Sheila, I was with you until the last paragraph. Do not bring your hosta into the house for a house plant. They are perennials. They need to sleep/go dormant in the winter. Otherwise, you will weaken the plant and it will go dormant next summer or sooner.

Good luck on the other. It could happen if you happen to get a piece of the crown with your leaf. .

bk

though i completely agree with bkay ....

i tend to think ... why not try it ... its a common topic here every fall ... and someone always says they are going to do it.. but i dont recall anyone every reporting back ...

but whatever you do ... use a duplicate...so if you lose it.. who cares ...

if it does go dormant during winter... ease it outside ... so it can complete dormancy with the requisite cold period ...

nothing new.. was ever learned.. until someone stretched the envelope... or some such cliche ...

ken

bk, you are right I did not think of that... I wonder how long of a requisite cold period might be required... perhaps I could refrigerate or freeze the little puppy for a couple of weeks and then see if it pops back up upon getting rewarmed... at any rate it would be a fun experiment with a tiny duplicate plant I think.

Ken you are right on... good advice. I'll try to remember to report back next Spring!

its somewhere between 45 and 60 days ..

why dont you just FORCE THEM ...

pot them up ... leave them outside until what.. feb ... then bring the pot in ... whatever 60 days from the start of dormancy is ... in other words .. treat them like you might tulip bulbs ... [probably gave her another idea.. lol] ... the only issue being ... how to temper them into house temps ...

the level of cold.. is to simply keep dormancy ... i dont think.. there is some requisite number otherwise ...

are you in any way.. involved in the nursery trade???

ken

The thing that makes me believe it won't work is the length of our growing season. Here, they are "green" for 8 to 9 months. Some begin to look ragged after 5 or 6 months. They don't stop growing. They just get really elongated petioles and begin to drop leaves. They just don't stay pretty forever. There are, of course, exceptions. They are few and far between, though. Even my beloved So Sweet doesn't look so sweet anymore. This makes me believe they would not make pretty houseplants.

I observed how gorgeous McTavish's hosta still are, but they didn't come up until June 1. I believe if the weather permitted, even hosta in Canada wouldn't look good forever.

Houseplants should be tropicals.

bk

I'm looking for starts or seeds for any blue colored Hosta :) I also saw a beautiful white and bright yellow hosta. They would look great mixed in a bed of Coral Bells.

Hi, Sheila, Nice to see somebody else from my neck of the woods. "Woods" is literal in my case - we're in the tiny scrap of forest along the Missouri river.

Good luck with your project. I used to try to save everything, but the garden has gotten too big to take care of.

Like Ken says, some sort of rule of dormancy......mine being
"40 days below 40 degrees" and that I think would be about the minimum length to try for.

We do get temps below 40, of course, but that would be for short lengths of time, since it heats up during the daytime. Keeping them from heating up during the daytime is probably the most critical part of maintaining dormancy.

I had an epiphany about a month ago, when I realized my real problem in zone 9a was not keeping them cool in the summer, nor shaded in the summer, since they sort of seem to love the sunshine (just not too much heat w/o sufficient water). It is instead keeping them shaded and thus cooler in the winter. So, my shade cloth must go up over the dormant hosta after those dang pecan leaves quit falling. I am contemplating killing the "baby" pecan tree in my back garden...ring it good, let it die.

I think your project will be fun. Hope you report on the way it goes, so we can all learn something. Be sure there is no living critter inside the pot when you bring it indoors. :)

On the subject of planting leaves. I did this same thing this summer. I had been to my local nursery for the late season sale and spotted an American Hero that appeared to be sporting. Sadly I already had one in the ground at home so i passed over it in favor of expanding my collection with many others. The plant in question had two "crowns" (correct term for hosta divisions?) that were fully two inches taller than the rest of the regular white centered leaves and were dark green with even darker green margins. I told myself it was probably just reverting and i probably wouldn't want that particular plant anyway.

Of course i looked it up when i got home and discovered American Hero to be a sport of Revolution(a plant with even more white than AH).

I went back the next weekend, found it and bought it. I brought it home with the idea of splitting the larger division off and planting it separately. Imagine my shock when the two tops simply popped off with the slightest manipulation of the crown and fell to the ground. I was somewhat depressed and just put the AH in the ground hoping that what was beneath those tops will return in the spring and just set the two amputations off to the side.

The next day i returned to the scene of the crime and as I was examining the amputated crowns I noticed some cracks in the soil near my Whirlwind and thought what the heck. Stuck em in the cracks,packed em in, gave em a drink and proceeded to watch them for two months in which they never wilted and even outlasted many of my non-abused plants when the colder weather showed up.

Needless to say I was impressed and have my fingers crossed for next spring.

So, no, Sheila you are not alone
P.S. my mom is from Bloomfield and my dad hails from Yankton.