Plant them....water well and often....that's all. If you planted them too close....why don't you have a shovel? Just get them in to the ground. You can't be a card carrying member of the club if all your hostas are in pots. You have to plant them!!
Hostas like KC...clay and all.
Linda C

Now that you have experienced one day of your first day of this obsession GET OVER IT. Obsession is followed closely by compulsive fear about things that cause loss of sleep, high blood pressure, heart disease and pimples.

Spend the time between now and next spring reading previous threads.

I start with planting, and understand you will get many ways of doing it. All will work in the end because hosta are do damned easy to grow that you almost can't do it wrong. You will be an expert by this time next year just like all of us.

Shake off or wash off most of the potting media then dig a minimum hole. Take the soil from that hole and make a slurry with the soil from the hole then position the hosta in the middle of this slurry and pull it up so the crown is about 2 inches above soil level. Let it settle for a day and be sure crown is above soil level.

Don't worry about clay soil they are not azaleas.

Mulch with your compost and walk away, you are finished.

Now water and keep watering, YOU CAN NOT OVER WATER but you can underwater.

Hi kcmojoe, just wanted to say hello and welcome. This is my first year posting and also my first year planting hosta even though I have been lurking here for quite awhile. They are such great plants and this is such a great group. Glad to have you along. Keep us all posted.

Sagae, Blue Mammoth and Francis William can all get quite large. Blue Mammoth can get 5-6 feet wide. My Francis Williams probably span 3 1/2 to 4 feet. I guess in a 12 foot bed, I'd probably evenly space them. Not sure how large Capt Kirk gets at maturity, but I seem to recall this can be a big one too..

Welcome to the world of hosta!

Lynne

I mulch most of my hostas but not my Blue Mammoth or Frances William. They both seed readily so I leave the soil around them bare. They've both rewarded me with many babies. This year my Big Daddy and Elegans are having babies too.

I agree with everyone... plant them, make sure the crowns are not buried and then water, water, water.

Diane

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!! Welcome to the madness!! You will love it!!!!

Congratulations! I hope this "flower" bed gets a little shade. There are alot of hosta that can take a good amount of sun, however Francis Williams can find ways to burn in shade....

WELCOME.
Post often.

Glad you joined the wonderful world of hostas.

Plant them, water a lot and enjoy! THey will reward you!

Alexa

Welcome, Great choices.Francis Williams is Beautiful but mine tends to sun scorch so now it is in more shade.I love Captain Kirk. I don't think you will ever find a better deal than $3.00.Brenda

Just setting a new hostaholic to rights on terminology - it's FrancEs Williams, as in Lady Frances, not Francis as perhaps Sir Francis Drake.

'Frances Williams' is a variegated sport of Hosta sieboldiana 'Elegans.' It is named for Mrs. Frances Ropes Williams (1883-1969) of Winchester Massachusetts, who spotted the first known specimen in a field of H. sieboldiana at Bristol Nurseries in Connecticutt, in 1936.

Follow the link below for a fascinating historical tidbit on how this plant got its name.

Here is a link that might be useful: How hosta Frances Williams got its name

All,
Thanks for your warm welcome, your insightful advice, and your "historical tidbits" :) I read the website, and enjoyed the info. I think it would be really neat to name your own plant variety.
I put the plants in the ground Saturday late afternoon. I have since identified the last Hosta I purchased, JUNE.
I am particularly excited about that one, specifically the color scheme.
I do have the Hosta's cramped probably if they all reach their full potential (size), but I just plan on keeping an eye on them, and move them if need be.
I will try and get some pics posted tonight when I get home and get the kids to bed.

No one ever moves them if you have time do it now!

Huh? I move mine sort of often! Whenever I bring home more than one new variety, I have to rearrange the bed so things look good together.

kcmojoe, welcome. Oh, what a great choice with

Frances Williams is beautiful, but tends to burn for most, so keep it in as much shade as possible.

Another hosta you *must* have is Liberty. Scroll down in this thread and look at Maryann's drool-worthy specimen! It has been a slow grower for me, not sure why, but it will be worth the wait.

And then there's Sea Fire, and Abba Dabba Do, and Sun Power, and Elegans, and Jimmy Crack Corn, and, and, and.....Welcome to the addiction!

