Hosta Plant Ideas

Hosta Plant Ideas

Hostas make wonderful plants all by themselves, but when you start grouping a few together or you make an entire hosta garden, the effect is strikingly beautiful.

Hosta plants come in such a wide variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and textures that it’s sometimes difficult to choose just a few to start a hosta garden with. Most people actually end up with hostas in their yard or garden, because they’re thought of as being shade loving plants. And this is true to an extent.

Most of the dark leaved hosta plants will fade and wash out in color if they get too much sun, so it’s usually best to put these in full or partial shade areas. There are some lighter colored hostas however, which have more yellow or golden leaves, which maintain their color best if they receive a bit more sunlight. There are also some hosta plants which produce fragrent flowers, and these flowers won’t bloom well if the plant isn’t getting enough sun either.

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Garden Tip...

The Roses best adapted for in-door culture belong to the class known as Tea Roses; these are tender, of a bushy growth, and if properly treated, will bloom the year round; the flowers have a strong tea-scent.

Tea Roses can be cultivated out-of-doors with success, but they must be taken up in the fall and removed in-doors. We know it is the custom of some gardeners to lay the bushes down in the fall, and cover them with earth and leaves; while in some cases this may preserve them, it cannot be depended on as a rule. To keep up a steady bloom, pinch off all flowers as soon as they begin to fade. It is best to not let the buds open fully while on the bush, but they should be cut in the bud, and placed in a vase of water, where they will expand and keep for a long while. All dead leaves and flower stems should be carefully removed, and the surface of the soil in the pots should be stirred up occasionally with a stick, this will keep the plants in a growing condition, and if they can be kept growing, they will bloom continuously.
~ James Sheehan
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Hostas come in a variety of colors. Most of these are varying shades of green, blue, and yellow or gold. Some hosta plants have a mixture of colors too, which can often make these look like a different color all together. There are also variagated versions of hosta plants, and these have multiple individual colors on the leaves and foilage.

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Garden Tip...

The Calla Lily, or "The Lily of the Nile," is an old and popular favorite, and is found in window-garden collections everywhere. It is a native of the tropics, where it is said it grows to an enormous size; a single flower often measuring one to two feet in diameter. The Calla will attain its highest perfection if planted in a rich, mucky soil, obtained from a swamp or bog. It also requires an abundance of water during the growing season. Callas, like all other bulbous plants, must have a season of rest. If required to bloom during the winter or spring months, they must be rested in the summer season, if this is not done we must not expect to have any success in flowering them. The blooming season can be reversed if desired, by resting in winter. Without allowing them at least three months of rest, it is useless to expect to flower them successfully. By "resting," we mean to withhold water, and allow the leaves and stalks to die down completely to the bulb. Then turn the pot on its side under a tree or grape-arbor, and let the soil dry up completely; this will kill the stalk but not injure the bulb.
~ James Sheehan
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Then there are the shapes of the leaves and the textures of hosta plants. Even though some of these wonderful plants produce pretty flowers, they’re usually grown for their variety of shapes and colors. Some leaves for instance, might be heart shaped while others are elongated and sword like. Some are sort of flat, while others form almost a bucket type of concave shape instead.

For textures though, you’ll find hosta plants which have ridges on their leaves. Others might be completely smooth, and still others have bubble like textures to the leaves, which is known as a seersucker texture.

The most striking arrangements you can make with a hosta garden, usually involve grouping like colored plants together. Putting several with green leaves together for instance, either with matching textures and shapes on the leaves or with contrasting ones, often makes a very attractive and attention getting arrangement. Then try putting a group of blue leafed plants together, and another group with golden colors.

If you want to try some of the hosta plants which produce fragrant flowers, then you’ll need to plant these in more sunny areas of your yard and garden. A popular fragrant hosta is the Plantaginea, and it produces white flowers. It usually grows in zones three to nine, and will get approximately eighteen inches tall, with a spread of about 18-24 inches too.

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