蜜桃恋人

How to Grow Hostas: The Compete Hosta Guide

Photo Credit
Pixabay
Botanical Name
Hosta spp.
Plant Type
Foliage Plant
Sun Exposure
Shade
Soil pH
Slightly Acidic to Neutral
Bloom Time
Summer
Flower Color
Blue
Pink
Purple
White
Hardiness Zone
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Special Features
Attracts Butterflies
Attracts Songbirds

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Planting, Growing, and Caring for Hostas

Catherine Boeckmann

Hostas are hardy perennials with attractive foliage. They’re perfect for shady and long-lived gardens鈥攕ome may even outlive the gardener! While hostas require little attention, we advise cutting back the plants by early winter to avoid pest damage. Learn all about hostas in our growing guide.

About Hostas

What’s neat about Hostas is that there are so many sizes, heights, textures, and colors to work with! They fit into so many different kinds of gardens (patio, border, container, rock, shade) and are cold-hardy, too.

Most varieties tend to have a spread and height of between 1 and 3 feet, but larger or smaller varieties are readily available. Leaf colors include variegated white, lime green, and blue-green, to name just a few. The texture and shape of hosta leaves are also diverse, ranging from smooth and narrow to ridged and heart-shaped. 

Though mainly known for their interesting foliage, the plants also produce lovely flowers in pink, lavender, light blue, or white from early summer to early fall. Hummingbirds and other pollinators love the flowers, which may even be fragrant, depending on the variety.

Note: Slugs, snails, rabbits, and especially deer like hostas almost as much as people do. Keep this in mind if deer regularly wander your garden, as they will readily graze a hosta patch down to just stems.

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Planting

Hostas鈥 large leaves do not lend themselves well to full sun; they do best in partial sun or dappled shade but will grow in deep shade, too. Once established, they can take the summer heat and withstand mild droughts. 

Hostas prefer soil that is well-draining and fertile (amend the soil with compost or rotted manure if your soil is poor). They do not like to sit in wet soil, so plant in a raised area or where the soil doesn鈥檛 stay saturated (especially in winter). Ideally, the soil should have a pH between slightly acidic and neutral (6.5 to 7.0), although hostas are forgiving.

When to Plant Hostas

  • Buy hostas as dormant, bare-root divisions or potted plants and plant them in the spring or fall. 
  • Hostas can be planted during the summer growing season but will need extra attention (mostly watering) to ensure that they do not succumb to the heat of summer.

How to Plant Hostas

  • Dig a hole that鈥檚 about twice the width and depth of the root ball of the plant. Loosening the soil in the planting area will benefit the hosta鈥檚 roots as they expand outward.
  • If planting multiple hostas, space them out according to their expected size at maturity. Hostas are adept at filling empty spaces!
  • Set the plants in the hole so that the crown (base) of the plant is even with the surrounding soil and any emerging leaf tips are visible at the soil surface. 
  • If buying potted hostas, plant them at the same soil level as in the pot. 
  • Gently dampen the soil around the plants and water until the soil is moist to settle the roots.
Hosta flowers
Hosta flowers are much-loved by bees and hummingbirds.

Growing

How to Care for Hostas

  • Apply a well-balanced, slow-release fertilizer after planting or when growth emerges in the spring. 
  • Keep the soil moist but not soaked.
  • If the soil tends to dry out quickly, consider placing mulch around the plants to help retain moisture, but be aware that mulch can be a hiding place for slugs.
  • Remove flower stalks after bloom to encourage new growth.
  • Many hosta cultivars have nice colors in the fall, so let them thrive until they start to suffer from frost.

Pruning and Cutting Back Hostas

  • When the foliage fades, the plant begins its dormant season. Remove any dead or brown leaves as they attract pests.
  • After a few frosts in late fall, some hostas will flatten out and get mushy. We suggest cutting them back to avoid slug and disease issues. 
  • By early winter, cut back the entire plant at ground level. Do not leave any plant debris or leaves on the ground; bag them up and dispose of them.

Transplanting or Dividing Hostas

Hostas do not usually need dividing for their health. If they have less space, they’ll simply grow less quickly. However, if you wish to divide a hosta for a neater garden appearance, it’s best to do so in early spring once the 鈥渆yes鈥 or growing tips start to emerge from the ground. This is also a good time to move or transplant a hosta to a new site.

Leave as much of the root attached as possible to each crown or plant. Plant the new hostas at the same soil level as they were previously. Water well until established.

