Acorn Hollow Hostas

Hostas: Landscape Problem Solvers

By Lou Horton

In addition to making fine specimen plants in the shady landscape, hostas can do fine work in solving landscape problems all over the garden. What follows is a partial list of the ways that hostas can be used to turn problem areas into positive features.

Use them in mass in shady areas where little else will thrive.

My home is shaped like a “C” with a huge oak standing in the middle with house on three sides. Previous owners had tried to grow turf grass and various ground covers around the tree with poor results. I planted twenty small H. Gold Standards there and the area now is lit with their gold color with foliage so thick that weeds have all but given up trying to grow among the hostas. Two years ago, I planted a number of Virginia Bluebells among the hostas. They come up much earlier, bloom and have their fading foliage covered up by the hostas as they emerge.

This mass planting of H. Gold Standard turned a problem area into a feature.

Hostas can be used for erosion control

Hostas have spreading, fibrous root systems and do an excellent job of holding the soil in place on slopes when they are massed in sufficient quantities. Many of the more common varieties such as H. Lancifolia, H. Royal Standard, etc. would be excellent for such projects and are frequently obtainable at very reasonable prices when bought in quantity. Want to create quantities even less expensively?  Ventricosa can  be grown from seed and within two years, literally hundreds can be produced. Lancifolia is usually sterile but plugs (called liners) are readily available and are inexpensive.

Using hostas in containers makes them much more portable and the color of the container and that of the hosta can set one another off. See the container of H. Full Monty which graced the entrance of our home one year. The container and the silver in the hosta  complemented one another. Mini hostas are excellent in containers and they can be moved out of the weather during the winter.

The use of mature hostas near a new water feature can make it look like it has been there for years.It may be quite expensive to upgrade the size of ornamental trees or shrubs in that situation but mature clumps of hostas can be had relatively inexpensively. In the picture which follows, three mature clumps were transplanted immediately after a pondless waterfall was installed. The transplanted clumps included H.Laura and Darrel, H.Moonlight, and (behind L&D) H. Solar Flare. The secret to moving clumps without much transplant shock or wilting even in hot weather is to take plenty of soil with the root ball. The clumps had been growing in the area in which the waterfall was to be installed so they were dug the previous day and moved to a shady spot to await their final move. The root balls were placed on a tarp and dragged to their temporary home rather than risk breaking the root ball when picking them up. They were then replanted late the following day after the waterfall was installed. Virtually no wilting of the clumps took place even though the move took place in June with temps near 90 degrees.

This look was achieved within a couple days of the installation of this pondless waterfall.

Hostas around a pondless waterfall at Acorn Hollow

Some types of hostas were specifically developed to be used as edgers in the front of borders. Some even have the term “edger” in their names: Pacific Blue Edger, for example. My favorite in the group is Radiant Edger. It is both very attractive and an excellent grower. Here it is shown as a border plant in a heavily shaded area.

This group of Radiant Edgers makes a fine border