Small hostas reach a height of 9 to 12 inches and have leaves the size of a potato chip. Because their powerful root systems can endure most garden soils and the plants are large enough to enjoy without having to get down on your knees to see them, these hostas are ideal for classic garden beds.
What are the smallest hosta?
Mini hostas are wonderfully cute hosta kinds that, even when fully grown, remain relatively small.
Blue Mouse Ears Hosta, Tiny Tears Hosta, Cracker Crumbs Hosta, Dragon Tails Hosta, and Baby Bunting Hosta are the most popular small hostas. These small jewels are usually less than a foot tall and fit into a square foot of space. Mini hostas come in a wide range of leaf colors, variegations, and forms.
Let’s take a look at some of the most popular little hostas, as well as some additional extra-tiny hostas.
Do any hostas stay small?
Small hostas are ideal as border perennials or when you need to fill up a gap in your rock garden. At maturity, these little hosta varieties stand 9 to 14 inches tall.
Is there a dwarf hosta?
Plants with leaf blades no longer than 4-1/2 inches and no larger than around 4 square inches are classified as mini hostas by the American Hosta Society (they prefer “mini” over “miniature”). Plants that are mature (five years old) must not exceed six inches in height.
How wide do small hostas get?
Plants can reach a height of 6 inches and a width of 14 inches. Look for names like variegated Hosta ‘Cracker Crumbs,’ chartreuse Hosta ‘Little Miss Muffet,’ green Hosta ‘Teaspoon,’ or white and green Hosta ‘Teeny-Weeny Bikini’ when looking for miniature hostas.
Are purple hostas real?
Purple Sensation has rich purple flowers that are bordered and striped in pristine white, unlike classic hosta cultivars that have pale lavender or soft white flowers. Hostas are excellent ground coverings and attract helpful pollinators with their bell-shaped blossoms, making them the ideal companion for your spring-blooming bulbs.
Are coral bells a type of hosta?
Heuchera, or coral bells, come in as many variations as hostas. The foliage is green to purple in color, with a vivid contrasting venation of orange and yellow. Although many of the flowers are small, some types feature larger blossoms atop vibrantly colored stems. Along the front of the border, Coral Bells look fantastic.
Will hostas grow in total shade?
Let’s start with this one because it’s usually the first perennial that springs to mind when considering shady gardening. It’s for a good reason: hostas adore being in the shadow. They do, after all, prefer the cool of the afternoon sun, so your shaded setting will be ideal for them.
Hostas, on the other hand, require a steady supply of moisture to flush out their large, gorgeous canopy of foliage, so planting them in hard, dry clay beneath your trees is not ideal.
When planting hostas, amend the soil to provide them with nutrient-rich, loamy soil in which to spread their vast roots. Investing the time and effort will benefit your hostas far more than planting them in poor soil and having to fertilize them every month to compensate for the poor soil.
Hostas are hardy in zones 3-9. They grow well in all but the hottest sections of the country. They are, however, a favorite diet of deer, so if you have these four-legged friends in your garden, you might want to browse lower down this list for alternative shade-tolerant perennials.
Recommended Hostas:
- The dazzling blue and radiant gold edged leaves of ‘Autumn Frost,’ one of the best hostas for spring color, will light up your landscape and containers with exuberant color.
- ‘Empress Wu’This massive green hosta might be better named “Wow You,” since it will undoubtedly impress all your friends when it reaches its mature height of 3-4ft tall by 5-6ft broad in around five years.
- ‘Wheee!’
- With a name like this, what hosta could be more entertaining?
- You’ll want to reach out and touch its very ruffled foliage, and when you do, you’ll be impressed by its thick leaf material. The slugs, on the other hand, will be less impressed and will seek out simpler prey.
What is a patriot hosta?
‘Patriot’ is a hosta cultivar with a 12-20″ tall mound of huge, variegated, oval basal leaves (up to 7″) with deep green centers and irregular white borders. ‘Francee’ is a popular H. ‘Francee’ sport. Foliage mounds usually grow to be 24-30″ wide.
What is a blue hosta?
Blue hosta types aren’t blue in the traditional sense. The leaves of the plants are covered in a waxy covering that gives them that blueish tint. This is also known as “glaucous,” which is Latin for greyish blue and is used to describe plants that have those tones or are blue-green in color.
While the color blue in the variety name is a decent indicator of the color you’ll get, there are lots of others whose names don’t even hint at the foliage color.
The blue tint of the hosta leaves may fade throughout the season, depending on the environment and where they’re placed in the garden, as sun exposure, heat, and strong rains can wear it away, revealing more of a green color. Planting your hosta in part shadow, where it only receives a small amount of the chilly morning sun, can help it retain its color. The foliage can also be affected by direct sunlight, which causes the edges of the leaves to burn and turn brown.
Blue hostas have thicker leaves than other hostas, which can help protect the plant against slug damage. Other pests, such as groundhogs, rabbits, and deer, are nevertheless attracted to them. They may also be subject to slug damage if the summer is particularly wet.