Future hosta bed for HLG??

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 14th, 2016, 9:33 am

Well, I'm again long term planning for my new yard. This is an area I won't start working on in earnest until the spring of 2017. (Please ignore the glpyhosate-induced death dance of the quackgrass you see, and the Tenacity-lightened clover..... they will die soon enough!!)

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I think this area would be great for a hosta bed. It's adjacent to a creek, gets full to partial shade after lunch, morning sun, and is nice and cool. I want a more manicured look here than the random wildness today, but it won't be able to have a completely manicured look as my neighbor owns the land behind the creek and doesn't manage that 5-10 ft next to his side of the creek. So, I will always have a backdrop of green.

I got very interested when I transplanted my first hosta from a family member's estate into my yard several weeks ago. Simple enough, they all took right off! :good: Anybody know what kind this may be? It's an old plant.
Image

I transplanted some of these as well, which were doing really well in the shade from whence they came:
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(Again, I don't know what these are.... yet....)

So - I'm looking for input - what's the best way to prepare a hosta bed? This creek gets the runoff from my 1 1/2 acres, so I can't impede drainage. (Lots of moisture is again good for hostas as I understand it...) Furthermore, I'd like to mix in hydrongeas or other plants that love cool, wet, and shady conditions. My wife likes [banned word] willows, so I'll probably throw some more in. AND, we like an overall red, white, and blue colors - I in particularly LOVE the GIANT, blue hostas I've seen.

I'm pretty new to hostas, but that first dip of my toe in the water may just cause me to jump in sooner! :hello: aaarrrrgggghhhh this hobby.... :banghead:

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 14th, 2016, 9:49 am

Hold for updates

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 14th, 2016, 9:50 am

Hold for more updates

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 14th, 2016, 9:50 am

Hold for epic pictures

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 14th, 2016, 9:50 am

hold for all the :banghead: moments


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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by andy10917 » May 14th, 2016, 9:53 am

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON???

I haven't had more than a one-sentence inquiry about Hosta all season, and suddenly I've got three in-depth threads going on!! (don't take that wrong, I love it).

For a bed of that size, you'll need something called "commitment". Even once you got a rhythm going, you can plant about 6-8 hostas an hour. Do the math to figure out what Hosta Bed #214 took (223 hosta). You'll need to invest in some peat moss and SoilMoist, and not much more. I love the mass plantings that I do based on the Gilbert Wild "Hosta By The Handful" deal (best deal is 100 hosta for $100). Over time, you can add a few (more expensive) specimen hosta for focal points.

Read Creating Hosta Bed #214.

Here's a discussion of the same bed at Age 4: More on Hosta Bed 214

PS: I forgot the ID questions. That looks like a larger blue/green hosta and you'll probably never figure the exact variety, and while the picture isn't perfect, the other looks like Lily Of The Valley, especially with the small blooms.

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 14th, 2016, 10:06 am

Yeah, I've been pouring over those threads you posted elsewhere. :D Admittedly, I may be jumping on the hosta thread train. :wave:

How do you edge hosta beds? Do the thick leaves of the hosta plants keep the turf at bay, so you only have to mow up under the perimeter? Does a hosta bed require new mulch every so often like a flower bed?

I don't want a high degree of maintenance, but if I can get a hosta bed to grow in like those pictures and it doesn't require much other than resplitting every few years, it would be a great way to manage and beutify that area.

I'm a huge fan (pun intended) of the giant blue hostas. They'd be wonderful to view from our back porch. I may have to get a couple going this spring yet! haha

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by andy10917 » May 14th, 2016, 10:17 am

How do you edge hosta beds? Do the thick leaves of the hosta plants keep the turf at bay, so you only have to mow up under the perimeter? Does a hosta bed require new mulch every so often like a flower bed?
It all depends on your sense of boundaries. I like the look of a natural edge that stops where the hosta stopped growing. But others would react with horror if the edge of the bed looked sloppy in Winter (hosta are herbaceous). Most weeds won't grow under a mature bed, but a little Pre-M would be a good idea.

A mature bed does not need mulching, but keeping up the OM levels with a nice amount of peat moss (preferably before they rise in Spring) is most welcome.

The largest amount of work/cost is spraying them with Liquid Fence every 4-5 weeks, to keep the Rats On Stilts at bay.

More detail later, but a trip to CPS is on the schedule for this morning...

