Using Hosta Plants in the Garden
A new gardening project is underway at my Bedford, New York farm.
This week, we uncovered my cold frame and prepared hundreds of hosta plants for a new garden in front of my greenhouse. If you recall, I got these plants last fall as bare-root cuttings. I ordered 700-hostas to plant around the farm - all from Pioneer Gardens, a wholesale company located on the outskirts of Deerfield, Massachusetts. Hostas are a perennial favorite among gardeners. Their lush green foliage varying in leaf shape, size and texture, and their easy care requirements make them ideal for many areas. You'll love what I have planned for these plants.
Here are some photos.
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- I decided to create a more formal garden in front of my greenhouse. Dozens of young hosta plants are taken to the new location by cultivar so they can be positioned properly before planting. Some of you may remember, this area was previously home to all my currant bushes, which are now located in a larger patch.
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- Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies and occasionally by the Japanese name, giboshi. They are native to northeast Asia and include hundreds of different cultivars.
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- Last October, we received a delivery of several big boxes filled with healthy bare-root hostas. Bare-root plants get off to a more vigorous start because their abundant, fibrous roots have already had a chance to develop unrestricted.
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- Hostas are popular, tough herbaceous plants that grow perennially and develop into clumps. I have many of them in my gardens already. These plants emerge from small, occasionally stoloniferous rhizomes with plump white-hued roots.
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- Once potted in appropriately-sized containers, the hostas were grouped together and moved to a designated location for the cold season.
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- We decided to store them in the cold frame outside my greenhouse. In gardening, a cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure, built low to the ground, and used to protect plants from adverse weather.
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- The cold frame has a transparent top that allows sunlight during the day and keeps the heat from escaping at night. Here are Carlos and Carlos closing the cold frame last fall with all the hostas protected inside. I am fortunate to have such a large cold frame here at the farm – this can hold a few hundred potted plantings.
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- The cold frame was opened as soon as the weather was warm enough – look how much they grew in six-months.
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- Here is a view from the other side – they are all so lush and green. The transparent top of the cold frame is completely removed to expose the plants.
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- This is Hosta ‘Blue Angel’. This is one of the larger varieties. It has huge, heart-shaped, blue-green leaves and matures to three-feet tall and four-feet wide. It is also quite popular because it is slug resistant.
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- Here is a closer look at a beautiful ‘Blue Angel’ leaf. Hostas are primarily grown for their ornamental foliage. The stalked, veined, often dense, basal leaves rise up from a central rhizomatous crown to form a rounded to spreading mound of foliage.
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- This variety is called ‘Francee’ with dark green, heart-shaped leaves and narrow, white margins. Another vigorous grower, this hosta blooms in mid to late summer.
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- This hosta, ‘Aureomarginata’, features green leaves with a hint of blue, and thin, gold margins. The leaves are slightly puckered giving the plant a more textured appearance.
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- This hosta is called ‘Patriot’. This variety has dark green leaves with wide, white margins that are creamy-yellow in spring. This hosta blooms in mid summer with delicate lavender flowers and grows up to about 22-inches in height and 30-inches in width when mature.
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- ‘Guacamole’, when mature, has huge, apple-green leaves with wide, dark green margins. This variety is a fast grower and reaches a height of 22-inches with a 38-inch spread.
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- This is ‘Wide Brim’ with its dark green leaves and wide, yellow, irregular margins. This variety prefers full shade for most of the day.
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- And this cultivar is called ‘Antioch’. ‘Antioch’ is a classic hosta that dates back to the 1920s. This hosta has a medium green center with margins of chartreuse in spring that change to white by June. It’s a vigorous grower that forms a large mound of attractive green and white foliage.
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- Here’s our NYBG intern, Zoe, transporting the hostas to the new planting location.
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- Ryan lines them up in the new and interesting geometric pattern I planned for this space.
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- When planning a formal garden, try to keep it simple. Choosing and sticking to a particular plant palette and planting them en masse will help create a bigger impact. You will love what I have designed – I will show the planting and finished garden in the next blog.
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