You picked a good hosta to try out - inexpensive, but it was Hosta of the Year back in, I think, 1996. It's a pretty fast grower and pretty tolerant of a wide range of conditions.

As to the slugs - it is probably not the best choice in that regard. The leaves are not real thick - the experts call this "substance" and as a rule of thumb, the more substance the less attractive the hosta is to slugs.

If you have lots of slugs, you'll definitely want to do something...

You can do some searching for slug solutions. Some swear by the diatomaceous earth, which is the sharp little skeletons of tiny creatures, the process being that the slugs won't crawl across the sharp surfaces. Others swear by slub baits that poison the creatures... some organic baits, others just plain poison. Those of us with no pets in the garden and little tolerance for people who let pets run in our gardens are more likely to go with the cheapest baits, but others worry about pets and buy more pet-friendly bait.

FB is pretty much "middling" in when it goes down in the fall. There are particularly long-lasting hostas... Halcyon and its clan are known for still looking good after the first cold weather hits. A lot of it will depend on other environmental issues - for instance, how much moisture you've provided all season and particularly in the late summer / early fall. Stressed plants are more susceptible to those first cold nights, healthy more actively growing ones seem to tolerate cold better.

In a couple of years, with a few more hostas, you'll be able to tell us the answers to these questions for your part of Tennessee... we mostly learn from experience...

welcome ... welcome.. welcome ....

if grass wont grow there.. are you sure a hosta will????

and please dont tell me it is a maple ....

more facts please ... i really dont want you to fail ...

ken

Thank you both for the welcome and the welcome info! I'm on the church altar guild for June, October, and February, which is why I asked about fall frosts. I've seen other members' arrangements with hostas and they make alovely filler.

No pets but two little boys, so I'm an organic gardener. I've heard of the beer trap for slugs, but then I searched another GW thread and someone said slugs can travel pretty far in search of bait. If it's like Japanese beetle traps, I don't want to actually attract more of them here!

I'm not sure why nothing's growing under the tree, (it's actually on the neighbor's side of the fence). It's a low spot in the yard, and shady, though the English ivy and creeping Charlie like to prowl around there. I've planted some ferns there this spring. The soil is very rich in organic matter.