Hostas and sun

14 years ago

I have a couple of hostas in my front flower beds. The beds abut my house on either side of the front steps. The beds are on the eastern side of the house and so get the morning sun and a part of one of the beds gets the very early afternoon sun. The hostas I have in place are stressed over the hot summer but look nice the rest of the year.

I'm thinking about filling the beds with hostas and have some questions. The hostas I have, I planted several years ago. Are they stressed in the heat because they can't handle even the morning heat without shade? Are there certain hostas that handle the heat better than others? The hostas I have planted are in the shadiest part of the beds.

I live in eastern Washington state, a semi-desert area where the weather is hot in the summer and is NOTHING LIKE SEATTLE.

Sheryl

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Comments (6)

mctavish6
14 years ago
Sheryl, I live at the top of the Okanagan valley in Canada. I use to think that hostas had to have shade, period. I finally listened to Ken from the forum and experimented with more and more sun. Three years ago I planted about 25 hostas on the west side of the house on a three level reatining wall. It is VERY hot there. We're on a hill so the sun doesn't even go down until 9:30 during the height of the summer. Most of July and part of Aug are between 90 and 100 degrees. I think the key is Water and lots of it. I have a dripper system, one tiny thing on each plant from a central hose. When it's really hot I just leave in on for days. The only plant I've moved is Diana Remembered which both summers got very ratty looking. Other than that, the rest are fine. The ones I'm growing there are:

Hyacynthina
Pauls Glory
Iron Gate Glamour (or Delight - one of the BEST)
Captain Kirk
Zounds
Golden Tiara
Old Glory
Gemini Moon
August Moon
Fragrant Bouquet
Stained Glass
Lakeside April Snow
Love Pat (it stayed blue all year with a bit of a rose shading it)
Hoosier Dome
Halcyon
Golden Scepter
Erromena
Antioch
June (faboulous here)
Elegans
Julie Morss
Dee's Golden Jewel
Yellow River
Fried Green tomatoes
Albo Marginata Undulata (last two partly under a fir tree)

This year I added:
Royal Standard
Touch of Class
Marilyn
Katie Q
Red Dragon
Magic Fire
Theos Blue
Kiwi Sunshine
Abiqua Drinking Gourd
Fire Opal

I expect they'll do fine.

Good luck, McT
sheryl77
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the extensive list. I live in Spokane so our climate is probably fairly similar. Do you buy your hostas locally or do you order them?

S
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mctavish6
14 years ago
I buy a few locally, carefully, because of the chance of the virus. I order from Naylor Creek in western Washington every year. They have a lot of unusual and new varities. I also order from Hosta Choice a wonderful Canadian mailorder nursery with a huge selection. There is a nursery in your area called Tower Perennials. My cousin who lives just over the border in Idaho took a trip there and just sent me an email today. They were very impressed with the whole set up. This is what she said.

" It is the Tower Nursery in North East Washington Of Farr Road

It is the home of a man who started with his love of Hostas and turned his love into a nursery. Beautiful areas, Beautiful Home, Beautiful Hosta Gardeen, and Nursery"

I which I had a place like this in driving distance from me. Good luck. Myrle
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
hosta are ONLY shade tolerant .... and grow well in sun. given appropriate volumes of water ... but start to get tired after they grow roots in july/august ...

those that dont please you later in the season.. get moved elsewhere.. and then you have a reason to buy other .. lol

.. all the fragrant ones are derived from plantaginea .... which is fully sun tolerant almost everywhere ....

try to drown them... presuming there is drainage in your soil

no REAL garden... involves perfect choices and placement in toto.. on the first planting ... just move the ones that dont preform ...

ken
sheryl77
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks Myrle and Ken. Although I've never heard of Tower Perennials, looks like it is on my side of town. I'll be going there soon and taking Myrle's list!

Sheryl
alexis717_df
14 years ago
Sheryl,

I also live in Spokane and have hosta planted on the North, South, and East side of my home. About 50% are planted in full sun and the other 50% either get 4-6 hours of morning sun or 4-6 hours of afternoon sun and I find that almost all of them look good through the whole season. Course I do water alot. I do have a couple that look stressed but I think that is because they are close to the house and my walls are light colored and the heat is just magnified and reflects back on to them. They are scheduled to be moved further out.

Tower Perennials is on the corner of Jamieson Rd and the Old Palouse Hwy. I used to work there and Allen has a very nice (and large for Spokane) selection of Hosta. Allen is also a hybridizer and has a number of named hosta to his credit. When you go besure to take a walk through the shade garden and also take a walk along the creek. Both areas have some absolutely stunning mature hosta. Have fun

Alexis