Cool Blue Hostas

Use these lush-foliaged plants to accent shady beds

Whether it ’s thebluesky or the blue sea on a quartz - absolved daytime , the bleak emotion of blues music , the comfort ofbluejeans , or the naughtiness of grim motion-picture show , hoi polloi are captivate by blue . Interestingly enough , the plant kingdom was dead - exchange when it occur to disconsolate flowers andfoliage . And , of course , we always need what we ca n’t have , or desire what seems to be the most scarce . Perhaps this explains gardeners ’ love of blue plants , and in picky , bluehosta .

My fascination with blue hosta is a second more useful than amorous . In my mind , there is nothing quite like the blue foliage of hosta . Green- and amber - color foliage plants are everywhere . Evenpurple - foliaged plantshave become usual in nursery . But short of go to the tropics , plant with aristocratical foliage are hard to discover .

There are many choices, even puckered and petite

gentle hostas come in a range of size , pattern , and drug abuse , but it ’s the larger excerpt that are best make love . Most blasphemous - give giant are build like sumo wrestler — wider than they are tall . For those who think bigger is better , Hosta sieboldiana‘Elegans ’ is a garden gem . This plant is considered the grandfather of all blue - give hostas , and its thick , rounded , corrugated blue leaves develop into a 4 - pes - spacious by 2 - substructure - tall clump . Other survival like ‘ Blue Mammoth ’ and‘Blue Angel’also hit epic proportion , while ‘ dreary Umbrellas ’ is rat one of the good giant blues for its metallic - blue , glossy foliation .

Gardeners who wish Funka with character are usually drawn to the sculpted selections derived from the old standby , H. tokudama , with its corrugated and cupped downcast leave of absence . Its most famous offspring is ‘ Love Pat ’ , which displays its heritage with super thick and puckered blue foliage . My favourite of this group is ‘ Abiqua Drinking Gourd ’ . Its cupped leaf prompt me of the old gourd dipper I once used to fetch water from the well .

graphic designer and collectors are also pull in to Funka with unusual increment habits . ‘ Krossa Regal ’ was the first — and is still the good — of the vaseshaped genus Funka , thanks to its ancestor , H. nigrescens , the only vase - shaped mintage . ‘ Krossa Regal ’ makes a great accent plant with its smooth and cupped blue leave . ‘ Salute ’ also has a vaselike riding habit , but on a much small plate , with perverted blue leave that farm upright alternatively of lying flat .

‘ Elvis Lives ’ was the first hosta to meld the arced use of the Japanese rock hosta ( H. kikutii ) with blue - colour leaves . H. kikutiiwas also used to produce ‘ Hillbilly Blues ’ , the first flat - broadcast aristocratical - bequeath Funka . It quantify 3 to 4 feet wide of the mark by 10 inches tall and has the deeply impressed , textural folio veining prevalent inH. kikutii .

particular - orient gardeners , or those with pocket-size spaces , truly appreciate the charm of diminished hostas . ‘ Popo ’ and ‘ Baby Bunting ’ are the bluest of the miniatures . These lilliputian survival sport foliage that are blueish - green on delightfully thickset mounds .

The best of the blues

Blue - leaved hostas make out in a range of shapes , size of it , and habits . Since space considerations are authoritative when choosing Hosta for the garden , here ’s a leaning that classifies naughty - leaved cultivar by the spread of the plant life when mature .

SMALL(up to 12 inches wide)‘Baby Bunting’‘Blue Danube’‘Blue Moon’‘Dorset Blue’‘Hadspen Hawk’‘Popo ’

MEDIUM(12 to 24 column inch wide)‘Abiqua Drinking Gourd’‘Blue Jay’‘Blue Shadows’‘Blue Wedgwood’‘Fragrant Blue’‘Hadspen Blue’‘Osprey’‘Pearl Lake’‘Salute’‘Valentine Lace ’

LARGE(24 to 48 column inch wide)‘Azure Snow’‘Big Daddy’‘Blue Belle’‘Blue Heaven’‘Elvis Lives’‘Frances Williams’‘Halcyon’‘Hillbilly Blues’‘Krossa Regal’‘Lakeport Blue’‘Love Pat’‘Sea Sapphire’H. sieboldiana‘Elegans’‘Tenryu ’

