Which hostas are you prepared to get rid of to make space?

'Fair Maiden' - mine only on occasion looked "fair". The final straw was the year I detected foliar nematodes in it (a year or so AFTER this pic was taken).

This message was edited Jun 29, 2012 9:28 PM

I know there have been 'slug-resistant' posts in the past. Perhaps we could update that info?

'Little Jay' - I was given a division which did OK the first year, and came back the second year, and then curled up its toes and died.

'Princess Anastasia' - I bought it for the name - my violin teacher in high school was named Anastasia and she had just died. But while its colour is attractive, the plant really did nothing and it didn't turn me on at all. It was a very flat mound. It's still around, I took it to the hosta garden at my church.

Sissy - why don't you either find the old threads about slug resistance and add to them or start a new one?

Doesn't belong here, though we can certainly mention the slug resistance, or more often for this thread, the lack thereof as we describe the plants.

Should also mention - check the alphabetical threads and please post pictures of your hostas WITH comments. I'm posting everything I have whether it's doing well or not.

Sissystars, Olive Bailey Langdon is supposed to be an improved version of FW....I don't grow it, so can't attest to it's size. Tokudama Flavocircinalis is described as looking like a smaller version of FW (minus the uglies)...I grow that one, since the size works in mynsmaller garden, and absolutely love it.

I sent a reply which said much the same as Noreaster's - but it seems to have gone into cyberspace. Wonder why!

I don't grow OBL either; so can't speak from personal experience.

I did post the entire list of MY losers. Now I'd like to see YOURS. I know we all have them :-(

"Jack of Diamonds' is similar to FW and T. Flavocircinalis.

Thanks for the suggestions.

A serious loser, in my book, is 'Miracle.' They never did anything colorful, as promoted, and they don't trhive at all. I think I had 6 to start three years ago, each with a bit of rosy color. I've got 3 left, and they are nothing but green all season.

OH WAIT! I gave a loser heuchera instead of a loser hosta. I think the heat has fried my brain!

Oops. Have a cold one!

:-) I cleaned the pool and then just floated. I feel far more sane, now.

I think I said, before, that Frances Williams has been mostly a loser for me. I gather that is not unusual.

Krossa Regal: These are nice plants, but they seem to be the favored food of *everything*: deer, slugs, rabbits. I don't know whether to give up on them, treat them as sacrificial lambs, or what. (Yes, yes, I use repellents and slug baits and now have DE surrounding them. The last looks, as my son said, 'dumb.')

Sissystars, I've been putting the DE around my hostas too. I found out that the DE used for pools is not the same as the horticultural grade, which cuts slugs, earwigs and cutworms. I hope you haven't been using the pool grade, which I did originally. The white DE does, like your son says, look pretty dumb. I just opened a bag of DE that my sister got for me from the States. I was surprised to find the stuff brown in colour. It blends so much better with the soil. She bought it at a farm co-op store. I hope it does the job.

I have three hostas that are struggling to survive because of tree root competition:

1. Sagae. I planted it in 2007 and it's still PUNY. Noone else seems to have problems with this one. I bought 'Super Sagae' and it appears to be growing better for me.
2. Dream Weaver. 'Dream Queen' on the otherhand is performing well for me. I'm going to dig it up and try it in a more favorable spot.
3. Fireworks is reduced to a teeny weeny eye. I've been watering it a lot and it seems to be coming back.

SO, I've concluded that when there is tree root competition, I need to fertilize and water more. I seem to remember franknjim (who used to post in this forum) mentioning that he would water even when it was raining.

Sissystars, I checked the 20 pound bag that my sister gave me. Although she bought it in Michigan, it is a product of Canada. It is called Red Lake Earth with calcium bentonite. It's food grade and cost her about $15.00. It is made by Absorbent Products Ltd in Kamloops, British Columbia. Their website is www.absorbentproductsltd.com. I had to use google to find it on the internet, however. Their site allows you to find distributors in the States but not in Canada. Go figure!!! The white stuff in small quantities that I've found in garden centers is extremely expensive. I'm in the process of applying it around approximately 300 hostas. It's been time consuming because I've also applied a two-month weak slow- release fertilizer.


