HOSTAS IN SOUTH LOUISIANA?

[bcurry1]

This will be my first year planting hostas so you could say that I am a Hosta newbie… and Ive read that basically Hostas just don't work down here in LA…. but i need to learn it for myself.. lol… I was hoping any of you southern gardeners could help me out with which hostas to invest in.. and some general tips to keep them alive and healthy in the LA weather…

These are the Hostas that i narrowed it down to and was going to pick my favorite ones … (my bed under the tree is completely empty) planning on mixing in Ferns/coralbells and what not with them…

any opinions on these hostas? and what to plant around them?

Sum & Substance
sieboldiana Elegans
Empress wu
Tenryu
Nigrescens
Royal Splendor
Sagae
Paul's Glory
So Sweet

thanks for help!

[Chris_W]

Welcome to the forums and the world of hostas!

From that list I would completely skip Elegans. That one needs a longer winter and cooler summer, so it won't work. Then you have both Tenryu and Nigrescens listed, but they are essentially the same plant so pick one or the other but I wouldn't grow both, especially not just starting out.

So Sweet should be one of the best choices here. You list Royal Splendor, but I think you mean Regal Splendor. Regal Splendor and Sagae are similar, and Sagae is slower, so don't expect much for the first 5 or 6 years from that one.

Paul's Glory should be a good one, and most people do fine with Empress Wu so it is worth a shot.

If you are looking to try anything else then I would go with some of the fragrant flowering hostas as those are more heat tolerant and do better with shorter winters. And for best success people in the south grow their hostas in containers as they cool off faster in the fall/winter so help with dormancy better than in the ground.

Finally I wouldn't really consider Heuchera (coral bells) as good hosta companions. Coral bells like well drained but relatively dry conditions and they also like some brighter light. Hostas like more wet conditions and more shade, so they don't really mix well together. Either the coral bells will thrive and the hostas struggle or vice versa. Ferns are a better choice and you should be able to get some ferns that do better in the south than the hostas you are growing them with

Hope that helps a little!

Chris

[Tigger]

Hi there!

Some years back (which makes the cultivar list a bit dated), Tony Avent wrote a good article on this.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Article/Summer-Perennials

If you're really in 8b (global warming be damned) you might have decent luck with the ones on Tony's list. Another option to help give your hostas a winter chill is to plant them in pots that sit in the cold (but protected from too much moisture) during the winter. The upright form of Nigrescens, Sagae, and Regal Splendor look great in big pots.

Chris is right that you should skip Elegans, and I'm not sure about Nigrescens/Tenryu (really the same plant). You should instead look at the whole family of plants arising from Fragrant Bouquet, which includes Guacamole (and a slew of Mexican restaurant-themed plants) and many others. Bob Solberg at hostahosta.com even has a "blue" sport from this line he'll be offering soon (I saw it last weekend, but it's not yet on his catalog). Bob discovered Guacamole and so has the whole line of sports.

David

[redcrx]

I was going to mention the "Iron Gate" types and Savannah. Then I noticed they were on Tony's list.

There are LOTS in the Fragrant Bouquet line that Tigger mentions.
http://www.myhostas.be/sports/MHSports- ... ouquet.htm
I like Frozen Margarita.
Check the Hosta Library for pictures - http://www.hostalibrary.org/
Or mine bunch - http://crab.rutgers.edu/~mchugh/frame09 ... grant.html

Tony's list also mentions Harpoon and Stiletto which are nice with smaller leaves.

[Tigger]

It goes without saying that H. plantaginea should be on your list, if simply as a "can I grow ANY hostas?" endpoint. There's a new tetraploid cultivar of plantaginea called 'Doubled Up'; I don't know if there's any consensus as to whether tetraploid hostas do better than their diploid counterparts in low-chill climates.

For the ultimate listing of fragrant hostas, see Don Rawson's list: http://www.hostalists.org/hosta_list_ffh.php. Not all of these are commercially available, though. You can spend a lot of time cross-referencing these with Hosta Library pictures.

David

[Zkathy]

My h. Blue Silver jumped up so early this year that it might be one that needs less winter cooling.

Kathy

[bkay2000]

Using Kathy's logic, Wolverine might do well. It was up ahead of So Sweet this year.

bk

[Robin]

I'm just a bit north of you in central AR. Before my garden disaster (not weather related), I had 200 different hostas. Some of my best performers were (not in any particular order):
Sugar & Cream
Spilt Milk
Abba Dabba Do
Sun Power
Big Daddy
Sum & Substance
Fried Bananas
Guacamole
Striptease
Lemon Lime
Indiana Knight
BTW welcome to the group, I've been gone for a while and just returning, however years ago when I first started the members here were a big help at getting my hosta garden going. I will now offer you my best tip, order your plants for folks like Hallson. The northern hosta folks, know their hosta! Getting good hosta in the south, is like trying to find good catfish up north. It can be done, but isn't easy.

[bkay2000]

I like your catfish analogy.

bk

[santamiller]

The "early to rise" thing makes sense but isn't always the case. Francee was my last to show up this spring and is maybe my strongest hosta, taking more sun that any other I have without a burn mark on it. It gets more full and prettier each year. Just a thought.