Oooo I just planted squash casserole earlier this summer. I'm thinking now I should move it to the front where it can get more light and more visual exposure rather than the back yard. It's still small, from a two-ish gallon planter I bought. I'd post a pic but something has happened where I can't post pics to the forum from my iPad or iphone. :(
But I'm excited to see yours and other photos of SC.

Hi T&M, give it all the sun and it can take it. Not saying it won't have some burned leaves, but it seems to thrive on the sunlight, while taking copious amounts of water. Remember, it likes lots of water. I broke the heat in early afternoon with a misting spray, which cooled things down for those in afternoon sun, such as SC family and the plantaginea clan.

I know how hot it can get up in Iowa, you get intense, but you also have a shorter growing season than we do here. Our heat just keeps on. Which is why I put pictures of early and late parts of the growing season. The leaves are bronzing up somewhat, showing that touch of rosy green brushing the golden leaves. It is another look to enjoy.

All of those look fabulous, especially the SC from May! Love the changes in the Yesterday's Memories through the season. The SC looks very much like my Sum and Substance in the picture. Are those two close to identical? I'll be adding these to my spring list. How much direct sun are these plants getting? Morning only or some afternoon sun? Thanks for the pictures and info.

Santa, let me see if I can clarify the sun exposure of the hosta pictured above.

Early in the year, I located the Yesterday's Memories where it got afternoon sun, and it exploded into the very mature look you saw above. I later elevated it (downturned pot) and it got morning sun and then late afternoon sun, once it began blooming. It put up 10 scapes this year, if I recall.

SC, being the parent from which these sported, I decided needed more sun, and when we chopped down the tall pine "stump" I sat the pot on top of the stub left, and it got full exposure to sun from noon on to late late afternoon--when the sun went behind the pines across the road from us. I mean it was hot, and I mean it was blistering. Some plants could not take it, leaves were wilting and the figs were not tall enough to shade anything much, and my umbrellas were like polka dots on the landscape, had to keep moving things in and out beneath them. That is when I thought of what it would take to give a mottled shade, but allow air circulation among the pots, and I came up with a square-latticed 10-foot tall shade screen 40 foot long (plus 8 more feet for my potting bench area). I'll have to consult the date on my photos (a great way to keep track of events) to tell when it was installed. Until the annual vines or deciduous vines begin to grow along the screen there is not too much shade, so Squash Casserole got the same afternoon sun AFTER the shade screen went up. I gave it a misting in mid day or about that time every day. It cooled down the whole area, noticeably so, and never never did it wilt or have a burned leaf. Nothing bleached out either. As you can observe, the leaf is not highly substanced, but they are crisp and held at attention, and there is a lot of leg showing beneath the leaf canopy. After a while, I moved SC from the main part of the hottest exposure to another stump shaded for an hour or so by the pot of bougainvillea. There it stays and a bronzy green color began to creep into the leaf color, a sign of the aging of the leaves as well as not-as-hot sun exposure. If I'd left it in direct sunlight instead of moving it, I'm sure it would still be the bright yellow squash color (and texture) which earned it the name of Squash Casserole.

It is my observation that it requires daily watering when in my garden (zone 9a) and to cool the atmosphere around it with the misting. I don't think the misting itself splashes water around, so "overhead watering" like this did not lead to foliar nematodes. There are no nematodes in the areas where I water by tall misting sprinklers.

Your experience may be different. However, I recommend that you try SC beginning in early spring in a location which gets direct sun all season long. If in a pot, it is easy to adjust the precise spot. Maybe even a child's umbrella for shade (they work, BTW) if you fear the worst. However, the key requirement is WATER. Enough water to cool the soil and the surrounding air.

My S&S out front is in a dry soil location. It gets ONLY afternoon sun in the days of late spring until the first weeks of fall. Right now the neighbor's trees are shading it and no direct sun reaches it. It is turning greener than it's been all year. But, no bad leaves. I have a watering olla in the ground beside it, one in ground beside Empress Wu. It keeps the soil moist and cooler for the roots, and so far that seems to keep their leaves from crisping. Of course, the clump of skinny bamboo and the palm shade helps too.

SC (from which the other plants sported) is listed as
'Hirao Elite' x 'August Moon' ...There is no mention of S&S in its background. August Moon is another great gold you may enjoy growing, if you have sunny spots to experiment with. August Moon has more sports than you can imagine, but SC is a hybrid of it. S&S is a Florence Shaw hosta, HOTY 2004, "lifted" by Paul Aden, and of unknown origin. It too has many sports. But, no known connection to SC.

