Hosta growth?

[Optimist]

I had written before that I really liked Iris. I started to collect a few and now have about 20 of various colors. Last year and the year before, I got no blooms at all, and figured it was because I planted them beneath a big tree in an area you could call shade to partial shade. Along with the Iris I also had planted some day-lilies, and some asiatic lilies. They bloomed so were not bothered by the shade/partial shade. So I took the Iris out, and moved it to a sunny location where it is now doing fabulous.

On to the Hostas... I has a big blank area of shade to partial shade that had nothing but some random asiatic lilies and day lilies. So I looked around for a nice plant I could grow in shade/partial shade. Of course, hostas! They have wonderful leaves, can grow large so they can cover a big area. I am nowa novice hosta grower (this is my first year) and want to ask a hosta pro, how long does it take to grow to a mature size? They are a bit close together now because I want to judge what they look like, but I have heard in the 1st year they are no where as big as they will get. Since they are so close together, i know that I will be transplanting them within a year or so.

The Hostas I have are both big and little so i have no idea how big or how little. Thanks any one who wants to get in a conversation about Hosta Growth!!!
Katy

[Ray]

Katy, for what it's worth, in my gardens in PA, the first year, they didn't seem to do much, but after that, they expanded by 50%-100% annually if given a reasonable amount of food and plenty of water.

We moved to coastal NC over the winter, and I intend to put some in here, where the soil is far sandier and less loamy, but the growing season is longer, so we'll just wait and see.

[estación seca]

I hope you don't have deer! Hostas are like catnip for them.

[Bohata]

Don't forget that, while transplanting them , they are usually easy to divide!

[Dollythehun]

They will be close to full grown in year three. Do you know what they are? Hostas come in all different sizes.

[Optimist]

Hi! Thanks for the replies! Awesome!

No, no deer. We are in an area where the wildlife seems to be restricted to birds.

I have
Sum and Substance
Guacamole
Stained Glass
Abiqua Drinking Cup
Wide brim
Big blue
Alba marginata
White Feather
Curly Fries

The sum and substance and Guacomole are larger than the stained glass, but at the moment the Stained Glass is bigger than them. I just got the curly fries and Abiqua Drinking cup in the mail and they have a long time t grow before they are at any size. The garden will need to expand a bit as they reach their large sizes. That's fine with me. So far, so good!

[Dollythehun]

I have several of those. The first six are huge with a couple mediums stuck in. I have a lot of Olga's National monument series, the are enormous. Look for Golden Gate and Niagra Falls. Also Komodo Dragon is a stunner.

[Mountaineer370]

I needed some shade-tolerant plants for the shrub box along the front of my house, and so I planted a couple of hostas for the first time in my adult life last spring. The variety is called Firn Line, and they have beautiful variegated foliage, with large creamy white margins. The plant itself is supposed to stay on the small side.

Unfortunately slugs got to them last summer and did quite a bit of damage before I noticed, so in the fall, we cut the foliage back to ground level. I'm hoping that was the right thing to do, but I'm worried now because there's no sign of new shoots yet. My tiger lilies, on the other hand, are sprouting like crazy. I'm just hoping it's normal for hostas to take a little longer.

I've got a mostly shady place in my backyard, too, where I'd like to plant hostas, so I'm keeping my eyes and ears open to learn a lot more about them. I'd love to have the number and variety you have, Optimist!

[Dollythehun]

Generally, the thicker the foliage, the more slug resistance​. They may emerge late depending on where they are. Cutting the foliage back was fine. If you drink beer, you can drink most of a can and then turn it on its side in the bed, hole closest to the ground. Slugs love beer.

[Selmo]

The saying with hostas, is the first year they sleep, the second year they creep and the third year they leap. Meaning that usually it takes three years for them to mature, that is not saying that they will be full grown then. It depends on how much water, fertilizer, and sun light they get. Sum and Substance can become huge, over a meter tall and two meters wide. It is one of the larger ones, the other ones you have guacamole, stained glass, abiqua drinking gourd, wide brim, and ablomarginata are considered medium sized hostas at about 20-25" tall and 35-40" wide. The other two, white feathers, and curly fries will be smaller. Big Blue will be big (25-30" tall range) and blue. Love the blue leafed ones. We have over 70 different verities of hostas and use them all though out our gardens. In full sun and in deep shade. There are probably over 500 hosta plants in the garden and I think there are around 50 in pots from divisions waiting to find homes in the beds. You cannot go wrong with hostas as long as you keep the slugs and the deer away and keep them well watered. They will grow in any type soil from clay to loam, to gravel. Usually the biggest plants are found farther north because of more day light hours, not a longer growing season. Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota are considered the prime hosta growing regions. The more slug resistant hostas have a more waxy shine to there leaves, the blues are most resistant and the yellow leafed ones are least resistant. There is a protein in the wax that the slugs don't like. There is not a scale of 1-10 on slug resistance, just more resistant, some resistance, or no resistance.