Beautiful Hostas in the Autumn Landscape
Find beautiful Hostas in the Autumn Landscape. Learn which varieties hold up well all summer long.
Hello to all my Favorite Perennial Website friends and newsletter subscribers!
I hope this summer and your gardening experiences have left you with happy thoughts and another year of learning about your gardening practices!
It is Mid-October here in West Central Wisconsin and the trees are just turning gorgeous this year. Some leaves have fallen, and last week when I did some mowing and bagging (and saving the leaves to put on the perennial beds) I took a trip around the beds with a camera to see which of the plants were worthy of a picture. Here are some other fall Hosta varieties too.
Another Hot and Dry Summer
I was very surprised after another very hot and dry summer, to see so many of the Hostas still looking very nice and a lot of them hadn’t burnt at all and many also that had no holes in them. (either from slugs or other insects)
Hunting For Hosta
These are the varieties to hunt for in the garden centers as they have lasting qualities. If you want to know if a Hosta is a good candidate to buy, go to nurseries in August and September and see which plants are holding up and still pretty. Especially if there isn’t a shaded area for them.
Touch Of Class Hosta
Touch of Class Hosta Border
Touch of Class Hosta
The best variety that I have that looks the greatest right now, is ‘Touch of Class’. It is perfect. Absolutely no holes, no burning, and this is in mid October (Touch of Class is a tetraploid form of ‘June’.)
It has intense blue, heart-shaped leaves with a gold center and green streaking. The leaves are heavy and thus slug resistant. They are held upright.
A very special Hosta in every way and I am liking it better every year! The picture shows part of a short border that I have planted with Touch of Class.
June Hosta
Then there is ‘June’ that is common in many gardens, and I have seen very large specimens of 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide. Mine have not grown to that size, but are quality Hostas to say the least.
June Hosta
June is a sport of ‘Halcyon’ which actually would be my number one choice for best Hosta, except that Halcyon is a solid Blue/Green, and Touch of Class and June have the gorgeous coloring.
June can have many different looks depending on the amount of sun it gets. But, this is one, that weather the margins are white or cream or the green goes more toward the blue tones, you can tell that it is a June from far away. And, just like Touch of Class, it has great slug resistance.
Halcyon Hosta
‘Halcyon’ is a blue toned Hosta that with more sun will lose the blue coloring, but will be a fine Hosta either way. It was the parent plant of ‘June’. And of course, great slug resistance. Halcyon takes a lot of sun and stands up well to poorer conditions.
It will burn if it is in too much sun, but a trimming of the burnt leaves, will leave the rest of the plant looking good again. Halcyon puts on a superb floral display in mid-August too for much more interest!
Big Daddy Hosta
Big Daddy is a very large Blue Hosta with huge leaves and a 6’ wide spread by 30” tall. Quite a looker.
Crusader Hosta
Crusader is a lovely 15” Hosta that looks fine in mid October. Nice heavy textured green leaves with a white edge.
El Nino Hosta
El Nino Hosta
El Nino surprised me this year and is still looking great. I have it in a new spot with new soil in the bed and it gets more shade than previously and it still looks wonderful.
As, does, Fire and Ice where I moved it next to El Nino. I have 6 or 8 Fire and Ice in several beds and they have always melted out in the summer but with the new soil and no tree roots to compete with, and more shade, it seems to have come through the hot of the summer just fine! What a nice surprise!
Thunderbolt Hosta
Thunderbolt
Another Hosta that are still looks great in my beds is Thunderbolt. A special variety finally taking off for me.
More Great Hosta Choices
Tequila Sunrise
Also beautiful are Samurai, Komodo Dragon, Yellow River, Elaitor and Abiqua Drinking Gourd, Mildred Seaver, Glamour, and Winter Snow.
Wheee
Many of these varieties, but not all, were moved into new beds in the past year and have more shade than in previous years. But, probably as important as the shade, is the new soil and the roots have no competition yet with tree roots or compaction.
Some of these varieties are pictured on the website, and others will be put on soon. Keep checking back!
Happy Gardening!
