Astounding Long Living Hostas
Find top picks for long living Hostas with a minimum of upkeep and fuss. Learn which varieties perform well year after year.
Growing Hostas have been my passion for a long, long time now. Every spring as they come out of the ground it is so entertaining to watch them unfurl their leaves, (hopefully without any damage from frost) and grow into beautiful specimens for the summer. I have become very patient with some varieties as a few of them take 5-6 years to become that glorious specimen.
Hostas Get Better With Age
Hostas almost always get bigger and better with age. They don’t ever have to be divided unless you want to and then just by taking a small chunk out of one side in the spring, you will still have a beautiful plant that summer. (I am talking about large mature plants here).
Last year and this year, I really limited myself to any new purchases other than a few really striking varieties and tried concentrating on the tried and true varieties for my settings. It is always hard to do, but I have succeeded especially good this year, only purchasing 2 from our Garden Club Plant Sale in early May.
Many of mine are now at the mature stage and are taking up way more room than I had allowed when I planted that small quart or gallon container 5 to 7 years ago.
Culling Less Successful Hostas
I have also started to cull out some of the plants that don’t do so well for me, for whatever reason, to make more room for the tried and true varieties.
Some Hostas get eaten up every year by some sort of insect, not necessarily only the hated slugs, and always looking ratty, and some start shutting down in the heat of August and those are among the ones that I cull out.
Others I cull out are ones that change their colors early in the season. I only want them to get better as the summer goes along, not fading to another color. If it starts out bright gold, please stay that same color. (This is a personal thing for me. Others love the Hostas that change over the summer.)
Keeper Hostas
EMERALD RUFF CUT
Emerald Ruff Cut (to the left) has taken many years to get to this point in my garden. The first two plants I purchased both died over winter because of the location.
The one didn’t have enough time to get established in the fall and the second one, it was just a bad winter, and I had put it in the same spot of course, so again, the location. Just too harsh for it. This one in the picture is sheltered and after 4 years is doing fine.
I love the yellow and gold Hostas like King Tut that have the thick corrugated leaves.
The blue of Halcyon just gets better with age, and in August rewards you with beautiful large white flower stalks. As they get older and much larger, the corrugated leaves offer quite a show in themselves too.
Gazebo Ready Hostas
Montana Aureo Marginata
Montana Aureo Marginata is glorious on the north side of our gazebo in mid summer. You can find that pictured many other times on this website.
The elegance of Majesty is really coming into play this spring with it in it’s current place for about 6 years. Prior to that I had it in a different location for 2 years and it didn’t do so well.
In addition, I also have a Tequila Sunrise that I have had for maybe 6-8 years and this year it has really taken off and is maturing and growing into a beautiful plant. (This one needs more shade to not burn.) Then there is Satisfaction that is enormous after about 6 years. These are all older varieties that perform really well.
SUN POWER Hosta
There is one though, Sun Power, (left) that starts out more green gold and by August is a bright stand out plant. This one needs some shade not to burn, but still plenty of sun to get the nice gold color. The picture at the left is Sun Power in early June.
TOUCH OF CLASS Hosta
Previously I have mentioned Touch of Class in many other articles on this website as one of the best and definitely is one of the best in my yard. It is a tetreploid form of June, which everyone has and everyone loves.
Once, I saw a June Hosta that was 2 feet tall and 5 feet wide! It had never been divided and was planted in complete compost. Beautiful plant to say the least!
Glamour Hosta
Glamour is a pristine version of a unique Hosta. And it holds it color through the season. It is a smaller size so a good one to put near the front of the perennial bed.
Liberty Hosta
There are so many more beautiful Hostas such as Sagae (below) and Liberty (to the left) to name a few. These two take a little longer to get growing, but are superb once they get to maturity.
Sagae Hosta in early June
Sagae Hosta late September
