They come back every year with proper care.
you’ve got the option to even grow hostas in pots.
you might find hostas in a wide range of foliage colors and sizes, from mini to mammoth.
The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
Hostas can be planted in early spring or as soon as the heat of summer ends in early fall.
Note that hostas can be toxic to pets.
Hosta Care
Hostas are normally planted as potted transplants or bare root divisions.
The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
They are commonly considered shade plants, but they benefit from a little sun in the morning.
Do not plant hostas in perpetually hot, sunny areas.
Nursery plants should be planted at the same depth they were in their container.
The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
Soil
Hostas are tolerant of most types of soil, provided that the soil is well-drained.
Do not plant hostas in clay soil, which holds too much moisture.
They also like their soil to be rich and full of organic matter with an acidic soil pH.
The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
Water
Water hostas as needed to keep the soil moist but not wet.
Once established, hostas will tolerate occasionally dry soil, but they won’t survive long periods of drought.
Deeper, infrequent watering is better than frequent shallow applications.
The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
It’s best to plant them in a location that is protected from strong winds.
This feeds nutrients into the soil and helps promote the soil food web.
But be careful not to get fertilizer granules trapped in the leaves, which can burn them.
Hosta blue mouse earsskymoon13 / Getty Images
The foliage colors can vary from pale yellow to the deepest of blue-greens, with manyvariegated formsalso available.
Leaf shapes can be anything from long and sword-like to huge and round with corrugated textures.
If you do allow the flowers to bloom, clip off the stalks after the flowers have faded.
Hosta - Golden TiaraZoomTravels / Getty Images
Propagating Hostas
If you want to propagate them, hostas are easy to divide andtransplant.
A very small piece of root is all it takes to create a new plant.
Use a standard, well-draining commercial potting soil.
Hosta Frances WilliamsJames Guilliam / Getty Images
Remember that they will need a six-week chilling period at some point during the winter.
Overwintering
Tocare for hostas in the fall, keep watering but pull back on fertilizing.
The foliage will naturally start to die back.
Hosta PatriotLiudmyla Liudmyla / Getty Images
Hostas in winter are overall hardy and survive just fine.
In cooler climates, it can help toadd a layer of dry mulch over the rootsto insulate them.
Many people even find the blooms unattractive and clip off the flower stalks before the blooms open.
Hosta ElegansSvetlanaKlaise / Getty Images
Enough sunlight and ample water is usually all that’s needed to ensure that hostas flower.
Some varieties of hostas do not flower much until they are mature.
Here are some common problems noted with hostas.
Keeping the ground area around plants free of debris will discourage these destructive mollusks.
Keep the plant well watered in the summer, and provide some shade if possible.
Badly affected leaves can be trimmed away and discarded; new leaves will replace them.
Leaves Have Spots
This is usually a sign of some kind of fungal or bacterial disease.
Prevent these diseases by giving good space between plants and watering with soaker hoses rather than overhead spraying.
Badly affected plants will need to be removed and destroyed.
They are most often used in shade gardens, where their ornamental foliage brightens dim areas.
Hostas are one of the longest-living perennials.
There are many cases of plants living more than a century and outliving their owners.
Deer have been known to destroy an entire yard full of hostas overnight when they are hungry.
North Carolina State Extension.
Hostas.University of Minnesota Extension.
Hostas.University of Nebraska Lincoln Extension.
