My Hosta Garden
There's always something to admire in the gardens, even on a day of ground soaking rains.
Five years ago I planted hundreds of hosta plants down behind my chicken coop yard and across the carriage road from my allée of lilacs. I first got the plants as bare-root cuttings and kept them in a cold frame for several months until they were big enough to transplant. In all, we had more than 700 hostas in a variety of cultivars including 'Wide Brim,' 'Francee,' 'Regal Splendor,' 'Elegans,' and 'Blue Angel.' They have flourished over the years. Now they fill the entire space with verdant foliage under the dappled shade of the stately dawn redwoods.
Here are some photos taken yesterday after a morning of showers, enjoy.
-
- I tour all the gardens on a daily basis. I check how much the plants have grown, how healthy they are, and whether they need more food or water. I also assess what areas need more filling, or if plants need moving. Right now, so many of the gardens are just brimming with color and vitality – in particular, my hosta garden.
-
- This garden is planted under the shade of tall dawn redwoods, Metasequoia.
-
- Dawn redwood trunks are reddish-brown with vertical, shredding bark.
-
- The dawn redwood has feathery, fine-textured needles that are opposite each other and approximately a half-inch long. Don’t confuse them with the bald cypress needles, which grow alternately. These dawn redwood needles will turn shades of red and brown before falling – it is one of the few deciduous conifers.
-
- Another favorite is Continus – a few are also planted in this space. The smooth, rounded leaves come in exceptional shades of clear pinkish-bronze, yellow, deep purple, and green.
-
- Hyacinthoides hispanica, commonly called Spanish bluebell or wood hyacinth, is a bulbous perennial native to Spain, Portugal and northwest Africa. Each bulb produces a clump of two to six strap-shaped leaves from which a rigid flower stem grows, typically containing up to 12 to 15 hanging, bell-shaped, bluish-lavender flowers that rise from the center.
-
- These Spanish bluebell plants dot the garden with soft blue amidst shades of green.
-
- It’s hard to miss these beautiful flowers. Dicentra is an elegant, easy-to-care-for perennial for shady gardens. More commonly known as bleeding heart, it is named for its heart-shaped blossoms that dangle from slender, arching stems. Dicentra is a great companion for other shade loving perennials such as hostas. Here it is in pink.
-
- Viburnums have long been one of the most popular flowering landscape shrubs. This large group of plants consists of more than 150 species and numerous named cultivars. Viburnums include deciduous and evergreen specimens as well as small trees, mostly native to North America or to Asia. The leaves of viburnum range from glossy green to a dull, dark green to foliage that is thick and leathery.
-
- But the main focus of the garden is this lush carpet of hostas – hundreds of bold, green, gorgeous hosta plants are thriving.
-
- Before they fully open, they unfurl like this one.
-
- And then they show off their large beautiful leaves. The hostas were strategically positioned and spaced, paying attention to variety, color, and growth habit.
-
- Hosta leaves rise up from a central rhizomatous crown to form a rounded to spreading mound.
-
- These beautiful plants have been opening more and more every day.
-
- Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies, and occasionally by the Japanese name, giboshi.
-
- Hostas are native to northeast Asia and include hundreds of different cultivars.
-
- Hosta leaf textures can be smooth, veined or puckered. Their surfaces may be matt, shiny, or waxy but are usually satiny.
-
- ‘Regal Splendor’ is a large hosta featuring thick, wavy-undulate, blue-gray leaves with irregular creamy white to pale yellow margins and cuspidate tips.
-
- ‘Elegans’ has huge, rounded, blue-gray leaves with white flowers that bloom mid-summer.
-
- Occasionally, leaves will feature half white and half green making the markings even more interesting.
-
- Most varieties tend to have a spread and height of between one and three feet.
-
- Unlike many perennials, which must be lifted and divided every few years, hostas are happy to grow in place without much interference. In summer, blooms on long stalks extend up above the clumping hosta foliage.
-
- Hostas thrive in sites where filtered or dappled shade is available for much of the day, but they can survive in deep shade. If you have a shady area, experiment with shade-loving plants. Hostas, with their palette of different colors, textures, and sizes have tremendous landscape value and offer great interest to any garden.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
