Hi, It's been quite sometime since I've been here... not sure if anyone remembers me or not. Been very busy... life just seems to get in the way at times. Anyway, my dear hubby took me to Hornbakers Nursery last fall and again this spring. They had amazing sales of hosta for $4.99 each and we bought lots of hosta. Wasn't able to get them planted before winter so over-wintered them in the garage. So I have a lot of hosta to plant and I'm 72 now and can't seem to remember that when planting the hosta, do you remove the potting soil before planting them in the ground?
We tilled the soil yesterday and added manure compost to it before tilling. DH had tilled it last fall too. My thinking is that I should remove all the potting soil and make an inverted cone in the bottom of the hole and then spread the hosta roots over that & then put soil on top. It's been several years since planting a hosta.. so I'm really taxing the memory here.
I've uploaded a picture of some of the hosta I have to plant.
Thanks for your help and comments. Hope everyone is doing well.
Jan in Central Illinois
Hostas to plant
Jan
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble
remembering how to fly."
Hi, Jan. It's great to know you're still gardening!
You plan sounds super, especially if the hosta roots have filled the pot and gotten tangled. But I'll admit that most of the time I just loosen the roots to give them a good once-over, then just plant without removing the soil.
Hi, Jan. good to I know that you're still planting new host beds! I'm with David on tht one. I might knock out some of the potting mix, but of the roots are filling the it's hrd to get it out. I pull them apart and spread them as much as I can, then in the ground they go.
I got to Hornbakers this spring, nd they had some really nice hostas on that sale. Looks like you found all the good ones!
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Thanks for your comments. It'll probably be Monday or Tuesday before I get them planted because it is raining here but we are needing it already even with the flooding we have in the area although thankfully I'm on high ground & there is a walkout basement in the back that has a gully in the back so I haven't had much of any problems with flooding.
I'll sure be glad to get them planted and I'm sure they will be happier too.
Jan in Central Illinois
Jan
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble
remembering how to fly."
Hello from sunny England UK. What an absolute barhain and WOW what a collection. To be quite honest re the planting I don't think it makes much difference which way you plant them. Personally I would plant them intact (straight drom the pot) as the plant will have had enough of a shock anyway. Please remember it also takes a few years for the plants to become established anyway. Just make sure they receive enough water in their first year at least.
Here if I trust the nursery I keep the soil on the plants. After a year the roots will be tangled.
It is easier to untangle them a bit when they are wet, so the rain is a good thing.
Remember Helen/hangarar (sp), she allways used a waterhose to untangle the roots ... and it do make it easier to loosen them
Nice to hear from you.
Pia
Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
E-mail for pics hostapics@gmail.com
Hi Jan, good to hear from you! Sounds like you remember, make that cone and spread the roots and cover. Something new I am trying this year is to throw in a couple hands full of perlite into the planting hole. Happy planting!
Thanks for your all your comments from England, Denmark & Illinois. I wasn't sure if anyone would reply beings it had been so long since I posted here. I guess hosta do make us family. Thanks again, I hope to get out and place them where I think they will look good & be happy & then probably start planting tomorrow. I run out of energy pretty fast anymore, so I try not to schedule too much on my plate at one time.
Jan
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble
remembering how to fly."
Jan, your yard is beautiful! I love the chartreuse colours in the new hostas you have chosen as well! I'm far from an expert, but I always put a bit of "moo poo" from the family farm down under my hostas as well.
On a off topic note, do you do much quilting? I've been quilting off and on for about 20 years and my grandmother quilted well into her 90's.
tinkettlecreek,
Thank you for the compliments on my yard.. that is only a small part that you see. I guess I'll have to take some pictures and post them. I've been pulling weeds like crazy.. seems they must have grew all winter.
Yes I quilt too. I strated sewing quilts in 1996 when my DH bought me a new sewing machine with bells and whistles and when the sales lady gave me my last lesson, she said: "you know, you can make quilts with this machine." She showed me how to make a log cabin block and the rest is history. I do most of my sewing in the winter but now that I've gotten older, I don't take the heat as well as I used to and so on hot days, I go downstairs and sew. I do my gardening in the mornings.
Jan
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble
remembering how to fly."
Yesterday I set the plants in pots out in the tilled area that I'm going to plant them in. Today I started planting them but have about 25 more to plant.
I'm going to attach a picture of the tilled area and then a picture of the potted plants that I set out. Tomorrow, if I get them all planted, I'll post a completed picture, although I have several companion plants that I plan on planting too.
New Hosta Bed ready to plant
New Hosta Bed 2
Jan
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble
remembering how to fly."
Hi Jan, It's great that you still have space for any more plants in your yard. Your new plants look awesome. I miss the days when we did group hosta shopping, checking out multiple nurseries in a day, and splitting those babies 4=5 ways.
Mary Ann wrote:Hi Jan, It's great that you still have space for any more plants in your yard. Your new plants look awesome. I miss the days when we did group hosta shopping, checking out multiple nurseries in a day, and splitting those babies 4=5 ways.
My cousin and I do the group thing, we buy hostas and split them.
Jan, what a great collection! Are you done planting and do you have a photo yet? I personally do shake off the dirt that they are potted in due to not knowing
how good it is. All that dirt goes into the compost pile. I have lost to many plants from not taking that dirt away.
karma 'Happy Toes' (kHT)
The Goddess is Alive and Magic is Afoot!!!!
I'm just a simple housewife.
Mary Ann and Linda P, I sure do miss those days too. I remember a bunch of us getting together and the afterwards splitting the hosta. One time a bunch of us got together and went to Davenport/Moline area to Frieda's but I don't think that nursery is there anymore.. not sure though, but I haven't recieved any promotions from there for several years.
I did finally get them planted and put shredded, mulched leaves around them instead of wood mulch. We have a leaf vac we pull behind the lawn tractor & it shreds and mulches them and we dump them into piles which I used to use on the garden but we started putting the black weed block on the garden so have the leaves to put around the hosta.
I've take a few pictures of the finished bed and hopefully, I resized them so I can upload them here... if not, it'll take me a bit longer to get them smaller.
Nice hearing from so many of you.
Attachments
Jan
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble
remembering how to fly."
It is looking so good, hope you have fun doing it 