Weed--how do you do that??? Link within your message???
Sorry--don't mean to high-jack this thread!

kcmojoe--You've gotten some really good advice--and you're on your way to hostaholicism!!
Again, welcome and now--get to work--there's planting and watering to be done! LOL

Congratulations. Excellent choices! Sagae, Blue Mammoth and Frances Williams were among my first hosta purchases. They all get large. Sagae is probably the slowest growing of the group you bought. Still, mine is about 8 feet wide after 8 years. I've divided Blue Mammoth and Frances Williams several times. As others have said, FW tends to get crispy, so more shade and more water is needed for it to stay looking good.

No gold hostas? I didn't buy any until about 5 years ago.

Thanks everyone on the advice and praise of my selections.

Maureen,
You are right, I didnt even notice, no Gold hostas. I just picked the five saw frequently in this community that I liked and bought them.

Esther,
I will HAVE to move them sooner or later, as they are going to get to big for where they are at currently. I need to see how fast they grow where they are.

As for everyones concerns about FW, It is basically in full shade. Depending on the time of year, it gets from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours of sun a day. (lucky placement to be honest). I will take a pic and post today after work. I am leaving work early so I hope to have it up on here by Dinner at the latest. Looking for everyones input and to make sure I didnt buy any mis-labeled baby's :)

Ok here is the overall shot, These were taken with my phone so apologies for quality of pictures:
{{gwi:61581}}

And then each individual hosta:

{{gwi:61583}}

{{gwi:61584}}

{{gwi:61585}}

{{gwi:61586}}

{{gwi:61587}}

any of these mis labeled in your opinions?

Even as a tiny baby my Capt. Kirk didn't look that dark. Unless it's just the picture quality.

Nice haul, kcmojoe! Where did you find hosta around here for $3 a pop?

Roflol,
thanks, and they were on a summer sale at Suburban lawn and garden out on stateline and 119th.

Hi Joe,

I'm in KC too. Welcome to the wonderful world of hostas! I'm impressed with those plants, considering that it's August, and they're not crispy fried. Suburban must take good care of their plants - I don't think I've ever been out there. And pricewise, you got a steal!

I disagree with whoever said you can't overwater hostas. There are some that don't like boatloads of water. I killed a young tokudama aureonebulosa this year with too much watering. I'd stick with watering when they look like they need it.

By the way, for the purposes of purchasing plants for our zone, if you're in the KC area, you're zone 5.

Have fun with your new babies!

Deanna

Deanna,
thanks, and I like suburban's its just tough to get them when they have good prices. you really have to check on them every week or so.

I was told that our Zone has changed recently. First KCMO was zone 5 (a or b I cant keep up), and now its supposedly zone 6. Eitherway its all good. Its all HOT AND HUMID in August anyways :) lol

I had read that about our zone changing. But then we had a nastier winter than we'd had in awhile, so I'm sure not going out and buying a bunch of plants that are only hardy to zone 6! I think they jumped the gun!

Deanna

Deanna, it's Arbor Day Fdtn. who changed our zone and I was happy to take their cue, got tired of the 5a/b wafflyness. However, USDA has not changed the zones so you are correct too.

I do try to get things that are hardy to 5 just to be safe... some of those winter winds can be nasty. But I think it's a wash anyway. Sometimes you will get plants that say hardy to zone 5 but they were grown in the south and won't make it here no matter what the label tells you! And then there are times when you grow your own from seed (try wintersowing) and no matter what plantfiles says about it being only hardy to zone 6/7, it comes back for ya anyway! :-)

Terri

Ok next questions.....
What do I do now to prepare my little babies for the winter? anything? or just leave them mulched , with water and ready to slumber?

Congratulations and welcome to the club, the instructions are saying 20" from center to center, that means in 5 to 10 years the space between your hostas will be gone. but you will have lots more hostas by then and your flower bed will have increased tenfold in size.

Butch/Easter: Take the soil from that hole and make a slurry with the soil from the hole.. I think you meant to say: mix the soil from the hole with the soil from the pot and put it all back in the hole, together with the hosta !

Welcome to the club. Preparation for winter is just what you thought - mulch, water and let them go to sleep. Then like Esther said - spend the winter reading through previous posts. Oh and check out the Gallery section to really feed your growing addiction.

Enjoy

June