What a great eye you have for design! I love the plantings seen here. I don’t know about pot in pot planting, but I am interested in following this post. I have a number plants that are having issues due to large tree roots I think. I have a King Crimson Red Maple out front that has some roots at the surface. Thank goodness those roots are crossing my neighbors lawn and not my hosta beds. Also, Arborvitae trees which I really want removed. Anyway, must they be copper coated or can simple mesh bags work, I wonder? I’ll be waiting for an answer too.

debra

It needs to be copper coated, Spinout bags, for example. Otherwise the roots go right through. With the pot in pot method, you turn the top pot twice a year, or so, to break off roots growing up into the pot.

This method is shown at 34 minutes in this video from the AHS.

American Hosta Society, Hosta Talk, Designing with Hosta, June 25, 2020

Thanks beverly, I found the entire presentation really good!!

debra

We've done the pot in a spinout bag for 3 large hostas. It works well. We have a large red maple in the front yard and the roots are now making it difficult to plant in a bed about 20 feet away. We need to pull out the pots and replenish the material inside this year.

Unfortunately, I have never used the pot in a pot method. Too chicken maybe? But then, I couldn't seem to find pots that would work well with this method. So I don't have any experience or guidance to offer you. I did have some information on it, but haven't found it yet.

I always wondered about how it would work especially the space between the two pots. Would the pot drain well? I understand that if you have one pot buried into the garden, contact with the garden soil helps to wick away water from inside the pot. So I wonder how water management would work with the two pots especially if we are talking about clay type soils.

I did find some saved information about the pot in a pot method and putting soil into the bottom pot to help wick away the perched water from the main pot. It was written by tapla from the container forum here. If you are interested in it, let me know.

Maybe you could try the method out with one Fragrant Blue hosta or a different hosta?

Anyways, your FB hosta and garden look lovely.

I wonder how it would work to dig up the hostas. Clear the tree roots from the planting hole and hosta root ball. Then replant in the same location. Maybe this would need to be done every 4-5 years?

I have considered this Beth when removing the roots I usually end up with cohesive divisions of only one or two eyes. So it would be a bit sparse for a couple years, nice for a couple years, lackluster and declining for a year (or two) and repeat. You see, only a couple good years and never reaching their potential. Of course they probably won't reach their potential in a small pot either. Repotting is easier for me than digging in maple roots also. Hopefully, when I lift the pots, I will not disterb any of the ground covers I have between plants like I would with digging.

Sounds like a difficult situation. I can relate to that. I notice that your Fragrant Blue are different sizes. Were they the same size when planted? When taking a stroll around my neighborhood, I noticed a hosta planting under a large maple tree. I pointed it out to my husband. He said "See. They can grow hosta under the maple." I also noticed there were two or three different kinds of hosta and some were different sizes. I attributed that to the tree roots, but cannot be sure, of course.

It really is hard work battling tree roots. As I get older, it seems to get harder. There are times I have to reassess my garden and what I am doing.

I would love to know what you decide to do and how it works out.

Progression. The two sports are smaller than the three Fragrant Blues. You will see that they are taller and have larger leaves as well as having a better clump habbit.

After 1 year. 2015 Note: Pineapple Upside Down Cake didn't make it here.

two years later - after three years 2017 Note - Jacobs ladder Stairway to Heaven didn't make it here either.

4 years 2019

Now - 2020 so 6 years after 2014 when planted here. Pulmonaria doing well, so far. You can see the hosta clumps are flatter, have smaller leaves and are being split into pieces by the roots. If left in a few years they would barely look like a hosta at all.

It still looks great. To my untrained eye, the hosta look like they are getting more sun than previous years. I am still learning every day. Good to know how tree rot competition looks like. I grow most of mine in pots. I have read that the key to buried pots or pot in a pot is to rotate the central pot every couple months.

It is very interesting to me to see what has happened in the last few years to this particular spot in your garden. I think your garden has done very well under that maple. But gardeners know when their plants are not growing as well as we know they could---and that is disappointing.

I have two Jacob's Ladder plants. They are cute and a bit delicate looking. They are in a badly rooted area. I have to have them in spin out bags and that garden bed gets dry very quickly. This year we added soaker hose to that bed. It goes on every second day. I have two pulmonaria there too, but they are also in spin out bags. The only thing not in a spin out bag is variegated Solomon's seal. It grows, but spacing between stems, I believe, is further apart than it normally would be.

In my neighborhood there is a house that has several June's around a tree. They may have been there for almost ten years? But let's say 5-10 since I can't remember. How do they look? Cute, small for June, and they have remained the same size in the last few years. What I noticed last year, was that they are now reverting to Halcyon. I do like that look, but we know where that is headed.

So I think the hosta can survive in a rooted area, but just survival is not the goal. It's growth and health. I think the pot in a pot method is worth trying. I think I will look to see if I can find two pots that fit together well and try it myself. I wouldn't want to lose any hosta. I will pick a hosta that I have a duplicate of in case it doesn't work out well for me. Good luck.