Hostas are wonderful little greenies that pop up in shaded areas of the yard.
They can be big or small, solid or variegated, round or narrow. There are as many varieties as there are personalities. Many varieties will tolerate sunshine, though they might burn. They fill in holes with their leaves. They brighten dark shady areas.
And they die back in winter only to burst forth when the weather warms up.
To my knowledge, there aren't any pests or diseases that can decimate a hosta, though hailstorms will put some serious holes in their leaves!
Here are a few of my hostas. If I can remember their names, I'll post them.
These two are in a front bed that gets PM sunshine. By August, they are usually crispy critters, but until then, they look pretty along the brick walkway.
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| Golden Tiara (?) |
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| blue cadet |
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| Night Before Christmas |
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| Great Expectations (front), Guacamole (back) |
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| June |
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| Francee (?) |
Even though I thought I would remember each and every name, I can't. But all you have to do is google Hostas and click images and you will find a HUGE variety of plants. If you have a shady area where nothing grows, then plant hostas.
What other plant is so low maintenance and easy going?
Though some varieties might need dividing after a few years. Just have a garden party and dig up the bulbs and give them away.
Later, peeps!
I love hostas. I do, unfortunately, have critters that get them -- either moles or gophers. From what I could tell, they ate the plants from underground. I need to plant some more but put a little rigid wire fence around them in the dirt. It worked great on the other beds I planted.
ReplyDeleteIt was gophers, Marilyn.
ReplyDeleteGophers eat roots, while moles eat grubs--those pug-uglies with white bodies and brown heads.
We caught a fat gopher a few weeks ago after he decimated one of my mini roses down to the nubbin. I seperated the mini into three plants and all THREE of them are doing well. Mini roses are a little different in the way they grow and spread.
Will have to try hostas!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip.
Many of the local home improvement places will only have one or two of the generic varieties. You'll have to check the local nurserys for a better selection. OR find a picture that you like and many times the pic link will direct you to a mail order nursery.
ReplyDeleteI never can keep the critters straight -- in fact, I generally refer to them as gophermoles. But they rule around here. Our yard is like a minefield of mounds and tunnels. I once shoveled enough mounds to fill in the sinkhole we'd developed that was about 5' square and went about a foot deep in the center.
ReplyDeleteHey, can I dig up my irises soon and keep the roots until fall and replant them then? I haven't separated them in about 12 years, and it showed in the fewer blooms we had this year.
If you can see piles of dirt, then it's gophers as they have a 'dump' hole, while moles simply push up the ground with their tunneling.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to get rid of those buggers, you need to buy two traps and find a tunnel leading to a food source (your plant) and set trap with a length of string coiled and secured above ground, as the gopher might drag the trap deeper into its tunnel before it dies. Yelling, "Die, Ba$tard, Die!" doesn't help, but it might make you feel better. Jus' sayin'.
Here's a good iris link, Marilyn. Basically you can dig them up (or just thin them) about 8 weeks after flowering, trim the bad parts off and store in a cool dry area if you are going to wait to plant until fall.
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/iris/2002045002020707.html
Yelling that would definitely make me feel better. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I'd looked a couple of places and couldn't find anything that said plain and simple yes, you can or no, you can't. I didn't have much time to look, though -- deadline tomorrow. Muchas gracias.
Good luck on your deadline, Marilyn! I need a little bit of your BICHOK (butt in chair hands on keyboard) incentive.
ReplyDelete