So what are you doing in your hosta gardens these days?

[Chris_W]

Right now it seems to be water, water, water, but I'm also doing some last minute dividing while it is still really warm out. I'm hoping there will be at least a few more weeks of warm weather to encourage new roots, since once it gets cold the hostas stop all of their root growth.

I'm also doing a lot of planting and moving around. Seems like I have too many similar colors or similar plants near each other. Time to do the hosta shuffle

We plan to get some mulch towards the end of the month. I like to mulch the hostas in the fall so that if I bury any crowns it won't matter as they are about to go down and they will adjust to the new depth quickly in the spring.

So what are your fall hosta plans?

[Seedseller1]

I need to be doing some "hosta shuffle" here also, but at this point I think I'll just make a few notes and do it in the spring so I don't have to deal with the foilage. The only thing going on in the hosta gardens these days is hybridizing. The last of my streakers are about done, Outrageous and Liberty Bell each have a few more flowers to work with and Hyuga Urajiro should start opening it's first fower/s tommorrow. Will continue to collect pollen from the "reds" for next years early crosses. Besides that it's pulling an occasional weed or volunteer tree when I notice one and from there it will be watching them decline for the year.

[barbara]

Watering and shuffling, as much as I can with the dry hot weather we are experiencing. I always move hostas around this time of year, who cares about the foliage!? I'm actually hoping they would all fall apart in the next couple of weeks so I would once, in many yrs. , be ahead of the fall clean-up game. Its been hard working outside, seems like we have so many more biting bugs around than in previous yrs. One day at a time, what gets done, gets done, if not, there is always next year, God willing

[hostanquilts]

A local nursery is going out of business & I bought a lot of named hosta at 25% off, a few for $5 each & some TCs at $4 for a 6 pack, so I have been busy planting them & watering & weeding. Last fall my DH had tilled a new area in the timber at the edge of our lawn & so I've been planting them in there. The smaller ones, I'm going to pant inthe outside edges of existing beds.

Chris, you mentioned that ,"We plan to get some mulch towards the end of the month. I like to mulch the hostas in the fall so that if I bury any crowns it won't matter as they are about to go down and they will adjust to the new depth quickly in the spring."

I was wondering do you remove the leaves of the hosta before mulching? We have lots of Oak & Hickory Nut trees & have a leaf vac/mulcher that we pull behind the lawn tractor & so I have lots of mulched leaves that I can use as mulch, but I was concerned about it encouraging crown rot. What do you think?

[mooie]

I've mostly been tidying up the beds and trying to keep up with the watering as I can. Unfortunately, the dry spell we've had for a month or so is taking it's toll and things are beginning to go dormant.

However I am faced with a very large chore as I'm hopefully going to be moving to a smaller home just across the street. With a smaller yard. I'm only going to be able to take half of my hostas with me and they all need to be chosen and dug. I have plenty of seedlings to replace my treasures with so there shouldn't be any gaping holes in the landscape when it comes time to list my house. Guess I will just have to pot them up til spring, but I'm not sure how to store them over the winter. Things happen so quickly sometimes. This caught me totally off guard. lol!

mooie

[caliloo]

Watering... and weeding and weeding and watering.

Did I mention watering? and weeding?

[ViolaAnn]

Also watering. And thinking.A lot were new in a new garden in the spring and some of those need to be moved. Some which are in places that are too dark need to be moved as well.

We plan some major pruning on our trees in the next few weeks. I'm hoping that as dormancy is approaching, the Hostas won't be damaged.

Ann

[Mary Ann]

Jan, I use a lot of mulches year 'round and never had a problem with crown rot. Ideally fall leaves should be added AFTER the ground freezes or at least after critters have already found their winter abodes to avoid them nesting in your garden. I leave the foliage on hosta plants until they're limp enuf to pull off, rather than cutting from plant to plant. Sometimes that's not until Spring.

[playinmud]

I've been watering and doing some planting. I'm praying for some rain from hurricane Hannah to come our way, then all I have to do is plant, LOL. Went to a garden center with my DBF last weekend thinking hosta, but ended up buying three dinner plate hibiscus, a yellow cone flower, an old fashioned snow ball hydreanga. I still have a bunch of hostas from last season that I didn't get in the ground. When is the latest one should transplant and/or plant a hosta? I thought I should wait until Spring, sounds like I don't have to?

[Noreaster]

I've been moving my smaller hosta out of their summer containers and into the ground. I started a new bed, but I don't have time to figure out what needs to go where, so for now I just threw them in haphazardly...shuffling will commence in the Spring.

I've been keeping up with the watering, though it's real chore when everything looks as bad as it does from the slugs having their evil way. My heart's not in it and I just want next Spring to come so that everything will be perfect again.

[jobranch]

Like everyone else, I am watering and considering what needs to be moved, both from an asthetic standpoint and also that some of my hostas need more room. It has been dry here, except for Tropical Storm Fay. I have several hostas that have taken a beating. I also am beginning the process of deciding what are most have hosta purchases for next year (one will be H. Sagae). I am going to a local plant swap on September 13th - will be surprised to see much hosta there. I will bring three to trade. Will likely pick up some hydrangea.

[jobranch]

Also, I am going to make some home made plant markers. I don't have so many hosta that I need them during the year, but during the winter, I can't remember exactly where some of them are. So I plan to get some thin pressure treated lumber, cut about 4" pieces, use marker to indicate the hosta name and put a couple of spikes on each end to anchor it in place for the winter. I have a friend who makes fun of plant markers, so I have not used them in my beds during the season.

