Caring for My Hosta Garden
I am always so glad to see new gardens thrive around my farm.
Last year around this time, we planted hundreds of hosta plants in a new garden down behind my chicken coop yard. I first got these plants as bare-root cuttings and kept them in a cold frame for several months until they were big enough to transplant. In all, about 700 hostas in a variety of cultivars including 'Wide Brim,' 'Francee,' 'Regal Splendor,' 'Elegans,' and 'Blue Angel.' Yesterday, we added a generous layer of mulch to the garden bed. I'm happy to report, all of the plants are doing great and growing wonderfully.
Here are some photos.
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- If you follow this blog regularly, you may recall we transformed this space behind the chicken coops last year. We cleared the area and prepared the soil for planting.
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- The plan was to plant lots and lots of hostas. Their lush green foliage varying in leaf shape, size and texture, and their easy care requirements make them ideal for many areas. Hosta is a genus of plants commonly known as hostas, plantain lilies and occasionally by the Japanese name, giboshi. They are native to northeast Asia and include hundreds of different cultivars.
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- Before planting, the hostas were strategically positioned and spaced, paying attention to variety, color, and growth habit. Hostas are grown primarily for their ornamental foliage. The stalked, veined, often dense, basal leaves rise up from a central rhizomatous crown to form a rounded to spreading mound.
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- This is what they looked like earlier this week. All of them are coming up so lush and green – every one of the 700-hostas looks great.
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- Yesterday, I instructed the crew to top dress the bed with a generous layer of mulch. This mulch was made right here at the farm. It will deter weeds and help retain moisture for these plants.
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- Mulch refers to a layer of some type of material on the surface of the soil. It is usually coarse in texture and makes the bed look well manicured, while helping to keep the soil cooler in summer. This is different from compost, which is used as a soil amendment.
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- The crew works in a production line process to spread the mulch over the bed. While Pasang scoops the mulch into the wheelbarrow, Domi transports loads to the bed, and then Chhiring spreads it across the garden and around each hosta plant.
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- Here is half the bed all done – it’s looking great. All the hostas are planted under a grove of dawn redwoods, Metasequoia. These trees grow faster than most trees. I planted these about 10 to 12 years ago.
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- The foliage of the dawn redwoods is just starting to emerge. The leaves are deciduous needles held in branchlets. Needles are dark green in summer, changing to a russet color in fall.
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- The bark of the dawn redwood is a reddish orange color and becomes deeply fissured as the tree matures.
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- And here is the bed all mulched. I am so pleased with how it is developing. I will share more photos of this garden later in summer.
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- This variety is called ‘Francee’ with dark green, heart-shaped leaves and narrow, white margins. A vigorous grower, this hosta blooms in mid to late summer.
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- ‘Elegans’ has huge, rounded, blue-gray leaves with white flowers that bloom mid-summer.
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- And ‘Regal Splendor’ is a large hosta featuring thick, wavy-undulate, blue-gray leaves with irregular creamy white to pale yellow margins and cuspidate tips. Bell-shaped, lavender flowers bloom in mid to late summer.
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- Across this bed is another smaller area planted with hostas. It also includes Hyacinthoides hispanica, commonly called Spanish bluebell or wood hyacinth – a bulbous perennial that is native to Spain, Portugal and northwest Africa. Each bulb produces a clump of two to six strap-shaped leaves. Soon, a rigid flower stem typically containing up to 12 to 15 hanging, bell-shaped, bluish-lavender flowers will rise from the center. The flowers typically bloom in early May.
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- Also in this bed is Dicentra – an elegant, easy-to-care-for perennial for shady gardens. More commonly known as bleeding heart, it is named for its heart-shaped blossoms that dangle from slender, arching stems. Dicentra is a great companion for other shade loving perennials such as hosta, astilbe and ferns.
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- I love Continus – a few are also planted in this space. The smooth, rounded leaves come in exceptional shades of clear pinkish-bronze, yellow, deep purple, and green.
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- Nearby is an allee of trees I started planting in 2016. This allee leads to my tennis court and is made up of 44 ‘Marley’s Pink Parasol’ Japanese Snowbell trees – a dainty, weeping small tree, featuring pink bell-shaped flowers hanging from gracefully weeping branches in spring.
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- It has green foliage throughout the season, and the large glossy pointy leaves turn an outstanding orange in fall.
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- Behind the Styrax japonicus ‘Marley’s Pink Parasol’ – Styrax japonicus ‘Evening Light’ – purple trees with fragrant, white, bell-shaped flowers. I planted two rows of these trees in 2018.
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- Its leaves emerge purple-maroon, becoming maroon-green later in the season.
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- Across the tennis court and along the fence of one of my horse paddocks are my osage orange trees. These trees grow so quickly. The Osage orange, Macular pomifera, is more commonly known as a hedge apple, bow wood, or bodark. It is a small deciduous tree or large shrub. During the mid 19th century, the sharp-thorned trees were often planted as cattle-deterring hedges before the introduction of barbed wire in the 1870s. Afterwards, the Osage orange trees became an important source of fence posts. The Osage orange is also known as a Bois D’arc, a name that was given by French settlers meaning “bow-wood”.
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- And here’s a little tease of what’s blooming just feet away and across the carriage road from the hosta garden – the lilac allee. I will share more photos of these fragrant lilacs later this week. Everything is emerging with such vigor this spring. What is blooming in your garden? Share with me in the comments below.
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