What do I do with Hostas now?

[Honeibee]

Ok go easy on me because I am REALLY new at this gardening stuff. Give me a 1500 pound horse and I can take care of it. But give me a little tiny plant and well, it ain't pretty. :blush:

This was the first summer in our new house so we didn't do much gardening because we wanted to wait and see what came up. Along the walkway to our front door there are some Hostas. (I mean, I THINK that's what they are. Big low leaves, tall purple funny looking flowers...) So now that summer is over they are all wilted and dead-looking. So, do I leave them? Pinch the leaves off? They are in a little garden that I'd like to rake up and turn over and maybe put some fertilizer in.

So what do I do with them? :confused3

Thanks in advance all my green-thumb DID friends! :goodvibes

[shrubber]

Just cut them back to about an inch or two and cover with a light layer of mulch and wait til spring!

[Honeibee]

Thank you, I think I can handle that! :teeth:

(Honeibee running off to find out what mulch is..... :confused3 )

[JudithM]

If they are hostas, then there is very little you can do to NOT have them return next year :). We have hostas in our yard that were here when we moved here several years ago. They do get larger each year & can be easily separated.

[WDWMom]

Don't do anything. They are an idiot plant (my term for a plant that no one can kill). They will come back year after year and multiply without any work from you. Day lilies are the same.

If you want it to look neat, you can gently pull the dead leaves but don't pull up the whole plant.

[FourFlans]

OK--so I'm not alone. Thanks to the OP who didn't know what to do with his hostas. We too are in a new home, and likewise mostly watched through the spring and summer to see what the previous homeowner might have planted. Well, we definately have hostas, but why she put them where she did I'll never understand. :confused3 They are planted at the front edge of our driveway, practically the only place in our whole yard that gets A LOT of sun. So they've basically burned up and looked horrible from about July on. Anyway, to my question.....I've heard that you can dig them up, divide them and replant/move them successfully. Yes? So when and how do I this?

[massielovesdisney]

I divide mine after they come back in the spring, that way I can see how much i'm dividing. I just put the shovel through the plant. It does not seem to hurt them at all. 5 years ago I had 3 plants every other year I divide them into 3 or 4 smaller and now I have many hostas along with other plants through out my yard and around my pool. The chlorene (sorry for spelling) water does not kill them and the constant moisture helps them thrive. I don't do anything with mine at the end of the season in the spring I can easily see where they are all planted so in the spring if I plant additional plants I don't plant to close to them. But my plants are in my back yard so any guests don't see dead plants when they come. In my front yard I primarly plant evergreen plants so that my front landscaping is attractive year round.

[FourFlans]

In my front yard I primarly plant evergreen plants so that my front landscaping is attractive year round.


Amen to that. The previous homeowners evidently spent a fortune on landscaping, but most of what's out front dies away in the winter, so I'm left with a bunch of scraggily twigs! Yuck!

Thanks for the tips on moving the hostas, which I will happily do in the spring.