Hostas

Wow, what a plant for shade, with thousands of varieties and a huge range of sizes (from 2 inches to 3 feet tall) and colors (blues, chartreuse, gold, green, variegated, and so on). And free divisions of hostas are easy to come by, especially the plain ones. (They may be plain but they’re better than nothing. Take them and replace them later with something more interesting when your budget allows.) Hostas are native to much of Asia.

Design tip: Plant them among spring-blooming bulbs and they’ll nicely hide the dying foliage of the bulbs.

Details

• Hardy to Zones 3 to 7, some varieties grow in Zones 8 and 9 with adequate shade.
• Avoid midday or afternoon sun, which scalds the leaves of most hostas. (Sun-tolerant hostas are available, however.)
• One big caveat, where applicable: they’re loved by deer.

Care

• Plant any time the soil isn’t frozen; spring and fall are best.
• For best growth, apply compost or organic mulch in spring and keep watered — but really, they do fine without any coddling at all.
• They turn to mush after first hard frost, just lift the remains.
• Divide by digging up completely, then using steak knife to slice through the root and stem mass. Alternately, slice through them with a sharp shovel.
• If slugs are a problem for you, the thicker-leaved varieties are resistant. Or see the pesticide section for slug solutions (or just use Search.)
• You can’t kill them, so don’t worry.