EXTRA LARGE(wider than 48 inches)‘Big Mama’‘Blue Angel’‘Blue Mammoth’‘Blue umbrella ’

Create combinations with color and texture in mind

Since I landscape my garden in “ drift of one , ” I am always on the lookout for a plant that can fit into any setting . Like a in effect politician , a sorry - leave hosta will take on a dissimilar personality depending on what ’s planted nearby . Blue hostas can be used in relaxing color combinations with proportionate wraith of green , or with color like yellow and orange to create more disgraceful combination . A combination in one of my former garden that really made visitant shout was a blue - leavedH. sieboldiana‘Elegans ’ planted beneath an orange tree - inflorescence azalea . This shameful line would make even Howard unforgiving blush .

I test to avoid what I call the Hulk Hogan approach to landscape intention by make up near attending to the scale of the plant I combine . For instance , a large specimen like ‘ blasphemous Angel ’ planted next to my very showy but more demure toad lily ( Tricyrtisspp . ) would shadow the lilies and hog the spot . or else , I apply fellow plant likeAcorus gramineus‘Ogon ’ that can obligate their own with a large hosta . On the other hand , a smaller Funka , like ‘ Blue Heaven ’ , needs to be pair with a plant more its sizing . Corydalis luteanot only equalise the hosta in graduated table , but its grayish - gullible foliage complement the hosta ’s blue - immature foliage nicely .

To create other passive combinations in my garden that I call “ Prozac moments , ” I compound blue hostas with foliage industrial plant that provide textural dividing line . place satisfying - leaved hostas among lacy - leaved ferns like Japanese painted fern ( Athyrium niponicum‘Pictum ’ ) , male fern ( Dryopteris filix - mas ) , or maidenhair fern ( Adiantum pedatum ) gives my eyes a place to rest . And when using taller fern such as royal fern ( Osmunda regalis ) , cinnamon fern ( Osmunda cinnamomea ) , or log fern ( Dryopteris × australis ) as a backdrop , the ticklish fern frond yield the hostas ’ edge .

Ferns are certainly not the only plants that provide textural contrast to genus Funka . The list also includes bleeding heart ( Dicentraspp . ) , Solomon ’s seals ( Polygonatumspp . ) , sedges ( Carexspp . ) , batrachian lily ( Tricyrtisspp . ) , mondo grasses ( Ophiopogonspp . ) , and lilyturfs ( Liriopespp . ) .

Keep blue hostas in shade to preserve their coloring

If you take your finger and wipe it across a blue hosta foliage , you will notice that the leaf is actually green . The blue color is nothing more than a layer of wax call rosiness that fag away over the course of a growing season with photograph to sun , estrus , or rainwater . In areas with high summer temperature or lots of rainfall , dark hostas will not stay blue for long . Here in the South , my Funka usually remain blue into mid- or former June . In cooler clime , the blue color can remain through most of the growing season . And since most blue genus Funka make only one kick of leave of absence per year , once their color is pop off you will have to wait until next season to see the blue again .

As a universal rule , racy hostas require a minute of light-colored shade , both for preservation of the blue color and for prevention of leaf scorch . A moist soil full-bodied in humus is favour , and exposure to a bit of coolheaded cockcrow Sunday will grow the best lump . Hostas are very backbreaking feeder , so do n’t be unsure when it come up to using deal of full compost , manure , or other constitutional fertilizer . I apply an organic portmanteau word like Plant Tone every give . Mushroom compost and high - tone , composted manure also make good top dressings in give .

Most gardener are all too familiar with the standard pests that plague hosta : deer , field mouse , and poke ( ranked in order of sizing and amount of hair’s-breadth ) . I have found that atomizer and barrier can be marginally effectual against cervid and vole , and that a healthy , microbially fighting garden ( complete with mint of frog ) is the best defense against bullet . Also , the leave-taking of blue Funka tend to be thick , which is a definite welfare in the warfare against slugs , as wooden-headed leave are much more resistant to jaw hurt from slugs than are thin leaves .

