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Hooray
for Hostas
by
Brendan Little
January
 Hostas
are best described as flowering foliage plants
with a wide range of single colour or variegated
leaves, leaf colours include shades of blue,
grey, beige, gold and yellow.
All Hostas produce flowers and the colour range
runs from white through to blue, lavender, and
lilac to deep purple.
At the mention of the word Hosta most gardeners
will simply reply slugs, walk away and simply
forget the genus altogether. What a pity! Within
the genus you will find some of the most noble,
soundly perennial garden plants. Hostas thrive
in fairly dry or damp soil, in dense or partial
shade or full sun. In a sunny position the plant
will require a moist soil. In deep shade fewer
flowers will be produced although under these
conditions foliage tends to be larger.
What I simply love about Hostas is the surface
tension of the leaves, which causes rain water
to shatter and dance just, like a million globules
of mercury across the corrugated leaf veins.
Hostas
make superb container plants, and this is a
great way of rising above the slug and snail
dilemma. A few varieties such as 聭Big Daddy聮
and 聭Halcyon聮 are slightly less successful
in pots. A real stunner in the lime green large
leaved variety 聭Sum and Substance聮.
A good quality peat based container/basket compost
should be used and I always add some horticultural
grit as ballast in order to prevent the containers
toppling over. About 15% by volume grit to compost
is sufficient.
Hostas in pots should be watered regularly,
the interval depending on the weather conditions.
If
slugs are a problem in your garden choose varieties
which have a more erect habit or thicker leaves
such as 聭Big Daddy聮, 聭Blue Angel聮,
聭Frances Williams聮, 聭Green Sheen聮,
聭June聮, 聭Krossa Regal聮 and
聭Sum and Substance聮. For the rock
garden why not try some of the very small varieties
such as Hosta venusta and Hosta 聭Little
Aurora聮.
 Good
garden practice will reduce slug populations
and choose open situations in preference to
continuously damp or shaded places. Avoid planting
by walls, fences or stony ground where slugs
shelter and hide, and always remember to remove
old dead leaves from under and around the plants.
My
favourite varieties include 聭Frances Williams聮,
聭Sum and Substance聮, and 聭June聮
the latter has a superb gold leaf with a deep
blue margin.
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