I grow in pots for 3 reasons. It's warm here, and they need cooling in the winter. Pots are colder than in the ground.

Also, we have alkaline, clay soil. Hosta like well draining acid soil.

I like them in pots.

bk

Here's my take on potted hosta. I have tried some in pots over the past couple of years so I could move them around the garden to fill in and use in areas I couldn't put them in the ground due to extensive tree roots. My experience was potted hosta are much more work, need more frequent watering, fertilizing, etc. You also need to figure out what to do with them over the winter. Last winter I lost about 10 potted hosta due to the extreme cold, but everything in the ground was fine.

Many people grow them in pots for various reasons and are very successful, have beautiful plants and gardens. You will probably get responses from some of them here on the forum. But you should know both the pros and cons as you decide what to do in your garden!

i hope you find.. and review posts about our favored vendors ...

you read why pots in the south ...

elsewhere.. its all about the trees you have in the garden... if you have maples.. just go straight to pots .. and some other non-cooperating trees ..

and i dont understand the bike trail fact ... you are putting these on public property..and hoping to start a collection ....????

ken

No, not a public bike trail. Cracked up laughing when I read that. Suppose that makes sense as the first thing you would think of. We are a pretty active family with 5 kids and love hiking and mountain biking. Top half of our property is mostly cleared with grass and mature trees here and there, with the bottom half a hilly wooded area. We built a 3ft wide stone dust trail around the perimeter that is easy and flowy for the kids to walk or bike and then single track through the wooded area. My goal is to have manicured sections throughout with hostas, ferns and other shade loving plants.

Never thought about looking up favored vendors, will certainly do that.

This photo shows large hosta planted at the base of two Red Maples about 30' apart. Before gardenweb, before I could knew it was nearly impossible, I just planted hosta where i wanted them and never thought twice about root competition. Ignorance is bliss. I use soaker hoses, but not often, not at all this year, so far. Only one potted hosta has survived for me. I count on the ground to insulate, Its easier.

hosta are HEAVY water users ... most of us.. cant just throw them around the property.. and hope for the best ... unless you have water lines circling the place ...

though there are some that could take said abuse ... the undulata clan in particular ...

ken

Same reason as bk for me, for the chilling affect in our warm climate. Also even without that issue the pill bugs here would make sort order of all but the thicker leaf hosta.

About 20 percent of my hostas are in the ground. I grow the others in pots because of root competition. I think if you have good soil, or can amend it, it is easier to grow hostas in ground.

Pots are more work mostly due to watering and overwintering. But they are rewarding! There is no root competition; you have control over the potting medium (which often can bring better results, but not always!); they are easily moved to a different location; and bugs and slugs are minimal if you do not have the pots sitting directly on garden soil.

The number of hosta I can have is not limited to how much garden I have but by my imagination (I'm dreaming vertical gardening!) and space for winter storage.

Hope I have given you some points to think about.

Bumped up.

After this winter,I found out I cannot grow in pots. I had a couple of Whirlwinds in black nursery pots,and only one survived,and it is very small. I do have some in half whiskey barrels,and chimney flues,which do alright. I'm too old to move around huge other type pots. Other than those mentioned,all my hostas are in the ground. Phil

Interesting use of hosta in pots.

bk

Here is a link that might be useful: hanging hosta of hampshire

Hosta freak, sorry your potted hostas were not successful. Have you tried burying the total pot in the ground in an area that is not wet in the spring?

Thanks bk for the link. I want to do that too! Well. . . maybe not quite that many!

What does everyone do to deter the deer? They waltz through my yard and eat every hosta leaf. I haven't done any research on this and since this post popped up I thought I'd ask.

I think most everyone uses liquid fence.

I could be wrong. We don't have deer in the city, so I'm just repeating what others have said. I'm in Texas, so they would be venison fairly quickly here.

Post a thread with that topic if you want some real info. No one will see this here.

bk