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planting Elegans in late summer/fall

15 years ago

After reading the top 10 choices of everyones I noticed Elegans quite a few times. I cant seem to get that puppy to winter over. I recently realized that every time Ive bought it, its been later in the year. I usually only plant Hostas in spring, would that a difference with this plant type, is it fussier and need more rooting time perhaps? Ive made sure I put them where they like and this is my 4th one, hopefully itll still be there in spring.

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Comments (3)

esther_opal
15 years ago
I recommend you plant Elegans rather high with the crown about 2-3 inches above the normal ground level. Then mulch with a fairly lose mulch such as municipal compost, Pine Bark mulch or mini Nuggets or hardwood mulch. Then water everyday until it starts to go dormant then stop, when it starts to go dormant not when it is dormant and stop watering period until it starts to emerge in the spring. Mulch again 2-3 inches about 12-15-08.

Or what I really recommend is insert a constant water reservoir in the ground then follow above directions. Since you lost a few it may be worth the try of a completely new method.
Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.
15 years ago
I recommend you plant Elegans rather high with the crown about 2-3 inches above the normal ground level. Then mulch with a fairly lose mulch such as municipal compost, Pine Bark mulch or mini Nuggets or hardwood mulch.

That certainly has been my experience with Elegans and I rather suspect it is the cause of failure for many people with its derivatives as well, most notably Great Expectations and by inference/connection Thunderbolt, Dream Queen and Dreamweaver. Crown rot with these develops rather easily it would appear and while I sold my last Elegans this spring and I no longer have an opportunity to take a picture of it to show how high it sat in its pot, the DQ and DW I have are both planted high and using a form of pretty much constant water supply for them -pots in a saucer that gets refilled every 2-3 days, haven't got the space for Butch's bucket method for all I have potted- they have put on substantial growth this year.
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upnort
Original Author
15 years ago
AH~HA! So its not the time Im yr Im planting it, its how Im planting it! I never thought to plant it high. Never crossed my mind with hostas actually. Now the big question,its only been a couple weeks since I planted it, so do I leave it and hope it survives or dig it up and replant it and hope it survives....hmmm...

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