For other posts that reference specific plant groups here at Oak Lawn,
refer to and click on the list of posts to the right.
This is a continuation of my post series of plant groups at Oak Lawn. I grow a great many cultivars of hostas and wouldn't be able to start to name them all plus that would be a very boring post except perhaps to the hosta aficionado. I do appreciate hostas but especially as a part of the landscape rather than as a collector. When I buy hostas, I try to pick plants that look different from the others in my collection, but quite honestly my hosta purchasing days are all but past. I have way more than I need as it is and prefer to put my resources into other types of plants that I haven't explored and experimented with as much to date.
As noted in other posts, this is the spring when I hope to shake things up a bit and do a few more plant combinations rather than beds purely consisting of hostas. Where I have experimented with this concept in the past, I am well pleased with the results.
The photos above and below are of hostas next to the driveway entrance. They live under the shade of a mature flowering crab apple. Just beyond them is my collection of Siberian irises growing with a few peonies and a number of conifers. I prefer Siberian irises grown in groups and swaths of more than one cultivar for interest.
I like to plant my hostas in groupings of three of a kind mixed with individuals. To my way of thinking, this helps anchor the design. The cultivars of hosta being grown in the area above include Striptease, Big Daddy, Great Arrival, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Rascal, Fragrant Dream, Garden Party, Sugar and Spice, Step Sister, Smooth Sailing, Fiesta, Starship, Roller Coaster Ride, Summer Lovin', Bix Blues, Rosedale Golden Goose, Small Sum, Spring Fling, Wylde Green Cream, and Ginsu Knife.
For the most part, I'll not show individual hostas in this post, other than some of my absolute favorites. Not far from the spot pictured above, is an area in need of attention due to the size of the hostas being grown there. I will leave my 25 year old specimen of Montana Aureomarginata in place but move out several of the plants that surround it and work in other shade loving perennials including hellebores. I also have a row of what I believe to be the old Fortunei Albomarginatas that have a great look when planted as a swath... I'll allow these to remain as a border for other plants behind them. These plants grow in the shade of a tricolor european beech, a burr oak, and a scarlet oak, but they do receive good east light during the early hours of the day.
Additional shade is provided by a mature Flame flowering crabapple... these hostas expand considerably as the season progresses, thus necessitating a shake-up this spring. As I look to the photo below, I think phlox divaricata and stolonifera would be an excellent addition and work well with the subulatas behind.
The look later in the summer is simply too crowded with these mature plants...
About four years ago I moved a number of hostas that have yellows in their foliage, along with some blue hostas into the garden in front of the house. These hostas have gotten massive and really overwhelm the area now as well, so most will be moved. It's unfortunate that they don't maintain the size and appearance displayed in the spring photo below...
Later in the season they now grow into this, which is pretty overwhelming...
Some plants will remain and others will be moved... among those staying in this area will be one of my very favorites... Great Expectations which does perfectly well in this full sun placement...
Among those being moved out will be Sagae which has become massive and is definitely in the wrong place... to the left behind Sagae is Montana Aureomarginata.
There are areas in the gardens where I have experimented a bit with 'mixing it up' involving hostas and Japanese maples, ferns, and other plants, making the scene much more interesting as far as I'm concerned. Following are some areas where I've experimented with the concept.
In the next several photos, the area just to the east of the entrance to the birch walk can be seen... while some more variety needs to be infused into this area, it is working fairly well. To the south side of the area I've used some of my favorite hostas that handle sun beautifully, including June and the related Touch of Class, as well as Great Expectations. Japanese Painted Ferns make an excellent accompaniment, especially with texture contrasts.
The majority of the shade in this area is provided by a reasonably mature Aesculis carnea 'Briotti' and a large white pine to the south.
A Sherwood Flame Japanese maple and the first of four white birch clumps are also part the composition. To the left are clematis on a rustic arbor, oriental poppies, bearded iris and a very old specimen of Crambe cordifolia...
One of my favorite hosta cultivars, Flavocircinalis can be seen just at the bottom of the following shot...
Note also the use of groundcovers such as European ginger which can be seen to the bottom right side of the next photo. Additionally there are several varieties of pulmonaria and Spanish bluebells (wood hyacinths) in three colors just out of sight to the right. I also have three plants of Magnolia sieboldii 'Colossus' in this area with the intention of creating more shade in the future.
In the next photo, a number of hardy hibiscus are blooming as well as phlox David. I think the lesson in this composition is that many hostas will take, and be more beautiful for, more sun than what one might expect. Many also work well in transitional areas from sun to shade.
Some particularly nice hosta varieties grow to the back of this area including three plants of Paradigm and Gypsy Rose which is related to Strip Tease.
Just beyond the above area is what I call the birch walk, consisting of four clumps of Whitespire birch down the center of a narrow lawn which leads to our little barn. To the right is an area of Moerheim spruce, the lower branches of which were shaded out over the course of the past couple years, thereby necessitating their being limbed up. This will in turn will provide much more space for shade loving plantings.