[Chris_W]

I'm still not done planting, and just last evening we planted about 300 more hostas. I really try to get the smaller ones in the ground by mid September, but the larger potted plants I try to get in by mid October. Hostas need about 4 weeks of warm weather to root out - the hotter the better. Although they don't grow any roots over the winter they tend to be safer in the ground than in pots, so I've been known to plant into November too. If I'm planting that late, though, I really try to get rid of any of the excess potting soil since that can freeze and thaw at different rates than the soil around it.

[Linda P]

Great question, Chris.
Mostly weeding and watering right now, though today we are getting some good moisture from the remnants of Gustav. I've been digging up a few duplicates and moving them out to the edges of the property under the windbreak; roguing out and pitching volunteer seedlings that have threatened to take over one of my older beds. Yes, it's hard to toss them, but I've just had to be merciless about it. I've got rows and rows of last winter's seedlings, some of which will need spaces next year. I still have a couple of trays of seedlings to give the final once-over before the remnants head to the compost pile. I've been trimming some of the damaged foilage on some hostas that look good otherwise, to give them a few more weeks of beauty, and also removing any scapes that I don't intend to harvest for seed.
Last Sunday I took chunks from about 25 divisions to send home with a friend, and there are still more that she needs to get. (We're years behind in our hosta sharing!)
Sometime in the next couple of weeks I will make my maps for this winter. Oh, and I still have all of this summer's accumulation of new plants to get in the ground. They're happily residing on the wellpit cover, shaded by a Boulevard false cypress and regularly bottom-watered by the sump pump from the well. Believe it or not, they're growing like weeds out there. Hopefully, they will go in the ground in a few days, once the rain lets up. Oh, and there are a number of hostas in my holding bed that need to find new homes in the garden, hence the tossing of seedlings and moving of duplicates.
Finally, I've been taking time to walk around the garden every evening, enjoying the wonderful scents of the fragrant hostas combined with the flowering tobacco and the blooms of the heptacodium. I wish I could bottle the fragrance and save it for the long winter days.
Linda P

[Shade Tolerant]

Wonderful idea for a thread Chris! Also doing the hosta shuffle here. Moved all duplicate hostas to my front yard. Found a hydrangea Pink Diamond at a nursery half price so I planted that to anchor the hosta grouping. Also still trying to find the perfect spots for three hostas from Hallson's sale. Don't worry Chris they are being tended to, all potted up and watered regularly. The irises and daylily you sent are already snugly planted in the ground. Other than that only watering and general garden upkeep. Oh and taking more garden pix and backing them up, lost everything when I got lazy.

[hagranger]

Personally,
I'm letting "Wanda" Woman worry about that ... for now.(wink)
Actually, because I don't have a single tree (where have I had that happen before?) on the property Gary and I are busy drawing up plans for a "shade house" ... If I get it done in time next year I'll be able to move some of my babies back home with me.

[dmi188]

DH fininshed the new bed, and I am trying to get all the potted plants in the ground as quickly as possible. The big ones I am placing carefully. When the rain stops, I will plant the minis. Most of the minis will be shuffled next spring. Thats next years project...a mini bed.

Pretty much done hybridizing for the season. Now I need to collect pollen from the reds, make sure my new Dorothy Benedict and Dorset Clowns are safely tucked in for the winter, and start collecting seeds!

[Arlene]

As I've been doing all summer, once a week I drive to my daughter's house and water all my pots of hosta -- it takes about 90 minutes to get them all soaked. We've actually had rain this week, but I've noticed that the leaves seem to shelter the soil in the pots, so even when it rains, the soil is often dry -- very different than when they're planted in the ground! So tomorrow I'll check each pot and water those that need it. I suspect most of them will.

I'm thinking I'll just wait till they're dormant to start moving the pots up to the new house. They'll be easier to transport, and besides, the well isn't in yet. AND even if it were, there's no electricity, so I couldn't water there anyway!! I hope by next spring I'll be all ready to settle them in their new home. I hope I'll be settled in my new home, too!! It's killing me to read about all your purchases and not be able to participate in the fall sales!!

[Rob]

We're having a rally "great" hosta summer. It's been raining a lot, so watering isn't necessary.
The main job has been some major landscaping.
This is a picture of the hosta patch (at least it will become the hosta patch, starting in autumn) about two months ago



And this is now



The rest of the time I've been weeding, weeding and ... some more weeding.

Unfortunately this had one major drawback: I didn't have enough time left to take the best care of my plants (some 600 + about 200 + seedlings). I should have been fighting slugs, because they have damaged almost every plant. They all are healthy, but look a mess

Furthermore I've been collecting and storing pollen, for next year's crosses.
Still have some crosses to make with late flowering species and cultivars, and a lot of seeds harvesting.

During winter I do my indoors sowing, and I repair my labels if necessary.

And I'm "cleaning up" my collection. Almost every variegated cultivar will be removed, except for those found in the wild.
You'd be surprised what a diverse and interesting collection can be made with almost no other than solid colored plants.

Greetings from the Hosta Mill,

Rob

[Hostahaveum]

Great thread all ! I am getting any potted hostas in the ground now , moving a few that have out grown theirs spaces. Dividing up some undulutas & more common ones for gifts for my non hosta collecting friends. Watering & weeding getting ready as I want all beds done & ready for shredded leaf mulch when the time comes. I received a new leaf vacuum / shredder last spring, its light weight & has a shoulder strap. I can't wait to get to use it here in a few weeks. Also adding some soil around my seedlings , we had a dry 4 weeks & then 5 inches of rain that had washed away soil at the base of some plants. We are almost ready to land scape around pond #5 , have to move a weeping cherry that has outgrown its space . Just basically have a short list of chores we want to get done before its gets cold. I all is not done ,thats ok too!