Troubled? I'm troubled because I'm a second-year hostaholic and starting to worry about already running out of planting space. Troubled like that, you mean? I hear you! : )

Can you do another verse with different hosta? I like your choices.

Cheers,
Don B.

Don, the 12 Days of Hostadom doesn't HAVE a second verse, honey. Plus you must learn the value of OOOOMMMMMmmmmm.....and attending the advice of McTavish, also in rocky hilly terrain....GO UP. Raise them beds UP in the orners perhaps. A row of pots in the shady area next to the wooden fencing. If they get late PM sun there, then put some day lilies to shade the pot. That's what will bake in the heat....the roots.

Bragu, are you up to another carol of your own choosing? That first one will be hard to beat.

Excelente'.....

LOL I was kidding, Mocc. No worries, when I'm out of room, I'm out of room I took all but 4 hosta out of pots and sited them in the earth. I'm just not cracked up to be a pothead, I guess. When I reach 'no vacancy', I'll just raise the ones I have the best I can : )

Don B.

How long were you 'potting' it, Don before you decided to 'ground' them? I've potted some up, smaller ones, for the benefit of stronger roots, and to deprive the slugs that have been snacking on them. Is it time consumption in terms of watering that changed your mind or something else?

Jo, it is that with pots, I see the hosta and think 'Wow, it's looking good. I bet it'll look FANTASTIC sited in the ground!' And it does. I don't hate pots, not at all. When I was a resident of apartments, my patios were always full of potted plants, and that kept my gardening urges well-indulged. But now that I'm fortunate enough to have a little bit of property, my mindset, I guess, has been 'in-ground first'... I do have some empty pots to fill. And it will be with hosta, some on the deck, some on the patio and some on the front porch. I'm just not going to go 'nuts' with it, if you will. I have a few beauties I'll leave in pots; 'Queen of the Seas', 'Blue Sophistication' (Which looks amazing in it's pot), and I have a 'Great Expectations' doing very nicely in a pot. I think the only other one in a decorative/'permanent' pot is 'Hadspen Blue' and I'm going to divide that up in fall and site a piece in the earth. I love the blue color so much, though, that I am certainly going to keep pot-growing the other piece. I just noticed that in naming off what I still have in pots, I am leaning toward blues in a big way! LOL.

But, y'know, being a hosta-person, I may have 20-30 hosta in pots in a few seasons. We'll see how I REALLY deal with running out of room in a year or two! ; )

Cheers Jo!
Don B.

P.S. I know, 'QOTS' will eventually get really big. Maybe I'll divide it, site some in ground, and get a GIANT decorative pot for the other piece of it.

This post was edited by Don_in_Colorado on Sat, Jul 13, 13 at 19:04

I made one of those cheap self-watering tubs out of a plastic tote. I use that to quarantine the new hostas for a coupe weeks, taking them all the way down to bare root (ridding them of the store 'soil') and then giving them a head start before I repot, or plug in the ground. You cut the top off the tote, and drop it to the bottom of the tub. Use spacers to separate the lid from the bottom and put a couple of holes in it to act as a wick ... takes about 30 min to make one ... as seen on U-tube