. Using this method, expect 3 yearsbefore the hosta seedling
will flower, and 8 years before all of the mature
characteristicswill be evident. We sow our seedlings indoors under
24 hour lights in the fall (nodormancy requirement in hosta seed).
By late summer, the new plants are flowering andwill fill a gallon
pot. Using this procedure, it will only take 5 years in the ground
for themature characteristics to show.
PESTS
The worst pests ofhostasare voles, slugs, and foliar nematodes.
Slugs have not been aproblem in our garden, due to our high
population of toads. If you need to use slug baits,remember to
apply them underneath rock, boards, etc. Slug bait should not be
placed ontop of the ground.
You know you have voles if your entire hostaclump disappears
into a subterranean hole,or returns in the spring as a fraction of
it's last years size. Voles (herbivorous molerelatives) are easy to
control if you follow all three steps. First vole bait (rat poison)
mustbe applied every 10 feet through the infected area. If you can
find the runs, then apply thematerial there. If a run isn't
evident, then put the material on the ground (they find yourhostas
don't they). Secondly, cover all of the bait, as the voles only
feed in the dark. Welike to use clay flower pots (it makes visitors
ask questions). Thirdly, repeat theprocedure in 2 weeks. This
doesn't mean three or four weeks...TWO. If you follow
thisprocedure, you will get rid of your vole problem.
Voles are most active in early spring and early fall. When we
had severe vole problems,we applied the vole bait for two years
(both in spring and fall) until the problem waseliminated. If you
have pets, be sure and check with your vet as to the toxicity of
theproduct that you use on your pet and other non- target
species.
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In 1987, we were the first ones to recommend mixing pea gravel
into the soil for volecontrol at a national conference. This has
now been spread around the world, but in allbizarre manners. Our
original recommendation is to spread 1-2 inches of pea gravel
(#78)washed stone over the planted area, then incorporate it to 10
inches deep. The sharppoints of the gravel seem to deter the voles
from damaging the plants. It doesn't kill the
voles, it only moves them to another part of the garden.
A final pest that is of great concern are foliar nematodes.
Since, 1992, we have taken aproactive stand on the elimination of
this severe hosta pest. Many folks don't realize thatthey have
foliar nematodes, simply dismissing the early leaf browning to
weather. Thereis no complete chemical control, and these plants
must be destroyed, and the nematodesare spread by splashing water.
We are distressed that most of thehosta growers are incomplete
denial of this problem and are spreading infected plants around the
country.Please inquire when you order plants from any nursery about
their foliar nematodecontrol program. When the symptoms are present
in late summer, feel free to send ussamples and we can confirm for
you whether you have this problem. We thank you for
your help in this matter.
For more information, we recommend the following books
The Hosta Book by Paul Aden (Timber Press) - quite dated but a
good introductory bookfor those just beginning in the hosta
world
The Gardeners Guide to Growing Hostas by Diana Grenfell (UK via
Timber Press) - thebest on the market today for the average
gardener/collector
The Genus Hosta by George Schmid (Timber Press)- unparalled life
work on every facetof the genus hosta. This is my most valuable
reference book, but it can be overwhelmingto mere mortals.
Gardeners with less than 100 different hostas...wait on this
one.
The Journal of the American Hosta Society (see support groups
listing in the table ofcontents) - a truly fabulous 2/yr
publication of the society featuring color pictures andinformative
article. This is without a doubt the best publication of any plant
society, and amust for anyone interested in hostas.
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