This message was edited Jul 3, 2012 11:00 AM

@irawon:

Thank you so much! I really would prefer the more soil-colored kind. And you are quite right that those smallish bags from garden centers add up. I used one entirely and did not even get around to the other side of the house.

I thought that the DE, itself, had some fertlizing properties as it degrades. (Again, I cannot relocate the site on which I read this. But, several posters made the same claim.)

@Noreeaster and Irawon:

I looked around at OBL, T. Flavocircinalis, and Jack of Diamonds. Based on pictures, sizes, etc. I thought I would go with OBL. BUT, the Monrovia site says it requires constant moisture - even wetness.

I'm going to start a new thread to see who grows the OBL and what they find its water needs to be.

Hm, well my Jack of Diamonds is fairly new and in a pot, but I can tell you that my Tokudama F gets no special water treatment and has grown very well.

Ahem, may I respectfully suggest that we've gotten way off topic and any further discussion of DE should, perhaps, be on a new thread?

I've started a new thread about the OBL. I don't know that a thread about DE is really called for.

Hi
Is there any one who wish to get rid of hostas???????? I think its impossible because Hostas are the most attractive foliage plant. I have 14 different species and every is as much close to my heart as my own kids. Last month we are moved to a new city and new home due to my transfer and the owner of the house lives upstairs in the same house. On this weekend I went to my native city to meet my parents and when back , my head moved and smashed my Hostas were divided by my house owner and he took them into his part ......... I cried but he became wicked and said do what you can................................... Can you believe this?
Hostas lovers can understand my feelings........................ He damaged/hurt my babies.................. Now I decided to move remaining Hostas in my brother,s house who is living in my native city.
If Any body has good suggestions, can share here.
Thank you.

Kaleem


Fire and Ice, you can see two eyes one has been vanished.

Kaleem, I'm so sorry that happened. I'd be crying too. How long will you be living at the new house? I hope your brother will take good care of your hostas and that you can enjoy them in a new home one day.

Just three weeks back we are shifted here. I hope too my brother will take good care of my hostas. Thanks for your nice words.

Just back from mini vacation.
Thanks for posting some of the potential 'FW' replacements. And I definitely agree that tree root competition can contribute to eventual demise of some hostas. Planted some in an extended bed in the front yard between two oaks and a maple because grass wouldn't grow decently. But lots of root competition for nutrients, water and just soil space has caused one large hosta to almost disappear. A lot of the others in that bed are gradually shrinking as well. I wonder if adding fertilizers and water just encourage more tree root growth instead of helping the hostas.

Cindy, I moved some hostas around recently and ended up lifting and/or moving a few that I just planted last year. I was surprised at the amount of tree roots (mostly crabapple in one bed) I pulled from the hosta roots. My Liberty in particular hasn't grown any. When I replanted it, I curved one of those pound-in plastic border pieces around its root home to discourage the tree roots from growing straight into it. I'm also planning on staking my shovel between it and the tree every couple months to sever new tree roots and give Liberty a better chance this time. I took some huge Erromena from directly next to this tree in the spring, so I know that hostas can grow here, I just need to help get them well-established.

Eleven - good luck on your program with controlling the tree roots and let me know how it goes. Me - I would resolve to do it but I know I'd forget.

sissy - I grow Krossa Regal in a large pot, surrounded by "hak" grass. It generally stays looking pretty nice unless I'm remiss on watering the pot in dry weather.

Eleven, great idea about shovel pruning tree roots. I will do that.

@Cindy:

My problem is I really do not have indoor space to overwinter anything. And, honestly, at this point, I think the deer, rabbits, and slugs would be more than happy to invade our deck! (The Canada geese are now flapping at my bedroom window every morning - why should the mamals hold back?) Do you think the grass puts critters off?

