After You Buy Hostas, Proper Care Will Keep Them Healthy and Beautiful

Published July 21, 2016 Updated June 21, 2022

So, you’ve decided to buy hostas for your shade garden. Hostas make the perfect choice when you want perennials that are relatively low-maintenance and can grow in partial shade. When you buy hostas, you have many choices regarding foliage colors and there are a number of hosta cultivars available - making up a wide range of leaf sizes, colors, textures and patterns. Properly caring for hostas will ensure that they last in your garden area or landscaping for many years. Although they are considered lower maintenance than some other perennials, there are a number of things you can do to ensure your hosta plants thrive and return again year after year.

The color of the leaves on each hosta can help you to determine how much light the plant will require in order to grow well. Hostas that have blue leaves prefer more shade than those with striped or otherwise variegated leaves. The yellow-leaf hosta varieties often prefer sun in the morning. Choose carefully based on the area that you have available for planting hostas. Although hostas are perennial plants, you will still need to site them correctly in the garden to enjoy them for a number of years.

If you live in a relatively dry area, plan to water your hostas at least once a week. Hosta plants prefer one to two inches of water each week and if you are not getting this in rainfall, you will need to water them. Slightly acidic, organically rich soils are best. Organic fertilizers are fine, but hostas never need commercial salt-based fertilizers. Hostas are shade plants that can be planted any month of the year that the ground isn’t frozen and you can keep them watered during establishment. In areas that have frigidly cold winters, mulching the clumps with straw or mulch is recommended during winter.

Hostas are excellent shade plants for anywhere in the garden that receives light shade, or you can grow them in containers and place them around your patio or porch. Plant Delights Nursery, Inc. offers a number of beautiful hostas that will help you to add a splash of colorful foliage to your landscaping. You can read more about our hostas and other shade plants on our website or visit our gardens during one of our Open Nursery and Garden Days where you can see the various species of perennial plants and flowers that we grow. When you are ready to buy hostas, we hope you’ll consider our online mail order nursery catalog. Please contact us at Plant Delights Nursery today for more information.

Back to articles