Can I get some opinions please

13 years ago

I have a 5' area between an tiger eye sumac and a Hyrdrangea Quick Fire that I would like to put a large to very large hosta in. This area gets sun till about 3 pm. Keep in mind I'm in zone 5 so my sun till 3 pm may not be as hot as say zone 7.

I would like to utilize a hosta I already have. I've done numerous searches on the web for mature size on those listed below, but as you know those sizes can vary greatly from website to website. So I'm hoping those of you with more mature hosta can help me out with my choice. I'm more concerned that it be tall, than I am with width.

These are what I alreay have that I could use:

Krossa Regal

Regal Splendor

Olive Bailey Langdon

Rain Daner

Singing in the Rain

Blue Hawaii

Mount Tom

Cinderella

A Many Splendored Thing

Seducer

Victory

Yellow River.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Alexis

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Comments (12)

thisismelissa
13 years ago
My fave from that list is Victory.

But I have a thought for you Alexis...

Have you dug in this spot before? My neighbor recently moved her 3 year old Tiger Eyes and she said that the network of roots was TERRIBLE!
alexis717_df
Original Author
13 years ago
Melissa that is a good question. This is going to sound silly, only because I was digging some VERY prolific liatrus out of this spot yesterday, but I don't remember. This will, of course, necessitate closer inspection. Mine is also 3 years old.

Oh, forgot to add to my list above... also have H. Garden Party.

Any other thoughts? Anyone?
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hosta_freak
13 years ago
I don't have Victory,but it is sport of Elatior,and in my garden,Elatior is very tall and vase-shaped. Phil
cobalt_blue
13 years ago
You could plant one Empress Wu and be done. :)

Rick
hostaladyinmaine
13 years ago
You could also plant Gentle Giant which gets about 42" high. It is upright but spreads out about 5-6 feet. Impressive. Other than that opinion, any large hosta would do. Do you have Abba Dabba Do? Gorgeous.
alexis717_df
Original Author
13 years ago
Melissa I checked and I don't seem to have an issue with the sumac roots.

Rick and hostalady, thank you for the suggestions but I really need to stay with something I already have.

Alexis
thisismelissa
13 years ago
Alexis.... Glad to hear about a root non-issue.

Now, about a companion planting. May I suggest something OTHER than a hosta (gasp!)

Right next to my tiger eyes, I have a Salvia May night and it is STUNNING. They look like they're made to go with each other.

Whatever you do, I would choose something to contrast your TES. Victory, albeit my fave, probably wouldn't do that. However, Krossa Regal/Regal Splendor may. The only thing is that depending on the shape of your TES, you might have a similar overall shape to KR/RS and therefore fight.
If you're for sure going to do a hosta, I'd do a contrasting color, mounding shape.
idiothe
13 years ago
Honestly... sun until 3 PM? I wouldn't put anything on your list in that much sun, and I'm in zone 4. I'd have to look for something with the plantaginea heritage... the Fragrant Bouquet/Guacamole family...

If the sun wasn't so strong, no question in my mind, Garden Party fits the bill... good height, good color, easily goes to a 6' diameter if you let it...

I love several of the others... Victory is a favorite, and it does tend to be pretty tall and will spread in diameter - but I wouldn't expect it to fill a 5' space. Regal Splendor does surprisingly well with sun... and is tall... but the clump diameter really tends to be more 3-4'.
alexis717_df
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you Melissa for the idea of May Night Salvia. I've never grown, nor seen in person before. I'm sure it does look lovely with the TES. Unforunately not tall enough. Behind these plants is a 3 1/2' chain link fence I'm trying to disguise or at least minimize.

Idiothe, yes I know that seems like a lot of sun. In this same bed I have 2 Patriots, 3 years in this garden and gets even more sun, sun up to sun down, no burn and look great. Also have Pauls' Glory, Sum & Substance, August Moon and... wait for it.... Elegans. These last all going into third year in sun till at least 3pm. All looking great. I will be moving Elegans but only because the blue against the dark green viburnum background is just too blah. Also grow three Kalmia's in this bed, their just getting ready to flower.

Maybe it's the fact that our summers are IMO almost never what i would call HOT (though I'm sure there are some that would disagree). Here it is June 8th and we have only had three days hit in the 70's, today and the other two about three weeks ago. Course it doesn't hurt that I water the He!! out of everything.

Melissa did get me thinking, I may go with something else that gets to the 3-4' height. I just don't know what. I am getting (gasp) (borrowed from Melissa) a little burned out on hosta.

Thank you all for your observations and opinions, they have, as always, proved insightful and thought provoking.

Alexis
florabundance
13 years ago
With the amount of light you are talking about, regardless of the heat factor, I wouldn't put any blue hosta in the spot.
i-like-to-grow
13 years ago
I'm currently contemplating what I would like to grow in a 10'x2' area between a row of hosta and the backside of my house... I would like something tall as well maybe in the 4-5ft range... shade tolerant to an extent.... I think its kinda different but I'm considering alocasia/colocasia possibly... with some digitalis in there a bit for some color.. might possibly just do a line of astilbe... anybody have any ideas for tall growing shade tolerant perennials?

John
thisismelissa
13 years ago
Have you considered a Clematis climbing on the fence?
A dark purple, like Jackmanii would be STUNNING and it would perfectly accomplish what you're trying to do.

Or, if not too likely to reseed the heck outta themselves, even a morning glory.... Heavenly Blue, I think that's the cultivar I've used before. In fact, for me, MG blooms later in the season after Salvia May Night is done. So, early season, you'd disguise the fence with the MG foliage, yet still have blooms from the Salvia. Later in the season, the reverse.

Can I get some opinions please

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thisismelissa

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Can I get some opinions please

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