Hostas add excellent texture to gardens

Growing hostas is a love affair for many gardeners in our area. They are easy to grow, versatile, beautiful, artistic and useful throughout the garden and landscape. Hostas are one of the most drought-tolerant plants available in our area, and they are able to withstand adverse conditions, such as those we have seen this summer. Wet or dry, hot or cold, hostas always thrive.

One of my favorite aspects of gardening with hostas is their beauty, which lends itself to artistic creation and endless possibilities in the garden.

Hostas provide many forms of artistic grace. There is amazing texture, vertical interest in some plants, color, form, sculpture, symmetry, asymmetry, and so many varieties are available that you can create a virtual tapestry of beauty.

Some of my favorite hostas are those that are heavily corrugated, or seer-suckered, providing incredible texture in the garden not available from any other plant. As some varieties of hostas mature, this corrugation becomes especially intense, creating quite the display in the garden. Some examples of hostas with especially beautiful corrugation are World Cup, Abiqua Drinking Gourd, Big Daddy, and Rainforest Sunrise.

Many gardeners refer to hostas that blend several shades of color together as “painted” hostas. Indeed, this is exactly how they appear, as the colors are blended on the leaves, almost like brushstrokes from an artist’s paintbrush. Depending on the variety, this color can become more intense and more beautiful when the hosta is placed in the sun or shade.

Form is another characteristic of hostas that lends itself beautifully in the garden. Some hostas are small, barely 6 inches across with tiny leaves. Others are quite massive, reaching up to 8 feet across and 4 feet high, spectacular specimen plants in the summer garden. Some hostas are round and symmetrical, while others may take on unruly forms that provide a bit of mystery and enchantment.

Because of their versatility and adaptability, many varieties of hostas can be grown in either sun or shade. An increasing number of newer hostas, especially, are perfectly adapted for up to full sun, especially some of the gold hostas, variegated hostas and green hostas. The best blue hostas are still wisely kept in the shade, where their blue coloration remains the most intense.

Some hostas have wide, massive, elephant-ear type leaves, while others have long, narrow, strap like leaves that create a fireworks display in the garden. The same is true of hosta flowers. A closer look at the blooms of hostas reveal spectacular beauty among the blossoms. Some are streaked in purple and white. Some are heavily fragrant and massive in size. Others are a rich purple or even blue. There is even one hosta that boasts yellow flowers.

Gardening with hostas is much like creating artwork. Choosing varieties that mix well together and provide a pleasing combination of colors, textures, forms, heights and leaf shape is a fun way to explore your gardening hobby.

Find Rob Zimmer on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RobZimmerOutdoors.