Ezzirah,

I don't think it is way too early.

I've planted as early as January or February when planting the ones sold bare-root in bags in the stores, and they've grown just fine.

I've planted as late as May when planting the ones sold in containers in stores and they've done just fine.

The advantage to planting earlier is that the roots can become more well-established before the really hot weather arrives.

Dawn

I buy most of my Hostas in containers at nurseries. For one thing, a Hosta is like a lifetime investment almost. If grown well, they will last forever, so I want to get them started from well grown plants. I have checked the bags many times that they offer for sale at Walmart and other stores, and oftentimes they are dried out, minimalistic roots you are getting. Or, the wet soil in the bag has caused the roots to rot. It is difficult to tell by looking at those green bags, whether you are getting live or dead roots. But, if you are willing to take the chance, they are cheaper.

Start by planting them in well amended soil with plenty of organic material. Make sure the variety of Hosta purchased is one suited for the conditions you intend to plant them in, mostly shade, part shade, or part sun. The general rule of thumb is that the lighter greens and golds will tolerate more sun. It's also good to mulch them to prevent weeds and keep the soil cool and damp until they become established. Once they are established, they will usually crowd out the weeds and don't require as much, if any, mulch at all. You can feed your Hostas with an organic fertilizer. I just usually top dress them each year with chicken manure or some kind of organic matter. Worm castings are great, too.

Hostas come in many sizes from very tiny little miniatures, to huge plants with 2' long and wide leaves. I really need to divide some of mine, but it is best to divide them in spring after the tips have emerged from the soil and are up several inches. You can also divide them in the fall. They are really tough plants and offer a lot of different textures and colors to the garden.

Susan

Great advice, Susan!

Ezzirah,
Half the times those hostas you buy dormant in bags are going to be mislabeled, and the vast majority of them have the hosta virus. You should definitely avoid them like the plague! Many of the hostas I see at the big box stores and nurseries also have the HVX hosta virus. It's getting very hard to find healthy hostas these days unless you order them from a specialty nursery that tests their plants. If you have friends who have hostas, ask them if they'll share with you this spring, or trade with someone that has healthy, established hostas. The last thing you want to do is bring diseased hostas home to your garden.

Learn more about the hosta virus epidemic at the Hosta Library http://www.hostalibrary.org/firstlook/HVX.htm
or at the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hosta Virus HVX

I completely forgot about the HVX issue, Lynn, so thanks for reminding me, too. I bought my Hostas about 10 years ago, and I think some are more prone to the virus than others, aren't they? I remember Stained Glass may have been one of those and I'm going to recheck your link to refresh and update my memory on it. I'm sure there is probably a lot more info on it than when I first found out about several years ago.

BTW, how are you and your family doing? I don't see you around much anymore and I miss your appearance at the forum! Still growing all those Aroids and Bananas?

Susan

I will definitely reconsider the bags in light of this new information. Thank you for that. Do you happen to know of a good reputable nursery?

Dawna,

First the canna virus (I haven't bought a new canna since learning about that) and now a hosta virus.

It's great they can identify these viruses but it seems harder to figure out what to do to combat them.

At our particular house, the hostas we planted years ago all are gone now, devoured by the whitetail deer. I miss them, but decided to stop replanting anything that serves as Deer Chow here.

Hope y'all are well there and that your plants are flourishing. On the maps, your area looks pretty darn dry.

Dawn

I rarely buy hostas anymore. I have a wonderful GW friend in IN (where hostas grow big as cars!!) who I trade plants with. She has sent me around 100 hostas, and never sent a diseased plant. If I buy hostas, I buy from Hallson's Gardens or Naylor Creek Nursery. Both have very nice hostas. Hallson's has a very active hosta forum, also.

If you have friends with hostas, ask if they'll share with you this spring when the plants come up and are easily divided. If you don't have plants to trade them, they might be interested in something you do have, like plant books, garden pots, etc. Or offer to help them in their garden in exchange for divisions. I love sharing plants with my friends. And should something happen to my plant, I can always get a division back from a friend I gave it to. :)

Susan, Lynn is Windsurfgirl. I'm Dawna, LOL. I don't post here very often since I'm not as plant obsessed as I once was. When we moved I gave up all my established gardens and I'm too old and lazy to put in garden beds like I had at my old home. I don't have ANY bananas these days, nor aroids. I mainly stick with vegetable gardening these days, and a few hosta beds.

Dawn, It is SOO very dry here in Garvin County. OMG, we need rain so badly. I'm dreading this snow next week but hopefully it will give us some badly needed moisture.

The cannas are what made me so aware of plant viruses. I was a canna collector and had around 75 varieties. I LOVE cannas! They're one of my very favorite plants. But thanks to the canna virus, I only have about three varieties left. Isn't that sad? That is one reason I always try to tell people about canna virus, and hosta virus X. Daylilies have a deadly virus too, but I don't grow many day lilies so I'm not very familiar with it. I love my hostas and am very careful not to bring the HVX virus into my hosta beds. The deer have also eaten many of my hostas, but I keep planting them anyway. :)

Well, at least I don't grow Cannas and only have one daylily that I bought probably 10 or 11 years ago that seems to be doing well. I never caught the Canna bug because when I first moved into my house in 97 or 98, the lady had planted the entire east side with red and yellow Cannas. I just did not like them at all and spent one spring down on the ground digging in the dirt to get rid of all those tubers. I did get all of them, too.

Hostas were one of my first garden loves, though. I only have a few left - S&S, one of its sports, Titanic, Blue Angel, Night Before Xmas, and a lime green leaved one that remains unidentified. They are pretty much ignored for the last few years, but they come up every year, and as I said, I need to divide Sum & Substance. I think it gets well over 25 sprouts every spring now.

The only Aroids I have now are a couple of Arisaemas, the common Arum, and a Sauramatum or two. They just became a chore to raise, the Colocasias required too much water, so I just got too tired, like you, to care for them.

I do still butterfly and moth garden, though, and have raised several different species now, including 13 different sphinx species in my yard alone. I was lucky enough to have a beautiful little Obscure Sphinx last year, with lovely little red-orange underwings which is only the 3rd state record in so many years and a definite Oklahoma County record. I'm working on reporting these sightings and rare photos I was able to take, to Montana State University which contains the sole database of all reported lep sightings in the Continental U.S. I raised 5 of these beauties to mature adults and I hope they all made it back to the tropics, LOL!

At least from what I read, the Hosta Leaf or Foliar Nematode is still more prevalent than the HVX.

Good to see you again!

Susan

Dawna,

Do you still have your greenhouse? I cannot imagine you without a greenhouse full of plants!

You're the one who first made me aware of the canna virus a few years ago when you posted about it here, and I haven't bought one since then....but my established plants now have the virus after being healthy for many years.

We are overrun with deer and I can't plant anything unless it is protected by a fence 7' tall, so most of what's left in terms of ornamentals is just stuff they seldom if ever eat. I always sneak a few flowers into the veggie garden so the deer can't eat them, but what I'd really love (and doubt it ever will happen because DH doesn't like the fenced fortress look) would be to put a 7' tall fence all the way around the house, garage, front yard and back yard area.

I hope the loming winter storm brings everyone moisture. I can't think of a single part of Oklahoma that doesn't need rainfall desperately.

Dawn