Hosta Problems

DSCN1351

DSCN1352

DSCN1353

TheGardenLady received this question from Pete (You can see images of his hostas above):

I have many green hosta plants that for the last couple years have wilted leaves or are otherwise distorted.The plants are quite old but were always healthy till now. Any ideas?

Though hostas are known to have few pest and disease problems, sadly they do develop some diseases and do get some pests. Some of these
problems may not kill the plant but makes them look unattractive. I have a feeling that your problem is not a killer.

You do not say where you live, but in many areas of the US, this spring has had a lot of rain. Some diseases need the excess moisture
to cause problems. This excess moisture on the plants is either through excessive rain or excessive overhead watering.

Continue reading “Hosta Problems”

The time to plant or replant perennials

TheGardenLady received this question about planting and transplanting perennials, in particular hostas:

I live in southern Alberta. Can I move perennial plants now (sept 18)? I would also like to move some hostas.

The Fall is the best time to plant or transplant many perennials. You can plant or transplant plants up to 6 weeks before the first killing frost is expected in your area. Generally the Fall is the best time to transplant trees, shrubs and perennials and you have the added bonus of being able to buy plants on sale at this time of year. A Fall planting guide for Canada is this.

Hostas are forgiving plants and can be planted any time of the year when the ground is not frozen. Most books say that the best time to plant or replant Hostas is in the spring as soon as the soil is workable. This spring planting is for your benefit. Hostas like moisture, so if you plant or transplant them in the spring you have nature doing the watering for you. However, that being said, in Alberta, Canada you can plant Hostas now if the ground is still workable and if you are not getting a frost for 6 weeks – Hostas and other perennials need that time for the roots to get established. Just be sure that you plant your hostas in well draining soil where there is a lot of moisture so that the roots do not dry out.

Plants for a Grave

Grave Daffodils by evinrisca

TheGardenLady received this question from Lynn.

An older lady at my church needs appropriate plants to use at her husband’s grave. Can she call you? She does not use computers.

Cemeteries have different requirements on what is allowed to be planted on graves. More and more cemeteries do not allow permanent plantings because they do not have the manpower to care for plants. So first, your friend should discuss with the people at her cemetery to see what is allowed. If they allow plantings, perhaps they would give your friend some suggestions of what they want planted.  See here.

If, after discussing with the people at the cemetery, they give you permission to plant something but don’t recommend anything, TheGardenLady would recommend plants that are easy to raise and easy to maintain. After all, if your friend is elderly, she might not have the energy to care for plants after they are planted.

She might consider planting some bulbs like daffodils that will naturalize. TheGardenLady would not recommend tulips because tulips do not always return year after year so that many gardeners treat tulips like annuals. Daffodils will return for a long time.

Hostas by Dr. Farnsworth

TheGardenLady would recommend planting Hostas. They come in such variety and colors of green and leaf patterns and they would make the graveside look like a lovely meditation area. And though Hostas are usually not raised because of their flowers, they do have flowers. Hosta Plantaginea has some of the largest flowers with fragrance.  See here. TheGardenLady would recommend dwarf or shorter Hostas so that the plants don’t become overgrown.

Your friend might overplant the daffodil bulbs with the Hosta plants so that there is a long period with flowers and then the Hostas hide the dead leaves of the daffodils. Plant the daffodil bulbs much deeper than you plant the Hostas.

Another easy to raise plant that might look pretty in a cemetery would be the Hemerocallis or daylilly. These bloom all summer long and one has such a wide range of choices. Choose dwarf or short daylilies.  See here.  Again,daylillies can be planted over the area where the bulbs are.

One doesn’t want to hide the gravestone so TheGardenLady would not plant too many plants on the grave or plants that grow too tall. Therefore, the short or dwarf varieties are best.

Please let your elderly friend know what TheGardenLady recommends. Sorry, but I do not take telephone calls.

Carolyns Shade Garden 3rd Open House – May 15th, 2010

Large Hosta by WxMom

TheGardenLady is a big fan of hostas in the garden. They add such pizazz to any garden landscape. Mine are planted around trees to decorate the feet of the trees for a finishing touch. So in my garden, instead of just seeing a mound of mulch at the bottom of the trees, you see a sort of wreath of hostas that have pushed through the mulch. I think this adds such a pretty touch to the garden picture. If you want to buy hostas for your garden and are in the Philadelphia area on Saturday, May 15th, you should definitely visit Carolyn’s Shade Garden in Bryn Mawr.

Carolyns Shade Garden is having the third open house this Saturday, May 15, from 10 to 3, rain or shine, directions attached (checks and cash only). The display gardens are beautiful and full of great ideas, and the nursery has a huge selection of plants.

Appointment: Feel free to schedule an appointment during this week or next week if you can’t make it on Saturday. There seems to be a misconception that appointments are unusual. In fact, Carolyn does over half her business by appointment. Of course, if you only want a small amount of plants, the open houses are recommended.

Parking: For the convenience of my neighbors, please observe the no parking signs on Robinhood Rd and do not block mailboxes or turn around in driveways.

As promised, this is the best open house for hosta, ferns (10 varieties), and hardy geraniums, including hard-to-find and extremely desirable ‘Rozanne’.

There is also a great selection of phlox, foamflowers, bleeding-hearts, columbines, corydalis, lamium, pulmonaria, and, of course, hellebores (including the Lady Series, the Immanence Collection, and Christmas Rose ‘Jacob’). Japanese primroses and yellow corydalis are also ready.

Carolyn has some beautiful summer and fall-blooming shade plants, including white hardy begonia, ligularias, turtlehead, cardinal flower, great blue lobelia, Japanese anemone (six varieties), and yellow waxbells (Kirengoshoma).

A Word about Hostas: Carolyn has a great selection of hostas this year, including several varieties that she developed herself. She highly recommends that you walk around the gardens and look at the hostas in the landscape before choosing the type you want. Big-leaf hostas look totally different in a pot and often don’t develop their true leaf shape and gorgeous colors until they have been in the ground for a year. Smaller hostas cannot adequately portray their distinct habits in a pot.

When selecting hostas for your garden, you can’t go wrong by selecting a winner of the coveted Hosta of the Year Award from the American Hosta Growers Association. This award means a lot–only 15 hostas have received it out of the over 6,000 cultivars out there. I offer 1998 ‘Fragrant Bouquet’, 1999 ‘Paul’s Glory’, 2000 ‘Sagae’, 2001 ‘June’, 2002 ‘Guacamole’, 2008 ‘Blue Mouse Ears’, 2009 ‘Earth Angel’, and 2011 ‘Praying Hands’. Click here for gorgeous photographs:

Continue reading “Carolyns Shade Garden 3rd Open House – May 15th, 2010”

2010 Award Winning Flowers

Happy New Year- 2010. This is the time of year that plant associations are choosing the best of the best new plants for the year.

AAS the All America Selections has chosen 4 plants for 2010 that they count as award winning. They recommend these plants for gardeners to plant in their gardens.

Mesa Flower

The first is a Gaillardia x grandiflora  or blanket flower called Gaillardia F1 ‘Mesa Yellow’. This is the first hybrid blanket flower that has a controlled plant habit that does not get tall, loose and floppy; starts blooming a few weeks early and blooms all summer; and is relatively maintenance free.

Twinny Peach

The second AAS Award winner is Antirrhinum majus Snapdragon F1 ‘Twinny Peach’. It is a snapdragon without the jaws that snap- what they call a double or butterfly flower form. It is a blend of peach tone colors that are unique. These snapdragons are easy to grow, will flower all season with little care and has exhibited some heat tolerance.

Endurio Sky Blue Marien

The third AAS winner is Viola cornuta F1’Endurio Sky Blue Marien”. This delicate looking, spreading/ mounding sky -blue flowering plant AAS says is tough as nails.

Zahara Starlight Rose

The last AAS winner is the Zinnia marylandica ‘Zahara Starlight Rose.’ This is a bicolor zinnia that has resistance to leaf spot and mildew- two diseases of zinnias that are ugly and can kill the plants. Try to always buy disease resistant plants. Besides being disease resistant, Zahara Starlight Rose provides generous color all season, is heat and drought tolerant, easy to grow in gardens. AAS says that this is a ” perfect plant for the novice or experienced gardener because it is so undemanding with a maximum number of blooms.”

Baptisia australis blue false indigo

The Perennial Plant Association has chosen Baptisia australis blue false indigo as the perennial plant of 2010. This native American plant is an excellent choice for sunny gardens all over the continent. It attracts butterflies and makes a great cut flower.

First Frost

The 2010 Hosta of the year is called ‘First Frost.’  Hosta First Frost features intense blue-green leaves with irregular, jetting, yellow margins that turn white in summer. A beautiful plant that looks great until the first frost, thus the name.  The Hosta Society also has named the Hosta of the year for 2011. This is called ‘Praying Hands.’

Why Grass Might be Difficult to Grow

Oak Alley by Lake Fred
Oak Alley by Lake Fred

TheGardenLady received this question on a post about acidic soil from Todd.

My yard had many oak trees in it. I have stopped letting leaves sit so I can start a decent yard.  Could this be the reason grass is so difficult to grow?

If you want grass to grow on a lawn, it is good that you stop letting leaves sit on the grass. Grass loves sun. Even the so called shade grass doesn’t like a blanket of leaves covering because all grass needs light. And grass is a heavy feeder. Some kinds of grass need more fertilizer than others.

Grass really doesn’t like to have competition from tree roots.

You wrote that your yard HAD many oak trees in it. What does that mean? Did you chop the trees down? If you still have oak trees in your yard, know that oak trees are also heavy feeders. Their roots want the nutrients and the water to feed the trees. Tree roots are like pancakes- spread out. 90% of tree roots are in the top 3 feet of soil and 50-75% of feeder roots are in the top 1 foot of soil.

Continue reading “Why Grass Might be Difficult to Grow”

Shade Loving Plants

Pink Double Impatiens by Judes Jewels
Pink Double Impatiens by Jude's Jewels

TheGardenLady received this question from Kevin.

I have a very small front area, very small, 2′x25′ with very little sun. I was thinking about some kind of ornamental grass for height and some other colorful flowers.  Any ideas?

In order to give you a more precise answer, TheGardenLady would need to know your temperature zone and the amount of dryness or moisture in your front area.  Without this information, here are some suggestions:

You seem interested in grasses. Most ornamental grasses need sun. Many are shade INTOLERANT. A few will tolerate light shade.  See here.   But these do not bloom as well in shade. Sedges seem to be more tolerant of shade but some can grow too aggressively for your small area.

Koeleria macrantha, Junegrass and Melica imperfecta by edgehill
Koeleria macrantha, Junegrass and Melica imperfecta by edgehill

For a drier site there is Koeleria macrantha (syn. K. cristata) June grass which is a small, green, native clump grass with showy white flower panicles in June. A host for butterfly larvae. Shade tolerant and soil tolerant.

For a moist area there are two plants that might work:
Carex muskingumensis or Palm sedge is a slowly spreading plant with palm-like foliage that requires shade and moist conditions.

Chasmanthium latifolium by nobuflickr
Chasmanthium latifolium by nobuflickr

Also, Chasmanthium latifolium or Northern sea oats which is noted for its showy, drooping flowers and light green, upright, bamboo-like foliage. Flat green flowers will turn copper. Blooms well in shade and reseeds.

Also, consider hostas. The number of different hosta plants is so numerous that you can create a unique garden just with them alone. For your small area you can find miniature or small hostas. Plant variaged hostas or gold colored hostas to brighten the dark area.

Best shade tolerant colorful flowers would be annuals like impatiens and begonias.

Ligularia Dentata by robelsas
Ligularia Dentata by robelsas

If you want perennials consider Astilbe varieties, Greater Celandine (check to see if it is invasive in your area), Dicentra spectabilis (Bleeding Hearts), helleborus orientalis (Hellebore) and Ligularia dentata or Elephant ears. One doesn’t see Ligularia very often. It has large leaves. There is one with maroon-black leaves. Showy golden daisy like flowers appear in midsummer.

Lastly, consider an azalea. Azaleas will grow in shade.

Creating a Meditation Garden – Part II – Using Hostas

Hosta and Tulip by njk1951
Hosta and Tulip by njk1951

TheGardenLady received a question from Tonia about what sorts of flowers and plants should be used in creating a meditation garden.  In the last post on meditation gardens, TheGardenLady explained that in order to answer this question one needs to answer some other preliminary questions first.  In this post, TheGardenLady will discuss the idea of using hostas to create a meditation garden.

To me, there is nothing more tranquil than shades of green. What you also want are different textures and different heights. Thus my primary plant suggestion for your meditation garden is hosta lily plants. See here.

Hostas love shade and partial sun. Some newer varieties are tolerant of more sun. Hostas come in hundreds of varieties and each year new ones are introduced. See here. There are huge leafed hostas, miniature hostas, sword leaf shaped hostas and hostas of all shapes in between. They come in so many different shades of green that if you just planted hostas, you would have leaves of many textures in the most incredible palette of greens, inluding dark green, bluegreen, yellows, chartruse, or variagated cream or white with greens. See here.

Though hostas are grown for the interesting leaves, because hostas are in the lily family, there is the bonus that many do have flowers in whites and lavenders. Some flowers are insignificant but others grow quite large and some are fragrant.  See here.  My hosta flowers attract black swallowtail butterflies.

If you are planting hostas in areas that are not overly wet and you will water the plants, you will be delighted with some of the most undemanding plants that one can get. In these locations you can plant your hostas fairly close together. However, if your area is very wet, then you might have a slug or snail problem. If the area is wet, you won’t want the plants too close together so you can get rid of slugs. But these slugs CAN be dealt with, (ping back to slugs in Japan) so don’t give up on the idea of the hosta. But, if you have a deer, a major problem is that hostas are like candy to deer.

Consider looking at the American Hosta Society page. There you will see a photo of a hosta garden.

Hostas can be inexpensive. (ping back to Russels) And you can put out a call to gardeners you know to see if they are dividing their hostas- people have to divide hostas every few years, just as one does most perennial plants. Ask them for some of their divisions. You may get the plants free. TheGardenLady got most of her hostas that way. Gardeners are very generous about sharing.

Plants that Love Both Acid and Shade

Happy Easter from Georgias Callaway Gardens! by UGArdener
Happy Easter from Georgia's Callaway Gardens! by UGArdener

TheGardenLady received this question from Jennifer.

I have a shady area under my pine trees where nothing grows except weeds. I want to plant some blueberries and other acid loving plants there. Do you have some suggestions on plants that would love very acidic soil and full shade?

When one has a very shady area under a tree, one can always do what is referred to as limbing-up a tree, which is cutting off lower branches to allow more light or space under the tree to have more room for plantings.

Blueberries like most vegetables, herbs and fruit want lots of sun. So though you can use the pine needles to mulch the blueberries, it would really not be advisable to plant blueberries under the pine trees. Blueberries want to be planted in full sun.

Azaleas or rhododendrons would look beautiful under your pine trees. Consider native azaleas to compliment the area and for uniqueness. There are many plants even some with flowers that will also grow happily in this dry shade area with acidic soil .

Enrich the soil by adding humus and mulch and work it into the soil under the tree without hurting the tree roots. Even if you love the shape of your evergreens and are reluctant to cut off branches you can still have plants that will be happy under the pine trees.

Some good shade plants that will work are hostas, foam flowers –Tiarella cordifolia, sweet woodruff – Galium odoratum, lily of the valley, woodland flowers like Celandine Poppy or Wood Poppy-Stylophorum diphyllum, as well as many of the ferns like:

Autumn Fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) – Hardy in USDA zones 5-9. Easy to establish. Rabbit and deer resistant;

Lady Fern, Athyrium filix-femina. by Jeff Wardeska
Lady Fern, Athyrium filix-femina. by Jeff Wardeska

Lady Fern (Athyrium filix-femina) Hardy in zones 3-8. Rabbit resistant;

JAPANESE PAINTED FERN by Daisy.Sue
JAPANESE PAINTED FERN by Daisy.Sue

Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum ‘Pictum’) – Hardy in zones 3 to 8;

Christmas Fern by ellyssian
Christmas Fern by ellyssian

Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) – Hardy in zones 3-8. Very easy to grow.  Can take very dry to moist soils.