I don't bring in the pot over winter. I do put it inside of a tall cold frame of sorts. The pot is suffering (not supposed to be exposed to cold weather) but the plants come back every spring. Can't take credit for the combo since I had seen it on a gardening program a few years back.

I keep hosta in pots over the winter. the trick is to prevent the top surface from icing over. That can rot the roots. I regularly thin out my hosta for my garden club plant sale. I have donated many Allan P. O'Connell which I use as a border, some small H. undulata which I brought with me from NJ when I moved in here in MA 30 years ago from a clump my grandmother had planted {I will always keep some of this for that reason}, Golden Tiara, Gold Drop, Stiletto, Green Elf, and i am ready to separate a Sum and Substance and Blue Cadet. Sum and Substance I find to be a slower growing type. Worth it if you have the part sunny spot to show off the chartreusy color, but it takes a while to get magnificent and ready to divide. We have also collected some NOIDs from various sources which are due for separation also this spring. My son enlarged and dug up a bed and moved hosta this past summer and I am ready to put some back now that he has done with the stone work.
I could probably lose Korean Snow, which has interesting but very pale variegation. Maybe this just needs a spot where it can be seen better. Also, slugs left my hosta alone as they concentrated on a couple of orchids I had on the ground outside. I saved them and they are blooming inside right now, but some of their leaves got pretty laced up.
Here is a picture of one of my Sum and Substance from last June. My six foot son and assistant gardener is in the picture for reference.
Martha

Loving the stone work. Don't have a lot here in NW IN. And the 'S&S' looks perfect. I have a few big ones that I'm always tempted to let grow big but then I'll need a piece for another part of the garden and they get smaller. Love the tip about not letting the top of the pots ice over. I did dismantle my pot of 'Krossa Regal' and hak grass last fall. Needed new potting soil and I was ready to change the combo. Did pot up all the pieces and now need to find a home for them in the garden.

That stonework was one of the places my son did year before last. It is planted with giant NOIDs that he rescued from a neighbor. They were terribly overgrown in this teensy bed in front of their house. My son dug them up, weeded the bed, replenished the soil and replanted about 1/4 of them. The guy didn't want the rest so my son brought them home to me, where he knows that no homeless hosta is ever turned away. They are tall, possibly Royal Standard, but no one knows for sure now. Some of them went into last year's plant sale. The Sum and Substance is a division of about 6-7 years ago from my original plants. One of the things I adore about hosta is that they go from nothing above ground to giant beauty in only a few weeks.
We are looking at acquiring Empress Wu or Komodo Dragon. My son dug out a space on our rocky hillside but he didn't get it finished in time to plant anything this past year. More fun this spring, probably where the Empress Wu or the Komodo Dragon will go when we decide.
Martha

I've seen pics of 'Empress Wu' - that's one big hosta. While I really like the big ones, I don't think I'd have the space for it without tearing out several other plants.
I can't throw hostas away so am continually trying to give them away to various family members.

I pitched Knockout last summer. I think Christmas Pageant and Lakeside Kaleidoscope are going in the garbage this year. My plan this year is to move a large number of hostas. So, I'm sure there will be a few more ugly ones add to the list!

Rose

I ditched my third attempt at Patriot last spring at my GC plant sale. I have had three of them and none of them did diddly! I potted it up and sold it to someone who it may like better. It grew in a spot with lots of other healthy productive hostas, but never got going.
On the other hand, I bought a box of large green hosta at a yard sale years ago for 5 bucks. I call it "The Giant Hosta That Ate Saugus". The very next season these hosta took off growing quickly into huge clumps and have provided my plant sale and other civic projects around town with fine large green hosta, NOID, of course. I have dug and separated the original clumps a number of times in the past, with one clump yielding about twenty good sized divisions one year. I have a picture below. These are from Spring 2007 and are at the bottom and top of my driveway wall. In the second picture, you can see that the NOID is already leafed out and the S & S next to it still has a ways to go before it is fully out.
My minis have pots and their own hosta bed which they like but I keep an eagle eye out for slugs. One hungry slug can ravage your mini beds.
Martha