Many thanks for all your replies - very interesting points made and advice given - will dish out more mulch, food etc.and talk to them! In response to a comment about what people grow with hostas - mine are under Japanese Acers, a camellia and Wiegela. Similar to Dovefromabove I also have pulmonarias, Solomans Seal, ferns plus ajugas, saxifraga fortunei wikth huge white plume and Red Ruby with red foliage and deep pink flowers. Also an evegreen (shade required) Sisyrinchium with lovely violet flowers. Also got five epimediums - almost forgot 5 Heucharas flowering well. The bed that they are all in is very small, dappled to deep shade and with very sandy soil!! PS The Hosta leaves are really beautifiul!
I have several but last year I put one in a hanging basket - following something I heard on GW or GQT about how in eastern countries they're often grown like that, and it keeps the slugs off them. I'm fairly rubbish at hanging baskets. It's too much like planting out bedding plants every year, so this seemed a good solution. It's grown really well. I used one of those baskets with a reservoir in. Thinking of getting another
Hostas improve when they have had the chance to mature and make plenty of root. Mine, in the shade of a wall and under shrubs and among cranesbills, are flowering their heads off because they have been there a few years and are well-established. I am just wondering whether this is too good to last and they will peak and then start going downhill. The idea of using hanging baskets is interesting, Quercus Ruber. P.S.Why have you named yourself after the red oak? Just curious.
Hi. I planted 3 hosts last year in complete shade. They didn't do very well last year but this year they are massive and are now about to flower. So don't give up hope. I think they maybe need a bit of maturity. Mine are growing under hedges and don't see any sun. Hope this helps
Are the hostas perhaps too dry? The shrubs will take a considerable amount of water! When I gardened on london clay the hostas stayed in big pots - far too many slugs! Here they grow with hardy fuchias and epimediums, though the fuchsias are somewhat reduced this year by awful weather
The Hostas really are benefitting from this wet weather. The flower spikes and buds seem much larger than I've ever seen them. Apart from one they're all grown in pots, and here's an observation.Over the past few years I've used coffee grindings around the base to keep off the slugs. It worked very well even on the one in the ground, which is called War Paint and unfortunately is particularly loved by slugs. This year I thought I'd try the Garlic wash, mainly because I couldn't drink enough coffee to get the grindings! It was working extremely well in the Spring when the Hostas were emerging, and still seems to be working on the ones in pots. However, poor old War Paint has turned into a doily. So should I put this down to the Garlic wash not being as effective, the increase in slugs, or the rain washing away the Garlic wash? Attached is a photo of War Paint as it was in May
Posts
Many thanks for all your replies - very interesting points made and advice given - will dish out more mulch, food etc.and talk to them! In response to a comment about what people grow with hostas - mine are under Japanese Acers, a camellia and Wiegela. Similar to Dovefromabove I also have pulmonarias, Solomans Seal, ferns plus ajugas, saxifraga fortunei wikth huge white plume and Red Ruby with red foliage and deep pink flowers. Also an evegreen (shade required) Sisyrinchium with lovely violet flowers. Also got five epimediums - almost forgot 5 Heucharas flowering well. The bed that they are all in is very small, dappled to deep shade and with very sandy soil!! PS The Hosta leaves are really beautifiul!
I have several but last year I put one in a hanging basket - following something I heard on GW or GQT about how in eastern countries they're often grown like that, and it keeps the slugs off them. I'm fairly rubbish at hanging baskets. It's too much like planting out bedding plants every year, so this seemed a good solution. It's grown really well. I used one of those baskets with a reservoir in. Thinking of getting another
Hostas improve when they have had the chance to mature and make plenty of root. Mine, in the shade of a wall and under shrubs and among cranesbills, are flowering their heads off because they have been there a few years and are well-established. I am just wondering whether this is too good to last and they will peak and then start going downhill. The idea of using hanging baskets is interesting, Quercus Ruber. P.S.Why have you named yourself after the red oak? Just curious.
Hi Gardening Grandma, it's the English Oak - well nearly, I made a typo as it should be robur
Hi all, I have lots of different Hostas and I love them all, but I do think they benfit
from being divided every few years.
Are the hostas perhaps too dry? The shrubs will take a considerable amount of water! When I gardened on london clay the hostas stayed in big pots - far too many slugs! Here they grow with hardy fuchias and epimediums, though the fuchsias are somewhat reduced this year by awful weather
The Hostas really are benefitting from this wet weather. The flower spikes and buds seem much larger than I've ever seen them. Apart from one they're all grown in pots, and here's an observation.Over the past few years I've used coffee grindings around the base to keep off the slugs. It worked very well even on the one in the ground, which is called War Paint and unfortunately is particularly loved by slugs. This year I thought I'd try the Garlic wash, mainly because I couldn't drink enough coffee to get the grindings! It was working extremely well in the Spring when the Hostas were emerging, and still seems to be working on the ones in pots. However, poor old War Paint has turned into a doily. So should I put this down to the Garlic wash not being as effective, the increase in slugs, or the rain washing away the Garlic wash? Attached is a photo of War Paint as it was in May