See the video to learn more about dividing hostas:

Types

Once you start exploring hostas, you鈥檒l find they get rather addictive! From 4-inch miniature hostas to 6-foot-wide giant hostas, there鈥檚 a hosta variety to fit any situation from large borders to tiny rock gardens. Here are just a few:

  • H. fotunei 鈥楢ureo Marginata鈥: Deep-green oval leaves accented by a golden edge. 

hosta-fortunei-aureomarginata_full_width.jpg

  • H. x 鈥楤lue Cadet鈥: A small hosta with heart-shaped, bluish leaves. It makes for a nice edging plant. In mid-summer it blooms with mauve-blue flowers. 

hosta-blue-cadet_full_width.jpg

  • For sunnier spots, select plants from the Hosta plantaginea group. These plants also tend to have fragrant flowers in late summer. 鈥楢ugust Moon鈥, 鈥楬辞苍别测产别濒濒蝉鈥, and 鈥楽um and Substance鈥 are a few of the varieties in this category.

plantaginea-hosta_0.jpg

Check out more hosta varieties.

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Wit and Wisdom

  • Young hosta leaves are edible. Known as urui in Japan, they鈥檙e commonly boiled, fried in tempura, or eaten raw. The flavor is similar to lettuce and asparagus. 
  • If you wish to remove your hostas, cut off the leaves to the ground and then dig out the crown located just below ground level. Pour vinegar or boiling water over the plant. If you have a larger area of hostas that you want to remove, cut the leaves off, remove the crowns, and then cover the area with black plastic for the rest of the growing season.

Pests/Diseases

  • Slugs and snails:  If you see irregular holes along the leaf’s edges or entire leaves chewed off at the stem nocturnal slugs may be the culprit. Look for shiny slime trails on the leaves or on the ground around the plants.
  • Deer: It’s true that deer love hosta. To discourage deer, use fencing or motion-sensitive sprinklers. Speak to your local garden center about odor-based sprays and deer repellents; the deer will taste the distasteful repellent first. Here’s an .
  • Rabbits: If you see clean-cut chew marks on young hosta stems and leaves you may have rabbits in your garden. Look for dropped leaves and rabbit droppings on the ground and around the plants.
Ornamental Gardening
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it鈥檚 not surprising that she and The Old Farmer鈥檚 蜜桃恋人 found each other. She leads digital content for the 蜜桃恋人 website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
 

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Comments

Hard to know exactly from your description, but if the eyes are missing more or less from the center, it could be crown rot. Not pretty but not unusual; in fact, natural. Hostas put on growth on the outside of their clump each year and dead growth accumulates in the center. Dig up the crown, roots and all, and cut out or cut away from the dead center. (This amounts to dividing the plant.) You can replant each smaller plant鈥攐r give away a few.

Coyne Quinn (not verified)

4 years 7 months ago

Two years ago these med. size hostas looked great. Starting last year there seemed to be some die out and the leaves and stems were twisted and disfigured. This year as they are just starting to come out of the ground

Karen Wolski (not verified)

4 years 7 months ago

I enjoy reading Farmer's 蜜桃恋人 even though there is barely a mention concerning growing for zone 9+. Can I grow a Hosta in Miami city? I have a huge shady area and don't know what to plant. Thank you

Hello, Miami! Thank you for your enthusiasm for the 蜜桃恋人! Many plants, most hostas included, require a winter dormancy period. For most hostas, that minimum 30 days at temps below 43掳F. (The need is genetic, so specific to the species.) A few species have lower requirements; these include Hosta clausa, Hosta gracillima, Hosta kikutii, Hosta longipes, Hosta montana (southern forms), Hosta nakaiana, Hosta plantaginea, Hosta rupifraga, Hosta sieboldii,Hosta ventricosa, Hosta venusta, and Hosta yingeri (thanks to plantdelights.com). However, these may fail to thrive and eventually deteriorate.

Your best bet is to visit a nursery in the area and ask them for recommendations. They would be most familiar with the conditions and so knowledgable about the options.

Beth Heisner (not verified)

5 years 1 month ago

I have beautiful Hostas but lately they are turning brown and it looks like something is eating them. Please help.

It’s hard to say for sure what the root issue is without knowing where you’re growing. Hostas naturally die back with the arrival of cooler temperatures in the fall, so you could be seeing that. Unless you live in a dry area, hostas don’t normally need extra water once they’re established, so if you are already getting regular rain, you may be overwatering. Especially at this time of year, when hostas aren’t actively growing, they can be susceptible to too much water. Luckily, they’re hardy and don’t have trouble bouncing back in the spring!

Joan Hart (not verified)

5 years 2 months ago

I recently got a lot of hosta plants that my friend was digging up. We planted them today 9/27,should we cut them back or is there anything we should do special?

Milyhow (not verified)

5 years 1 month ago

Hostas are extremely hearty. You do not need to cut them back until the frost kills off the leaves in a few weeks. If the transplantation left them looking bedraggled you can cut them back and they will survive but it will be better for them to keep their leaves for longer.

jen (not verified)

5 years 4 months ago

We don't have time cut our hostas back in the fall. Will it compromise their health by skipping this part of their care?