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Pool

Post by dfw_pilot » May 14th, 2016, 10:30 am

Hostas beat out an in ground pool in that spot? :P

[ Post made realizing it's more fun to spend other people's money ] Image

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 14th, 2016, 10:33 am

The hosta bed would be back by the creek - not in the middle of the yard :)

And most of our neighbors (who have kids ours' age) have pools already ;)

-----

ETA - a hosta bed sounds like a pretty manageable operation - AFTER installation and a few seasons of growth of course! :duel:

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 3rd, 2020, 12:05 pm

Well, I finally pulled the trigger. I picked up 100 hosta roots and 1 empress wu from Gilbert h wilde. The kids needed something to work on too.

They shipped sooner than advertised, so i didnt have 2 to 3 weeks to do perfect bed prep along the creek, but did along the house. They also arrived a day or two sooner than I expected once shipped.

Good on them, bad on me.

So, I opted to quickly plant as many as I could as best I could. I picked up bales of peat moss and compost.

I did at least get the first blanket spray of glyohosate down and some of the overhanging cover cut back.

It just started to die when the roots arrived. I quickly put down another blanket app and started digging holes about the size of volleyballs.

First soaked the roots in a bucket of water.

I half filled each with compost and peat moss, made a mound, dipped the roots in a 1/10 bleach to water mix, spread out the root over the top then filled the hole in with topsoil peat compost - whatever was close. I then made sure to water it all in pretty well.

I had plenty left over the first planting so I took them out of the water, back into the box, storing them in the fridge for a few days until I could resume.

Put more in last night. I still have a dozen or so.



The empress wu is in the middle.
Image


Show of my bed by the creek. You can see the turf dying. I sprayed an area in the front a few hours before I planted them with glyohosate, then it rained, before I could plant them.

So, I may have killed the roots or not killed the turf or both.
Image


Here's the line along the creek.
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The goal here along the creek isn't really a manicured look, but rather to fill in an area that is hard to grow turf in due to competing roots, uneven ground, constantly dropped nuts, and weed encroachment. These are under black walnut trees. My other hostas have done fine underneath them, so I went for it.

For me it's a numbers game. I planted everything about 18 in apart. If I get 3/4 success I'll be happy.

Half would be fine by me too.

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by andy10917 » May 3rd, 2020, 2:18 pm

Morph, I think you're in for a couple of surprises...

While the roots are small and you can't imagine anything substantial growing from them anytime soon, I was surprised at how quickly decent-sized plants jumped to life! They were near a foot tall at 4-5 weeks, and by the next season they were damned close to full size

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 3rd, 2020, 5:23 pm

My goal is to have a nice bed on the north side of my house that should be perfect for the empress wu I put there with surrounding plants, and then to line the creek and fill in a wooded area that turf doesnt do as well in.

One thing I noticed was how many grubs were present in the woods by the creek even though I apply grub killer

Just another reason to fill it in with hostas

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 7th, 2020, 3:57 pm

I've got some sprouting going on, but some others that are obviously dried up.

Mediocre success thus far.

I kept a dozen in the fridge to hopefully patch thing up where they dont make it

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by andy10917 » May 7th, 2020, 6:09 pm

Huh - I got 110 plants to make it from a box of 100 - really

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by andy10917 » May 16th, 2020, 3:18 pm

Any Hosta coming up yet, HLG?

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 16th, 2020, 7:48 pm

andy10917 wrote:
May 16th, 2020, 3:18 pm
Any Hosta coming up yet, HLG?
YES! My expectations have been exceeded!

80% are coming in. Most that havent have been dug up by rabbits or squirrels.


Image

I still have a dozen in the fridge to fill in with.

Man I love hostas.

I need to hit the area with glyohosate again and then too dress with some mulch but I'm happy so far. The idea is to build a natural line that masks the places where turf doestn grow well and lots of black walnuts drop.

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 16th, 2020, 7:50 pm

I should add, I bought an Empress Wu, and it is looking yellowed, very bad. I feel I planted it well. Lots of compost, peat moss, mixed with native soil. No fertilizer. We've had great rain for it.

But we had a late frost right after I planted it. I'm worried.

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by andy10917 » May 16th, 2020, 8:12 pm

Man I love hostas.
Be careful - I stopped counting when I got to 700 of them.

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Re: Future hosta bed for HLG??

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 16th, 2020, 8:30 pm

andy10917 wrote:
May 16th, 2020, 8:12 pm
Man I love hostas.
Be careful - I stopped counting when I got to 700 of them.
Yeah, I can see why. Very rewarding!

My empress wu is here, suffering. I pulled off the yellow or white leaves. I want a hug plant in 5 years so I hope it makes it! Only a few of the roots don't look to be coming in. Win.
Image

May approach for roots was to dig up a volleyball sized hole, throw in peat moss and compost, then mix in 1/3 native soil and make a mound. Spread the roots over the mound. Then put more peat and soil on top.

It seems to work.

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