Hostas

There are lots of perennial plants that you can divide if they are getting out of hand where they are planted. This is of more importance if you have perennial plants planted in pots. They become “pot bound” – they simply outgrow the pot and the roots have nowhere to go but round and round the bottom of the pot. But the good thing is you get two or three extra new plants when you divide them.

                         

This is what I did a little while ago with a whole load of Hostas I had planted in pots for a few years. Take the whole plant out of the pot. Then depending on how pot bound it is, divide them into 2, 3 or 4 pieces.

Mine were pretty bad so I divided them into 4 pieces. I then planted them into four pots, placing the new plant in the centre and filling in with multipurpose compost around it. I mixed in a slow release feed that is designed to last 12-14 months to give a little extra feed, but you could also just remember to either liquid feed your plant or hand dress it with a little slow release feed on top.

Using John Innes compost or mixing a little top soil in with your compost would also increase the nourishment for the plant. Water in well, and always remember to water containers well as they can’t take any water/feed from the ground. Rain is rarely enough to keep container watered properly. Also make sure you place drainage holes in the bottom of the pots – I have seen rain waterlogging pots that have no drainage in them. Very few plants like their roots waterlogged.

Hostas are mainly grown for their foliage but do send up spikes of bell shaped flowers, usually white, pink or lilac in colour. They are a fully hardy herbaceous (that dies down to soil level in winter) plant that prefers either shade or a semi-shaded sheltered area. They like a semi rich soil with a certain amount of water. Normally they grow to a height of 1 metre with a similar spread, though you can get dwarf varieties. They come in a variety of blue/green colours and a number of variegated white/green and yellow/green versions. Used to enhance boarders, cottage garden and containers, they have numerous uses and will add interest to whatever style of garden your trying to create. A word of warning though – slugs and snails love their leaves. I don’t like using chemicals to keep pests at bay but I make one exception for my hostas and use liquid SLUG CLEAR to keep slug free. It’s the same make up as the slug pellets but much safer if you have animals around the garden.

Until next time - happy gardening !