Perennial Bed Border Using Hosta
Make a perennial bed border by using smaller hostas as an edging. Learn which varieties are best suited for use as a border in your flower bed. Hostas make a nice alternative to annuals as a border. A perfect time to do this is in the fall when you need to rejuvenate your perennial beds.
If you love Hostas like I do, there is another way to show them off to their very best and that is to use small Hostas as a border on your Perennial Bed. Of course, the bed needs to be in mostly shade for this to be a good idea.
Give most of them 3 or 4 years time for growth, and the border of the bed it look like elegant sweeping waves of foliage.
Design A Perennial Bed Border Using Hosta
Varieties that I have planted around perennial beds, or an existing Hosta bed, include Tiny Tears, Stiletto, and Kabitan. For taller perennials or shrubs, Halcyon is lovely! Halcyon will take a lot of sun and is pretty well slug proof also. Halcyon grows to about 18″ tall.
I even have a bed that I am starting a double border on! I have had Stiletto as a border for several years and am doing a miniature border of Blue Mouse Ears. This variety is just a cutie but will take a longer time to complete because it is not very economical to purchase, so two or three a years and dividing the older ones, is my plan.
I have had the Hosta variety Baby Tears for maybe 20 years now, and when I first purchased it was a small little 3 inch clump. Also cost me about $20.00!
As a dwarf Hosta that is stoloniferous (grows with runners) it kept increasing in size each year, and after dividing it for myself, and giving some away, I was planning a new bed one year and decided to divide the main plant into tiny little clumps for the perennial bed border.
Each summer in mid-July I am rewarded with dark blue/purple flowers en masse. They last about 2 weeks and then I cut them off and still have the mounding border on the raised bed.
Kabitan is a variegated yellow and green small Hosta and sure will brighten up the area you are using it on. It is not as slug resistant as others and needs more attention to watering to stay nice looking, if you have a dry time of year.
Hi Judi, I live in Minnesota. I want to border my front sidewalk with hostas. It looks like the best one is lancifolia. But I have that one and it seems too dark green. It seems like some people have one that is so similar but is a lighter green. It is all one color. No variation. The picture you have posted looks like lancifolia. It is for the front of my house and I would like it to look like a formal Englsih garden. Putting boxwood there is just too green. As I have yews in the back for my north side. Although where I would put the hostas, they would get morning and afternoon sun. Any suggestions? Thank you. Will be looking eagerly for your response.
Hi Joan,
So sorry it took me a few days to answer this but we held the 2015 La Crosse County Dairy Breakfast here on our farm last weekend, and there was no time for the computer or website.
I have lancifolia and unless you have a very large planting and yard, I think it would be too tall at maturity for a border plant. Tiny Tears would be a good one also, Stilletto that has a narrow white edge. I have them both as a border here. Also, Blue Mouse Ears grows fast and is a good sturdy plant. I also have a border on one bed with Touch of Class which is a larger hosta than the others I have mentioned but that is also a good sturdy plant and can take more sun.
The first two, Tiny tears and Stilletto don’t really like the sun that much. If you are willing to do some extra watering, then you might try them. Stiletto has stoleniferous roots that creep underground, much like quack grass does so spreads in that way.
If I can be of more help, just write. Thank you for finding my website! Judi
HELP_______ i am looking for a hosta (i think that is what it is) that is growing in a landscape in Ft.Worth ,Tx. Its leaves are amazing, the plant is apprx. 3ft. Highx 5ft. It has yellow blooms and most of all the leaves look like floating waterlilies. Absolutely magnificent! ,,,i am an art teacher and can not seem to forget this vision. Please help me with this. Thank you so very much. Sincerely, Paula Kunkel ps the leaves have a rounded notch out, heart shaped but mostly like lily floating.
Hello Paula,
I guess I would need a picture to say for sure what this plant might be. I do know that there are no Hostas with yellow blooms. They are all white or white and purple, or purple or shades of it, so it probably isn’t a Hosta.
Do you live in the area? Maybe stop and ask the people that live there. Or, take a picture of it and ask Master Gardeners in your area to identify it. Or take the picture to your local nursery too and see what you can come up with. Hope I have been of some help! Judi