An introduction
I'm new here, so I thought I'd share a bit about myself and my experience with hostas.
I moved into my home, a new build, about 30 years ago. A friend who is a landscaping professional help me get my landscaping started. I planted a number of various hostas with mixed success in those first few years. I slowed down with the yard work after getting married and we had children. Now that we are empty nesters, I'm starting to get back into it again.
Our back yard is bordered by quite a few trees on three sides (mostly pines and dogwoods). I bordered these sides with liriope and planted one side with vinca minor. The vinca has now spread to fill the entire area behind the liriope. Hostas in these areas tended to do well for a few years, then decline. A few have hung on just barely; others have disappeared.
Ivy and hellebores are doing well in these side borders. This is the east side.
This is the south (back) side of the yard, with vinca filling the area.
I had five or so Halcyon planted among these Japanese Painted Ferns. I dug one a couple of years ago and potted it up (where it did much better). This is all that's left of the original planting.
Generally speaking, I've had much better success with hostas around the foundation of the house. I'll share about those in a reply below. I don't know how much of my problems with hostas in these border areas are due to too much shade, too many tree roots, or from the vinca.
Edited to add: I'm in north Alabama, zone 7b.
Comments (14)
Ben D (zone 7b)
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoMy Gold Standard hostas have done well for 20+ years. I've divided them a few times. They are planted on the east side of the house, at the base of oakleaf hydrangeas.
Here's a closeup of one (near an oakleaf that is not doing so well):
On the north side of the house, wedged by our front steps, is a Sea Monster that has also done well for years. I bought this in the mid-90's when we made a stop at a grower's in Ooltewah TN on the way home from the Smoky Mountains.
Lemon Lime has also done well near the house. This is at the southeast corner, under a holly tree. I divided these recently; three large clumps resulted in 12+ decent-size divisions.
I've had a few volunteer seedlings pop up around the house too. This one is my favorite; it's a vigorous grower, and this is after taking some divisions too:
Another seedling. I think the parent of this one might have been a mislabeled plant I received years ago that appeared to be Ginko Craig. (The GK is one of the few hostas near the house that has not survived.)
This one might also be a Ginko Craig seedling. It's much smaller than the one above.
Then there's my Sum and Substance grouping, which I've posted about before. These are the two healthy plants; these are on the west side of the house.
My hosta failures near the house include several undulata under a Bloodgood Japanese Maple; the maple really took off and I think the hostas just couldn't take the roots or the shade. I also had some Frances Williams on the north side of the house that were burning, so I moved them to one of the shady areas where the vinca took hold. I thought they had died out, but I discovered one still hanging one -- after at least 20 years. I've moved it to a new area where I'm hoping it might do ok.
This new area is my latest project. I think it may be worth its own thread.Ben D (zone 7b)
2 years agoA couple more hostas that are just hanging on in the shady vinca-filled areas, after 20+ years:
Blue Angel
And this NOID; this is after I dug a few eyes to try out in my new area.
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nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoBen D (zone 7b) thanked nicholsworth Z6 Indianapolis
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
2 years agoBen D (zone 7b) thanked cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)Ben D (zone 7b)
2 years ago
steve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohio
2 years agoBen D (zone 7b) thanked steve duggins(Z6a) - Central Ohio
Annette Holbrook(z7a)
2 years agoWelcome! I was in zone 7b for my previous house(Atlanta suburbs), now I’m in 7a. Similar to your place, my last house had significant woods. I found that hostas do not enjoy being in the midst of groundcover plantings like ivy or vinca. One of the reasons why many of my hostas ended up in pots. I found that pots gave me the ability to move the plants around without all the constant digging. And pots allowed me to bring color to the garden. This is a pic from my last house, just before we moved. This bed originally was covered with ivy. It was cleared when we listed the house.
And some of those same pots moved to the new place.
Pardon the sun exposure I just ran out front to take these. This area gets sun until about 1130 and then shade the rest of the day.
I’m looking forward to where you go with your plans. You have a great spot imho.
Ben D (zone 7b) thanked Annette Holbrook(z7a)Ben D (zone 7b)
2 years ago
peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada