Hosta Plants

How to Grow

Hostas are tough, low-maintenance plants. Keep them mulched with compost or chopped leaves to control weeds and help retain soil moisture. You can also feed hosta plants each spring with a top-dressing of compost. Watering enough to keep the soil evenly moist promotes the best growth, although plants are remarkably drought-resistant. Cut flower stalks back to below the foliage before they set seed unless you want plants to self-Sow.

Companion Plants

Hostas combine nicely with nearly any shade plants. Consider joining them with ferns, bleeding hearts, hellebores, lungworts, and epimediums. Plant daffodils and other hardy spring bulbs around hosta clumps. As the hosta foliage emerges, it will hide the unattractive ripening bulb foliage. Hostas also make excellent ground covers and specimen plants. Since they thrive in moist soil, they can be planted along stream banks, bogs, and ponds.