With POTTED hosta in the sun, you MUST protect the pots from boiling the roots. Which is why I like to grow tall liriope in my garden. The liriope needs some shade, which it gets from the hosta leafage. It also benefits from the moisture. Another option would be asparagus fern, which can take full sun in southern climates, and stores water is grape-size bladders on its roots; it is evergreen, has small white flowers along the prickly fronds, and those turn to red berries. Very ornamental. My three huge pots of it (located in afternoon sun west side of our house) froze back last winter, but returned nicely from the rootballs this year. It is fertile, and the berries make new plants.

What did I miss?

An aside.
I think gold hosta leaves fare better in our climate than those with white centers. That's a whole different discussion though. I always look for the gold instead of white. At twilight, the gold reads lighter and shows fewer blemishes than white parts of leaves. Walk around your garden and see if it is true for you.

Here is key lime pie. Was a gift from a Hallsons order. Heard it is a decent grower, so looking foward to seeing it next year. But I'm most positive I say that about all the hostas. Next year!

Could have sworn I bought squash casserole, but can't find it in my notes. And I don't have enough hostas yet to lose any. When it stops raining I've got some hosta hunting to do.

Edited because I forgot to add the photo!

This post was edited by bungalowmonkeys on Thu, Sep 25, 14 at 19:50

I'm with you, Mocc. Squash Casserole has done well for me. It makes me want to try some more of Tony Avent's hosta. I got mine from Chris the spring. It was a really nice plant.

I haven't sorted photos for a couple of months, so I can't find the photo or I'd show it. Squash Casserole has the best color balance between flowers and leaves I've ever seen. It's the perfect shade of purple against the vibrant apple green. Even my color blind DH could tell the colors were perfect.

Mine has been getting 2 hours of hot afternoon sun in Texas. It did not burn until August.

bk

Yesterday's Memories, pic taken on July 4th.

High recommendation, BKay. Like I mentioned somewhere, if it can thrive in Texas, it can thrive anywhere!

And Don, I have a suspicion that next year your Yesterday's Memories is gonna leap. Mine spread to 36" a while after it emerged this year. I did not notice it being so wide and gorgeous until later in the spring. My eyeballs popped when I realized what it looked like. And then I thought about Squash Casserole....yep, it too....lovely.

At such moments of discovery, it sure would be nice to have someone nearby to get excited with me. In person, you know? sigh......

OK! More sun for August Moon. It is really ugly. I put it in a shaded area, and it has turned the ugliest green you've ever seen. I later moved it to more sun, but it was too late to remedy the situation.

bk

I hear you, Mocc. At least we have internet group support : )

Thanks to all the pics and great word-of-mouth, the first two hostas I plan on getting next spring will be Key Lime Pie and Squash Casserole. Going to do some rearranging so they can be in the same bed with Yesterday's Memories. That oughtta look pretty sweet, in time.

Here's one more of Yesterday's Memories. This was just after I got it from Hallson Gardens, last fall. Look how it's grown from last year. Can't wait for spring.

Mocc……thanks a ton for that lengthy and helpful reply. Sorry for the delayed response. I was on the road for a most of the last couple of days.

I plan to do a lot of research and ask some questions this winter before picking out next year's selection. I look forward to experimenting with some things in more sun that I have tried before, although none of my yard gets any prolonged full sun. I can't even find a place to put my rain gauge that doesn't have leaves over it, but I do have areas that get more sun than where I now have any hostas.

Santa, I get an inkling of your situation now. With all that tree cover, your hosta get less direct rainfall when it comes. They also compete with treeroots for rain and irrigation water. Evidently you give the trees enough water with the drip system too that they do not hinder your hosta.

I found a small hosta (it should have been much bigger), which I had sitting on the surface of a potted agnus castus vitex (false hemp tree). I picked up the pot, and discovered there was a huge strange root growing up into the pot from the tree, through the pot drain hole. Oh yeah! I would water the hosta, but not so much the tree. Now I know that can happen even in a potted situation. So pot feet are very appropriate.

