Oh and I have Liberty also.

What a super gift! Lucky You!

You can look them up at the Hosta Library. Then you can get the particulars on each one by clicking on the "Myhostas.net Database" at the top of the photo page for that particular hosta. More info at the Hosta Registry .

-Babka

I've never had much luck with Patriot in my Upstate SC garden - might do better in a pot.

Sum and Substance does well for me but it is slow to grow in size and doesn't get to the size they have in catalogs.

I've only had Stained Glass for a year but it has expanded in size (after some damage from a late freeze).

I don't have experience with the others.

If you want to expand, I've had good luck with Halcyon, Guacamole, and June. I've got several other varieties doing well but don't know the names of them.

What a nice gift! My growing zone is completely different, but I've had luck with Stained Glass in both the ground and in a concrete pot with no bottom that I leave outside year round. It seems to be a robust hosta.

Stained Glass, Abigua Drinking Gourd, Sum & Substance have all done well for me in Upstate SC. Just planted Liberty last summer, but it looks like it is going to do well. I'd put all of these in the ground if they have decent root systems. Like whitewatervol, I'm not having much luck with Patriot in dappled sunlight. May try moving it to more sun.

You have an awesome cousin !! I have all of them except Liberty. stain Glass has been great grown in a pot and in the ground. Abigail Drinking Gourd is one of my slower growers.

Thanks everyone! I'll post pics later and do some research in the Hosta library. I take all advice since I fell in love with this crazy plant.

Sum and Substance will get huge and would be best planted in the ground in a spot big enough for it to mature.

I would pot them all. In zone 8, you don't get a lot of cold weather. Hosta like cold weather. Being in pots lets them experience more cold than if they were in the ground. I've grown Sum and Substance and Stained Glass. Both have done well for me in pots. I've not grown the others, but they should do fine. I didn't have much luck with Patriot, but I'm sure you will do better. You have a more humid environment, I think. That should help.

I don't have photos of Stained Glass, but below is Cathedral Windows, a close relative. Below that is Sum and Substance. Both are grown in pots.

bk

Can I just put them in pots until I figure out where to put them and move them later? I may have to add another few inches to my little collection or start another one.

Or should I mix store bought garden soil in the ground and some 10-10-10 right away?

This is what I have if I use pots.

While it doesn't show the contents of the mixture I get the impression by the "contains a wetting agent" notice at the top that it contains water retaining gels, and an excellent way for the hostas to get water-logged and succumb to root rot over winter. Your best bet for planting hostas in pots, and most other plants for that matter, and ensure not only their survival but encourage them to thrive is to use a very-well-drained potting mix. If you buy nothing but commercially available stuff your best bet would be an orchid planting mix, which likely will be bark chip based and will probably only be available in smaller volume bags and thus end up costing quite a bit more. If you are prepared to do some mixing yourself use a blend of 5 parts pine bark fines, 1 part peat moss, 1 part and a couple of handfuls of CRF (controlled release fertilizer) and while you'll end up having to water more frequently your plants will thrive and thank you! And you give them a much better chance of surviving the wet winters....

Pieter

I think Pieter gives some solid advice above. I see you listed as zone 8 SC. I live in the Greenville area and around here Lowes sells a product for under $2 a bag called Evergreen top soil. Its pictured above. This stuff is mostly finely ground pine bark with a small amount of coarse sand mixed in. I also buy sphagnum peat moss. I use a scoop that holds about a liter of material and a 5 gallon bucket. I put in 2 scoops of that top soil, and then 1 scoop of sphagnum peat moss. I then mix it up in the bucket. After mixing, I add 2 more scoops of the top soil and then mix it again. This gives me a potting mix that is 4 parts top soil to 1 part peat moss. It holds enough moisture to last a day even in the heat but not so much that I get root rot.

Make sure the pots you use have good drainage. I've seen ones lately at Walmart that don't have any drainage holes. You need water to drain in case we get a big downpour of rain. If your pots don't have drainage holes, you can drill several 1/4" holes to help the pots drain.

You can always plant the hostas out in your yard later. Best planting times are generally early spring (right now around here) or mid to late fall. I avoid planting in the middle of summer if possible. For Hostas you want to use pots big enough to let them grow. Don't use anything less than a gallon pot. I'd suggest 2-3 gallon pots if you have them.

I am familiar with that type of top soil, Whitewatervov. I can also afford the sphagnum. It's the pots I have to look for for five of them. A good recipe. What about fertilizer. I have 10-10-10?

I HIGHLY recommend that you put your Hostas in pots that just accommodate their roots. Anything larger and you are asking for root rot. So get your pots when you see what your plants (roots) look like. The Springhill website shows that they ship tiny , one eye plants, so big 2-3 gal pots might be oversized. Remember that sleep, creep, leap growth for Hostas. I am in a warmer winter zone, and I have hostas 6 years old that are still in 2 gal cans. YMMV!

-Babka

I didn't realize these were going to be that small (haven't done much mail ordering). I put one eye seedlings in quart pots.

Have the plants already arrived?

Yes. I have had them for about a week. I tried to put the root on top of the bag so you could see it.

Hard to tell scale but they look like something I'd put in either a 2.5 quart or gallon pot. Disregard my previous advice on pot size. Do make sure the pots have drainage holes, though.

You have had them for a WEEK? Get those babies planted!

-Babka

Rootwise, that looks like one I recently received as a gift from a place called American Meadows. (Similar to some OBL's I saw at Wal-Mart). I potted mine in an 90/10 mixture of pine bark mulch (available at Lowes) and sand. Also threw in a little Osmocote and some Milorganite. Took about a week for it to show some growth, but it leafed out okay. Since yours hasn't leafed out yet, it should be fine, but I'd get it in a pot ASAP.

