Identification and replanting after dividing

8 years ago

Hello:

I just dug up and divided this hosta- it was an existing planting when we bought our house. Any ideas what type it might be?

I am trying to decide where/how to replant the 4 divisions I now have. It doesn't seem happy in this location- it burns out halfway through the summer. I think it gets too much sun. I'm going to create a new more shady bed, but I'm not sure what dimensions to make the bed and how much room to leave for this plant.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Featured Answer

popmama (Colorado, USDA z5)

8 years ago

For as well as that seems to perform, I'd be inclined to divide it an put it everywhere!

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Comments (8)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
how many years had the plant been there ...

you kinda have the size it will be.. in that many years ...... in the pic ...

i cant ID it from that far away ... and without a scale ... but i do know a sedum and iris at this distance ... lol ...

ken

ps: what tree are you going to develop a bed under????
josephines167 z5 ON Canada
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
You are right about the Iris, Ken but the other is not a sedum...it may be a mini hydrangea? or some other perennial, but it's a wild guess without a closer look.

That great looking hosta could be a Patriot or Minuteman, Nicole. If you take a look at either one in the Hosta Library you might be able to consider these two suggestions or failing that, wait until more peeps respond.
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Jon 6a SE MA
8 years ago
Nicole, your zone, location and time at the house would be helpful and what the weather has been in your area. I think Jo's guess of Patriot or Minuteman is correct. You might want to simply give it (or the new divisions) more water and place them in a similar or same location if that is what you want.

Ken questions the tree because some (like maple) can have an aggressive root system that would make location under them difficult. I don't know when the picture was taken, but it looks happy to me.

Jon
Nicole
Original Author
8 years ago
Hi-

Thanks for the feedback. I'm in zone 5a. I had been thinking maybe Patriot based on pics I have seen online, I'll have a look at Minuteman as well. I'm not sure when it was planted. We bought the house last year and the gardens had been neglected for at least 2 years. This picture is early summer- around the last week in June when the hosta looked its best. As summer progresses the leaves burn and fade and it starts to look quite unhappy. I have another of similar size, but a different type in full sun that is gorgeous in the early summer, but extremely unhappy right now. I plan to move it as well, I don't have a pictures of it before it got sun damaged though.

I was thinking about putting beds for the hostas along one or both sides of the house or the side of the garage, so no tree roots to worry about. The east side of the house has a porch like the above picture and the hosta could hide the support columns. If I planted them on the other side of the house or along the side of the garage the beds would be adjacent to the foundation, and the dripline might be an issue in some spots.

I could also consider some hostas under the crabapple tree on the right side of this picture would that be compatible?

The neighboring plant is a hydrangea that I had just planted- Little Lime.
Jon 6a SE MA
8 years ago
In a 5a Zone you shouldn't have a sun problem with a Patriot or Minuteman which are almost identical. I would think either could stand 'full sun', which I don't think exists in very many places. In that zone any of the places you mention or the existing location should work well.

The crabapple doesn't have a very aggressive root system so that would work as well. Are you sure that they are not simply looking bad right now because it is Fall? I would expect them to look pretty ratty in your zone at this time of the year.

My suggestion is plant them along the sides of the house and buy a variegated or lighter group of hosta where you feel they get too much sun. The darker the hosta the happier they are with more shade and the lighter they are the better they do in the sun. Greener = more chlorophyll, lighter less chlorophyll; more chlorophyll, less sun required; less chlorophyll, happier with more sun.

Jon
Nicole
Original Author
8 years ago
Maybe it needed more water than it was getting- it starting looking unhappy in early August- the leaf edges turn brown and eventually the brown parts fall off leaving the leaves ragged looking. I just assumed hosta = needs shade, having never cared for one before.
Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.
8 years ago
Given the likely ID of the variety, I'm not surprised to hear this plant started to flag in August, I'd almost expect that from a member of the Hycinthina family tree, they are among the latest to rise and the earliest to go into senescence, they don't have a long season, unlike for example 'Halcyon' and its varied derivatives. My 'Minuteman' started to show browning edges late July...mind you, the long dry summer had something to do with that I suspect, but I made sure all through our long, dry summer that my hostas stayed hydrated...

Pieter