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The Seed Exchange

New appreciation for hostas....

16 years ago

I was never really into them, but they were here when we moved in. Last year I divided them and moved them around and there is a HUGE difference between an individual hosta which has room to spread out and 40 of them crammed into the same space.

They're LOVELY when they have enough room. Like Giant Green Roses.

:)

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Comments (7)

flwrs4ever
16 years ago
Hi Doris..I have been wondering how and when to divide my hostas...do you have any adice for me ?? I have some that look like 10 are poking up in one spot..and I have NO idea how, or when to divide them.

I am so glad you are enjoying them, I think they make a nice background for other plants, and fill in my woodland area nicely.
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
16 years ago
You girls ought to amble over to the Hosta Forum and let them enablers over there get ahold of you...LMAO...

Enjoy!

Here is a link that might be useful: Search yield on 'Divide
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Hi Cyli and welcome! Glad to see that vgtar came to your rescue. :-D I face the same way and also have a balcony above me (the top floor), but because I am up high above the trees, I get about 6 hours of unobstructed direct sun in the morning in summer (little or none in winter). I also get a few hours on the western corner as the sun sets, as I am the end balcony on the west side of the building. There are many many things you can grow. I haven't yet made an inventory of all that I have out there right now because the list keeps growing (I've been trying alot of new things the past 2 years to attract hummingbirds) and more things are due to come in! LOL But I'll be doing that soon and posting some threads on the status of the garden. The one major issue with Alberta Spruces is that they can be prone to spider mite damage and so if you are willing to keep after that, you shouldn't need to do any pruning of them and they would be a good hardy choice of tree. In general, they are slow-growers - whether in the ground or in a container (moreso in a container). With me living on a busy street - large enough to be a main thoroughfare for commuters, ambulances, trucks, and busses - I can say that it does get very noisy at times, despite my being way up on the 18th floor. And that is because of the bizarre acoustics (I can often clearly hear people talking to each other down on the street corner while they wait for a bus). I don't know if there really is anything that can be planted to deaden the noise as I certainly have a load of large shrubs out there and it doesn't really help. But you can grow a number of things to at least soften the view. What would be helpful is for you to actually make an attempt to determine the number of hours of sun you really do get - ie., maybe check when the sun rises (at least in June with the longest day) and peep out often during the morning to see where and when the last light hits the balcony. That way we can make better recommendations for plants for you. As a safe set of choices - any plants that obviously grow in part sun should work. There are a number of hardy shrubs that can grow well in those conditions if they can get from 4 - 6 hours of sun. I have had posters on GW insist that lilacs like "Miss Kim" won't bloom at all or will only have 1 or 2 blooms in less than 8 -10 hours of all day blazing unobstructed overhead sun. Yet mine is in full bloom right now with only about 4 - 5 hours of edge-of-understory-equivalent sun this time of year (this on a covered balcony that mimics the edge of the understory of woods). She is wafting up a storm with a fragrance that has been drifting into my bedroom from outside the past couple days! So sometimes you have to experiment, because you might be pleasantly surprised.
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dorisl
Original Author
16 years ago
Its funny, I wasnt really worried about saving them or anything, I just dug up the whole clump with my shovel and broke them apart by hand. When you dig it up and shake/knock some of the dirt off, you can see where the separate plants are and just pull them off. I wasnt terribly gentle on them and lots of them came back this year. Some teeny tiny ones tho, Im sure those are the smallest pieces I replanted.
medontdo
16 years ago
i did that, and the roots, that had no plants on them, they came back this year also, i never understand the whole thing on hosta's BUT i must admit, they have a "certain" prettiness to them, like the white one's with green mixed in. LOL those are sure pretty!! and i just got a very pretty variegated one, LOVE it!! i can't wait till next year when it get's more, now for a true story, LOL i have this ummmm.....i call a peace trumpet, called it that all winter. i was trying to find it's true name. well so ifnally i post it, i had been babying it along all winter and it bloomed in the winter and smelled so awesome!! almost intoxicating. turns out the only place i could think of posting it was in the lily forum, someone there said that's a hosta!!! i got to thinking about it! DUHHHH it was that's the only explanation!!! hee hee so i was babying a hosta!!! HEE HEE only me!!! LOL i thought ya'd find that funny!! LOL :'))
ishareflowers {Lisa}
16 years ago
Doris,
You Cant kill a hosta! I had them lining my driveway when I bought my house. They were very overcrowded so I just stuck the shovel in the dirt and ripped out half of each plant. My sister came about a week later[they were left in the sun and totally dried out) and took them and planted them around her pool,They are enormous!Her daughter came last byear and took clumps by the muscle method I used and hers are growing strong around her pool..I would mow mine down every fall trying to kill them and never could. It took me years to get rid of them!! I still have two good size clumps growing across the street after digging them out every year for the last twenty years!!!!
dorisl
Original Author
16 years ago
hee! I had the same experience will daylillies! I had some where I wanted my veggie patch, so I dug them out and left some of them laying ON TOP the ground next to the compost bin ALL SUMMER. This spring, they started growing right there, so What they heck, if they want to live that bad, I gave them a new home.
medontdo
16 years ago
LOL that's funny! life finds a way!! :')) and yet some plants die at the "thought" of no water. LOL

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