The photo below shows the fence that gives a sense of entry into this area. Coupled with the hostas here is a plant of Seiryu Japanese Maple, ferns including Lady in Red and Autumn Brilliance, and other shade growing plants.
Among my favorite hostas in this part of the garden are three plants of Liberty, a sport of Sagae...
Hostas continue along one side of the birch walk... the following pictures were taken prior to my making the changes to the spruce trees. A number of new possibilities for extending the shade planting have been created by the pruning. Here is the area as it existed last summer... the plan is to incorporate hostas with other shade plants and ground covers on both sides of the birch walk.
To the east of the area just discussed is another area that incorporates a number of hostas. Shade is provided by a good sized variegated maple, and a large white pine as well as magnolias to the east and the south.
The shade in this area is fairly dense and it will be necessary to carefully choose which hostas will be left here... again the plan is to mix things up and I'll be adding tiarellas and heucheras to the hostas, ferns, and epimediums already in this area. Following are a few of the hostas that I especially enjoy growing here.
Thunderbolt and the smaller June Fever to its right.. June Fever probably could handle more sun and by virtue of that would color better...
In the following photos, a number of Camelots excel for their blue color and in the second photo Tokudama aureonebulosa stands out as one the most beautiful hostas of all time... (just my opinion!)
There are a number of other areas of the gardens that include hosta plantings. Just east of the previous area is a developing River's Purple beech that has many hostas planted about... this area hasn't been fully developed as of yet and I intend to move a number of hostas there along with more of the 'mixing it up' concept...
On the other side of the hyper-tuffa support fence is a path that leads to the main rhododendron area of the gardens. On the left side of this path I start my young hostas which I later move on to other spots in the gardens. On the right are several other hostas that do battle with the large white pine's roots.... I had some concern about planting here as I've read that pines don't care for root disturbance but I've not noticed any problems thus far.
Another area which has many hostas planted is to the south and east of the previous photo. We removed several trees from this area this past fall. Many of the plantings may now be in too much sun but I hope to not disturb 30+ year old rodgersia, tricyrtis, and cimicifuga plants... hopefully with enough water, they will thrive despite the big changes in light. Also in this area are many large hostas. Pictured below is Blue Angel which was put at the base of a flowering crab at least 30+ years ago. Now that the crab is gone, I may have difficulty removing Blue Angel from its entanglement with the roots of the tree... it might be simpler to simply build some sort of shade structure or invest in a large umbrella. The following photo was taken just after petal drop on the crab last spring...
There are other nice specimen plants to the left of the above in what will now be full sun. On Stage and others should be easier to move with less involvement with tree roots...
There is one other area where there are concentrated plantings of hostas. It is just behind the house and pictured below...
More and more I spot hostas individually about the gardens.... that's something I never used to do but I am looking at hostas in a new light over the past few years. I'm still interested in a variety of things being planting in drifts and strong statements, but once again I refer to the 'mixing it up' concept which is really appealing to me more and more as the garden settles into its own.
I'd like to make mention of keeping hostas in good shape through August and into the fall. A big factor is water... sun burn is not attractive but it is amazing how much sun hostas will take if kept moist enough (as long as there is good drainage). In fact, too much shade will prevent many hostas from being at their best in terms of color... a couple examples would be June and Paul's Glory. (By the way, Spring and August are great times to divide hostas.)
Of course... the pests that can be the biggest problem are snails and slugs, although I've found that earwigs can do plenty of damage also... just smaller holes. I do give a sprinkling of sluggo just as the hostas are emerging. Sluggo contains iron phosphate, is non-toxic (actually occurs naturally in the soil), and safe for kids, pets, and wildlife. I seldom do more than one or two applications since before long my good critter friends go to work and help me out. Those are the toads and we have scads of them every year. Sometimes mowing lawn is like driving a car past the exit of a supermarket (lots of stops for pedestrians). They handle things so well that most years I don't see more than two or three slugs all season. Toads are another good reason to avoid chemicals as much as possible in the garden.
So... that's an overview of the hostas here at Oak Lawn. As noted earlier, I don't consider myself a collector, but do value them highly... without their shade I'm quite sure we'd have a whole lot more weeding to do... and they really can be beautiful as well. I'll close with a few more hosta views and plants... take care, Larry
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| Dawn's Early Light... just emerging, one of the best yellows early in the season |
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| Montana Aureomarginata... it doesn't take a whole lot of yellow to light up the spring |
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| Brighten up most any planting with a colorful hosta... here surrounded by fall blooming Japanese anemones |
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| Even colorful when emerging from the soil... this is Patriot |
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| Remember Me comes with a wonderfully bittersweet story and amazing color |
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| Striptease |
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| More 'mixing it up' |
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| Could Great Expectations be my all time favorite hosta?... could be! Shown here with Sagae to the rear, variegated Solomon's Seal, Purple Fountains european beech, and weeping larches |
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| Tokadama Flavocircinalis is in the top three for me (so is Tokadama Aureonebulosa) |
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| Take care... Larry |
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