Hosta heaven

My passion for them started when I was young: helping my dad renovate the garden, we built a new pond and wanted suitable plants to surround it. Ferns, astilbes and hostas were a perfect choice. Looking back now, this might not have been the most imaginative planting scheme, but it worked well for us; and so began the battle to keep these large wonderful lush green leaves in one piece (without much success I must say). Twenty odd years later, working at RHS Garden Harlow Carr, I am still trying to battle the pesky slugs that love to feast on their leaves, even managing to build up a small but ever-growing collection.

Hostas originate from East Asia in China and Japan and were named in honour of Austrian botanist Nicholas Thomas Host. They were originally thought to be a type of lily and so placed in the Lillieaceae family, mainly due to their similar flowers. However, they have since been re-classified and can now be found in the Asparagaceae family which include, as you might guess, asparagus but also things like Convallaria majalis (Lily of the valley), hyacinth and Ruscus (Butcher’s Broom). Hostas have been bred into thousands of different varieties that fall into groups classed by leaf size, from miniature, small, medium, large and giant.

Many people will tend to use hostas to fill spaces in those dark corners of the garden as they believe them to be shade-loving plants. However, they are actually shade tolerant plants; a small technical difference, but a difference all the same. In practice, it means they do not like to be in full sun. The reason I bring this up is due to the fact that hostas actually need good light and will flower much better with higher light levels. When I say good light, the best way for me to describe this is to imagine them growing on the north side of a mountain, shaded from full sun but with no other obstructions and the big open sky above them providing plenty of light. However, it is their ability to grow in deep shade which means this is where they tend to get used.

As mentioned earlier, the fight against slugs is constant when it comes to hostas as the conditions they love to grow in - cool and damp – are the ideal conditions for slugs too. Some plant breeders are trying to address this by breeding new varieties which are slug resistant: plants which have a much thicker and tougher leaf aren’t as appealing to slugs.

There are numerous different methods to keep slugs at bay, from barriers such as wool and copper to beer traps or poison pellets. In general, there is no sure-fire way to prevent slugs eating your plants. Personally, I prefer not to use poison as it can harm the wildlife that ultimately prey on slugs. Indeed, if you can make your garden more appealing to wildlife, this will naturally help to control slugs and is a far more sustainable way to go about things. Protecting your plants early in the year when slugs are most active is also vital. Whichever method you use, the key is to be persistent and find the best way that suits you to protect these wonderful plants. Good luck!