I potted the two that needed it most late last night: Sum & Substance and Liberty. I will pot the others today. Here is what they look like:

I hope it wasn't too late. Putting them under my car port until I see some growth.

Two days for the red pots and they are opening up already. I just did the others last night.

Almost two weeks in their new homes. But something looks wrong with my Liberty's leaves. ( see last picture). Is there a doctor in the house?

I don't see anything to be concerned about. Plants will sometimes be a little tattered when they leaf out. Of you could have a little insect or slug damage. Either way, doesn't look like any big deal to me.

Whew! Thanks.

Should I put coffee grinds around the top of this plant?

It is amazing how fast those tiny bare root plants have sprouted into life!

They look amazing to me for two weeks. I think you should be quite pleased!

Coffee grinds on top will do NOTHING. Coffee grounds can be used as part of a compost but when you put them on top and they dry out it becomes a hard-caked layer and will impede water movement and aeration.

Pieter

Thanks Pieter. I read that somewhere in here for the slugs.

Thanks everyone. This is my first time planting bare roots. Great instructions from all of you.

Cant wait till next year. I'm gonna keep a log if my eyes now like some of my other Hosta lovers.

Best way to control slugs is by spraying the slugs with an ammonia solution -1 in 10 ratio-. Slugs tend to come out when things are cooler and moister, so evenings are a good time to go slug hunting...

Pieter

did anyone discuss that top SOIL is NOT potting MEDIA ... soil is mother earth..

potting media.. goes in pots ...

the whole purpose of potting media.. is water management ... done right ... water goes in the top.. and flows right out the bottom.. retaining what the plant needs ... hosta like a loose media ... and many take a peat based mix.. and mix it with bark pieces.. to increase drainage ...

it is very important.. come late fall ... that your media dries out to some extent ... hosta have a requisite dormancy .. and when the plant is asleep... it does not need to be in sodden water logged cold media ...

what you have is fine for now.. but since we are going to enable the beegeebees out of you ... you may as well get on the right track.. the next time you buy a bag of potting media ... and if you have a garden use for the SOIL ... then use it.. and get a bag of media ...

good luck .. consider yourself enabled ...

ken

ps: and dont get me wrong.. if one or two of us.. out of a hundred.. can get away with soil in their pots.. good for them .... but when i moved from dirt in pots to media... i would say my success rate went from 50 to 95% ... unfortunately.. it took me 20 years to come to that brilliant conclusion .. lol ...

Ken. Where have you been since I first posted? You are one of my Hosta mentors. Are you saying I should change my soil for the winter? Or can I mix in the bark. I've no idea about bark. Please elaborate. Are you saying that the top soil is for the garden (ground)? Do you have a certain recipe for Hosta in pots? Do tell, Ken.

I think he was referring to your initial bag of "potting mix" that had wetting agents in it. You didn't pot in that, did you?

The generic "top soil" I suggested blending from Lowes (local to SC) is mostly finely ground up pine bark with some sand mixed in. It should provide enough drainage. I've got several Hostas and Heuchera that have been planted in that with a bit of peat moss mixed in for several years. I potted ~70 quart sized Heuchera plants in that last summer and only lost about 5 of them. (anybody want Heuchera 'Dale's Strain'?)

I have recently started mixing that "top soil" brand equally with "pine bark mini nuggets" in an equal ratio. I think that will be even better but still evaluating.

Wow GardenGalBC! I hope mines are that beautiful when they get bigger.

That Liberty will need a much bigger pot, if you insist on keeping it in a pot. I would replant it in the ground, myself. I have 4 Liberties (the mom and 3 babies) and the mom is 6 feet wide and 3 feet tall. I think if you keep it in a pot I'm afraid it won't reach its full potential and you'll never see the true beauty of it.

Hostanista, that is a big beautiful Liberty! What zone are you in? What's your secrets?

Cathy Cokley Shilow - I'm in 6A Woodstock, southern Ontario.
I ain't gonna lie -- yes this is my Liberty but she's probably 15 years old and I only moved into this house 5 years ago. So, she's not really my doing. She's right over the septic tank, maybe that's the secret, ha! This year she gave me 70 pips! I've taken parts of her out - I have 3 more of her Liberty babies in the back yard. Here are a couple of overhead shots taken from the 2nd story deck over the last couple of years:

That is a beautiful sight to look down on. If you are ever in SC you can bring the whole deck and plant to me. Lol. I hope to have mine as long. Yours is really beautiful.

Wow what a wonderful cousin you have! They look great ! Good job. I'm with bkay on this. Grow them in these pots until you see roots poking out the bottoms and then just barely up pot....then repeat and repeat. Remember to water water water in hot weather and make sure they are draining well. One day when they are much bigger you might try the ground..

I have or have had them all at some time. Patriot is lovely but doesn't love our heat, so if it doesn't thrive it's not because of anything you did. The others are happy. I have 3 SnS...2 in ground and 1 potted. The potted one is the biggest and happiest.

I mix in wheel barrow 1 bag soil conditioner, 1 bag Sta green tree and shrub garden soil which is a good mix...not dirt...and 1/2 to 3/4 bag of potting mix . The mini nuggets that WW said would work great to...I just have bought a lot of bags of these and will use up. All this is from Lowe's. This is what works for me and my hostas love it. Of course you won't need this much mix at one time but you get the idea.

Liberty probably won't ever be 6 ft across for us, but it will be bigger than the others and BEAUTIFUL and we enjoy the smaller versions just as much as if it was.

And that's the key...ENJOY! :-)

Gloria

Great advice, Gloria. I heed to it all. I love Hostas and I save every bit of advice I get.

I need/want more so I'm starting from seed till I'm overflowed with them.

Ill post pictures again as the grow.

Goooo Hosta!!