As I begin demo on things around our house, I discovered the deck railing (which is to come down) has the 2x2 bannisters I suppose that is what you'd call them. They are of treated wood, and I can save them for pot feet. Each pair would support a whiskey barrel without succumbing to termites too quickly. But think about pot feet, assuring drainage without encroachment by tree roots.

If it rains hard then they get a good soaking. Light, short periods of rain not so much. My hostas don't actually compete for water with trees or other plants as all then are in pots. I only water enough for my plants growing in the ground. My trees are all very large oaks and elms and the irrigation actually does nothing to help them, so my watering is not excessive enough to totally saturate the hosta pots. In order to give them the water they need in the growing season I have to hand water them regularly. In the off season the pots do get a good watering from the irrigation system once a week since there are no leaves to block the spray, which is why I was asking about covering them in the winter after Paula commented that she thought they were getting too much winter water. I'd rather do that that to tip them.

Like you are describing, covering the pots instead of tipping, is the latest thought in my head too.

I can see leaving the small diameter sections of bamboo left in the pots to form the center support for taking flat sheets of opaque white plastic and cone shaping and attaching it to the bamboo stake. I'm also thinking that attaching the name tags like a sailboat pennant stiff atop the "mast" would also keep critters from digging out my name tags and losing them.

It would be a cone like a circus tent, or the top of a cupcake, and much easier to shed rain and keep away the heat on warm winter days. Plus, it would work with my largest pots even better, since no way can I tip them.

I'll do a test pot and see how it goes. I'll be shopping for the white covers soon, if anyone has an idea for what material works best and is critter resistant, please speak up! :)

My thought on covering plants for me is to use the thin, plastic pot trays with some kind of small weight on it to hold it down in the wind. Those are cheap and would be easy to store in the growing season.

I am wondering if the covering of the plants in the winter might have the opposite affect on the chilling during sunny days? I'm thinking more along the lines of it holding the heat in, especially if the sun is shining down on the pot. That's something I hadn't considered until you mentioned it. If the cover is not actually touching the pot maybe that's not an issue, but in my case with the pot trays actually covering and also having a lip on it I can see it building and holding heat.

I know. sigh.....it is not a simple matter, Santa.

However, with the pots as much shaded as possible, with something like hay bales around them or liriope (which is present in many of my flower beds) shielding the pot from too much sun, I'm hoping the cone held in place by the bamboo stake will have a teepee chimney effect, and any heat will exit through the top of the cone. In imagining the use of this cone, I'm also trying to imagine what the squirrels and other varmints might do to it. Or the rain.

But, perhaps tomorrow I look at materials to form the cones. Cheaper the better, but they could be stapled into cones from flat sheets of the appropriate size. We'll see.

The great hosta cone caper about to commence. :/

LOL Sounds like the name of an award winning made-for-TV movie.

You ever see the movie SAVING GRACE, Santa?
Now THAT was a great caper. Look it up. Gardening British style, with a definite twist.

This is a photo of Squash Casserole with flowers of the exactly perfect color contrast (IMHO).

This is my first year plant from Hallson's.

bk

Santa, my Squash Casserole was getting full sun from 4/5 PM to sundown from the west without any mitigating shade in Dallas. (You know what that's like.) It did not burn until the middle of August.

bk

My Squash CASEROLE is 6 plus years old and nearly 6 feet in diameter. Gets mornining sun ,but shade under a big Elm tree at noon. Just gets bigger every year with tons of blossoms. One of my most favorite hostas.

Those are some beautiful looking plants. bk…..really good to hear how well this guy does in the sun since we have so few that will take full afternoon sun during any of the summer. Do you have others that have shown that same tolerance for sun?

Paul's Glory held up almost as well. It started to fry about August 1. Cathedral Windows did almost as well as Squash Casserole. Elegans fried and had to be moved about June 30. Irish Luck held up fairly well until August, but really needs more shade.

Below is how they looked today, which for PG and IL is pretty bad. The August Moon and NBC were moved there later in the summer.

bk

Well my golly gee, if those posts above are not testimony enough to sell someone in the south on trying a hosta for a sunny spot, and making it one of the Squash Casserole family, I really don't know what else to say. It is a WINNER.

BKay's experience and report of what worked for her is a great spot to begin if you know your conditions are similar. All the joy, none of the grief of searching. Just be sure to give it plenty of water. :)

whoops. Dang computer. :)

This post was edited by santamiller on Tue, Sep 30, 14 at 20:56