-»<- 



THERE 'S ALWAYS ROOM FOR A 



Hosta 



iA- 



Owen M. Rogers 



F 



Xirst 



.irst of all, do we pronounce it 

 "Hoe-sta" or "Hoss-ta"? My preference 

 is the former for, after all, it is named 

 for the Austrian botanist and physi- 

 cian N. T. Host (like Post). But Dr 

 Host wasn't English was he? And 

 when did English pronunciation ever 

 make sense? Oh well, either way is 

 better than the old-fashioned name of 

 Funkia, and if you can't decide, then 

 call it Plantain Lily. 



Regardless of your pronunciation, 

 there's a hosta among the dozens of 

 species and hundreds of varieties in 

 this versatile genus for every garden. 

 But what are the best conditions for growing them? Most 

 gardeners think of hostas as shade garden plants, an 

 epithet that they have rightly earned, but in nature, 

 hosta grow at edges of woods, along streams, and in 

 other spots that have more light than we normally think 

 of as best. In fact, it has been my observation that while 

 hostas will survive in dense shade, they will not thrive 

 So everyone should continue to grow them in partial 

 shade where they do well, but also try some in brighter 

 sun. Most of the yellows will do much better in more 

 sun than is in the standard recommendation. I was 

 forced to consider this in my garden by hurricane Gloria. 

 I had developed a nice (to my eye) collection of hosta 

 leaf colors in a planting around the base of a white 

 pine. After Gloria drastically pruned the pine, my hostas 

 received full sun in the morning and half the afternoon. I 

 was sure that would be the end of my collection, and 

 sure enough, some weren't at all happy. The blue 

 greens, e.g., Hosta sieboldiana 'Elegans', didn't hold their 

 blue color as well as those growing in more shade, but 

 the yellows have gloried in the new light of day. 'Sum 

 and Substance' is huge and 'August Moon' has never 

 looked brighter. It seems reasonable to conclude that 

 others can stand even more sun. 



I'm slowly gathering more data, but it appears that 

 moisture is the more important need and, when it is 



plentiful, a number of hostas can be 

 grown in very open sites. The old H 

 lancifolia and the big 'Krossa Regal' 

 with its five-foot flower stalks (I've 

 never been able to get the six feet 

 that some catalogs promise) do very 

 well in essentially full sun Admit- 

 tedly, my trials have been small and 

 they will need to be expanded This 

 is how I'm doing it I'm planning to 

 pot up some of the other yellows 

 and some greens whose leaf patterns 

 I like and set the pots in a series of 

 trial locations The pots can be sunk 

 in soil or mounded with mulch and 

 given adequate moisture If they do well, I'll try them a 

 little further out In the sun If they scorch, I'll move 

 them into a little more shade When I devised this 

 simple test, I didn't think about leaving the plants in 

 pots permanently, but lately I've begun to wonder if it 

 might not be nice to have a moveable garden. It could 

 be set upon the porch in the spring, deeper into shade 

 during the hot days of summer, and somewhere else 

 when company is expected I'll admit that pots require 

 regular watering and eventually a big hosta will outgrow 

 the pot, but these do not seem like unreasonable re- 

 quirements. (Then again, if it's your wife who may have 

 to do some watering, check with her first!) 



Another underused group involves the dwarf hostas. 

 While most gardeners seem to go for big, spectacular 

 hostas, there is a place for the lovely dwarf species and 

 varieties such as H. venusla, H. nakaiana, and cultivars like 

 'Tiny Tears' and 'Vera Verde'. In that perfect garden I'm 

 going to have some day, there will be a special place 

 for the miniatures. Perhaps they'll be on top of a three- 

 foot wall nestled against a moss-covered stone or over- 

 hanging a tiny watercourse. Or maybe the dwarfs would 

 be good candidates for my pot garden where they could 

 be set at eye level for the full enjoyment of their sum- 

 mer bloom 

 No matter how the new ones react to different condi- 



December 1993/ January 1994 



15 