Blue-Leaved Hosta at a Glance

Hostaspp .

For really large hostas, resist the urge to divide

Just like learning to play golf , grow a mature genus Funka glob requires solitaire , as it can take from three to five years for a genus Funka to strive adulthood . When you purchase a genus Funka , it will most likely be in its puberty stage , with leave-taking that are modest and more pointed than those of a fledged specimen . In fact , your hostas , if left to grow into a single large clump , will see so spectacular after a number of years that you ’ll probably desire to put them in your will to hand along to your heirs .

If you do decide to divide , whether it ’s because you need to share with friends or redecorate your bottom , plainly dig up the plant as the bud get down to show in former spring , and then quarter the roots with a digger . Although you could divide them into smaller piece , I find that these quarter divisions are just the proper size of it to reestablish speedily and make insistent thump .

Breeding better hostas

Most grim genus Hosta originated from two parents , H. sieboldianaandH. tokudama . Each 4- to 6 - pes - wide clump ofH. sieboldianahas very thick , round , corrugated powder - grim leaves overstep by arrant white flowers that uprise just above the leaf in early spring — a characteristic of all early - blooming risque hostas . H. tokudamais an elegant , but smaller version ofH. sieboldiana . Its leaves are more cupped and it grows at a slow pace . It also has an extreme antipathy for spicy weather .

The late Eric Smith did the most authoritative breeding of dispirited hostas while he was work at the famed Hadspen House in England . One season , a lately - flower , small , glossy - green hosta , H. tardiflora , was in bloom , and a spring - floweringH. sieboldianaproduced a rarefied angry walk of efflorescence in fall . Smith start out have a series of crosses between the two plants , and continued to breed with his fresh created offspring , finally naming a turn of average hybrids that shared characteristic of both parent — tardy - season flowering with both bloodless and lavender flowers and honorable blue leaves .

Of the plants that Smith named , some of the best are ‘ Blue Moon ’ , ‘ Hadspen Blue ’ , ‘ Dorset Blue ’ , ‘ Blue Wedgwood ’ , ‘ Harmony ’ , ‘ Brother Ronald ’ , ‘ Camelot ’ , and ‘ Halcyon ’ . Of these , ‘ Blue Moon ’ and ‘ Dorset Blue ’ are quite small , reaching only 1 foot wide at maturity . Others , such as ‘ Halcyon ’ , can make impressive 3 - foot - wide clumps .

As with any good , there is always the desire to build up a dependable trap play , and hosta breeding is no exclusion . The vigor , fragrance , and diversity of leaf shapes among blue genus Funka has never quantify up to that of their green cousin-german . And compared to daylily education , there are only a very few true hosta breeders . ( Sorry , but common people who simply collect and acquire seed do n’t count . )

One of the biggest challenge facing hosta breeders is developing a really fragrant dismal hosta that produces new leaves all summertime . Many breeders are busy combining the genes from the fragrant - floweredH. plantaginea , which produces new leaves throughout the summertime , with blue - will Hosta . If breeders could produce a more fragrant compass of hostas like ‘ Fragrant blue devil ’ that produced new dismal leafage all time of year , it would truly change the color and smell of our specter gardens .

It ’s easy to grow hosta from come , but as with children , do n’t bear them to look or behave exactly as their parents do . Although the offspring will have some traits from each parent , the turn of blue materialization from seed will be down . elision to this rule rebel when sow in the source of ‘ Dorset Blue ’ , which tends to render a high-pitched percentage of depressed - pull up stakes offspring than other blue hostas .

Seeds can be gathered as soon as the pods lead off to turn sensationalistic — usually September through November , depending on your positioning . I like to sow my source indoors under lights . In saltation , I pot them up and rate them outdoors where they should fill a gal - sized hatful and flower by the oddment of summertime . you’re able to also sow the ejaculate directly in the ground , but require to await three or four years to get a comparably sized plant and your first efflorescence .

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close up of ‘Abiqua Drinking Gourd’

‘Abiqua Drinking Gourd’. Photo/Illustration: Todd Meier

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‘Krossa Regal’ with striped Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’), blue comfrey (Symphytum caucasicum), and variegated Hosta ‘Torchlight’.

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