Tips on How to Grow Amazing Hostas

Come walk through our front garden with me today as I share tips on how to grow beautiful hostas.  

These shade-loving plants are low-maintenance that can help your garden look amazing from spring through fall if you follow these easy tips.

They're easy to grow and care for, add a beautiful touch of greenery, and are also great for hiding unsightly areas in your yard.

You’ll find even more helpful ideas in my Backyard Gardening Tips, including printables and planting guides.

Looking for a striking addition to your garden? Hostas are a perfect choice! Known for their lush, textured leaves in shades of green, blue, and creamy white, hostas are low-maintenance and thrive in a variety of garden settings.

Originally from the Orient, these hardy perennials bring color and elegance to shady spaces with very little effort.

In addition to their bold foliage, hostas produce flower stalks that bloom in white, purple, or a mix of both.

While some gardeners enjoy the delicate bell- or cone-shaped blossoms, others (like me!) prefer to snip them off—much to my husband's dismay, who loves the flowers.

Either way, hostas offer beauty and personality to any backyard landscape.

Table of Contents

• Click HERE to get the Easy Vegetables to Grow for Beginners FREE Printable!
• Growing Hostas for a Beautiful Garden
• How to Grow Hostas
• Tips for Proper Placement:
• Tips for Growing Hostas
• How to Prepare the Soil:
• How to Water:
• How to Control Pests:
• What Fertilizer for Hostas:
• How Big do Hostas Get?
• How to Divide the Plants:
• How to Care for Hostas in the Fall:
• Growing Hostas in Planters
• More Beautiful Gardening Tips and Ideas: 
• Leave a Comment!
• 💬 Comments

Growing Hostas for a Beautiful Garden

Hosta plants are a favorite among most gardeners. And who can blame them? They're a beautiful plant to grow and they're pretty easy to take care of as well.

Today I'm going to share with you a few easy tips that we follow to help our hosta plants make a beautiful impression to all who visit.

When we built our house almost 20 years ago we had nothing in the way of landscaping done. We barely had a driveway. But slowly over time we added bushes and plants and even a vegetable garden.  

How to Grow Hostas

Adding a hosta to your garden is sure to make a statement. These plants can grow up to 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide, so they really make an impact.

And with over 50 different varieties of hostas to choose from, you can find the perfect one to match your garden style.

Hostas are low-maintenance plants that are perfect for any gardener, whether you're a beginner or a pro. They like moist, well-drained soil and prefer shady areas.

But don't worry if you have a sunny spot in your garden - there are many varieties of hostas that can tolerate direct sunlight.

Tips for Proper Placement:

• Choose an area in your garden that receives partial sun.  
• Hostas are usually considered shade loving plants, but they do best in areas where they receive morning sun and are shaded during the hot afternoon.
• The hostas on our property do receive a ton of late morning sun but they seem to really thrive in it.

Tips for Growing Hostas

• Water your hosta regularly, especially during the hot summer months.
• Fertilize your plant once a month with a Balanced fertilizer. More information about what type of fertilizers to use below.
• Mulch around the base of your plant to help retain moisture.
• Divide your plant every few years to keep it healthy and vigorous.

How to Prepare the Soil:

• Hostas prefer loose, well-drained soil with a slightly acidic pH.  
• Dig the hole about 12 inches deep and space the hosta plants about 12 to 24 inches apart.  
• Be patient.  The plants will grow and spread as they mature.  
• Newly planted plants need to be kept moist so mulch the soil around them to help retain moisture.

How to Water:

• Although hosta plants can withstand drought, they do best if they are given 1 to 2 inches of water every week.
• You'll need to water them daily for about 2 weeks after you first plant them. 
• Once the plants are established, try to water them every 2 to 4 days if you don't live in an area that receives a lot of rain during the summer months.

How to Control Pests:

• If you live in an area with a large population of deer, you may want to rethink planting hostas as deer love these beautiful plants.  
• Slugs can be a problem as well and will eat large holes in the leaves.  
• A few plates filled with beer should help keep the slugs away from the plants.
• Thankfully we've never really had any problems with deer or slugs.

What Fertilizer for Hostas:

Here are a few different fertilizers to use for hostas. You can find these at any local home improvement center like Home Depot or on Amazon:

EZ-gro 20 20 20 Fertilizer -More InformationJ R Peters 52024 Jacks ClassicMore InformationAlgoPlus for Houseplants - Perfectly BalancedMore InformationMiracle-Gro Pour & Feed Plant FoodMore Information

 

How Big do Hostas Get?

• It can take a hosta plant up to six years to reach it's growth maturity.
• Something I didn't know is that the growth rate is determined by the number of flowers produced every year!

How to Divide the Plants:

• You can divide the plants at any time, but it's best to do so in the spring when the plants are just beginning to grow and you can easily see where to dig around the shoots coming up from the ground.
• A good rule of thumb is to divide the hosta plants when they get too crowded and the center starts to die out.
• Every three to four years is recommended in order to keep hostas healthy.

How to Care for Hostas in the Fall:

• Hostas will not stay green through the cold temperatures of winter, so you should cut them back to a couple of inches when you do the fall cleanup in your garden.
• Every year my husband cuts ours back and every year I think he's killed them.  
• But they always come back in the spring and look even more amazing than the year before.

Growing Hostas in Planters

Something new to my garden is growing hostas in planters! We have a rather large back porch that I have a hard time growing planters with traditional flowers because of the lack of sun the back porch receives.

Last summer I planted a few planters with hostas and was amazed at how well they did in the planters! I simply cut them back in the fall like I do to the hostas in the ground and what do you think happened?

They came back this spring! Look how pretty they look in the planters on our back porch.

More Beautiful Gardening Tips and Ideas: 

• Tips on Growing Tomatoes
• Mistakes to Avoid when Growing Tomatoes in Containers
• Tips on Growing Sunflowers in  your Garden
• Outdoor Gardening Inspiration

This blog post has been updated since it first appeared in 2017 with new photos and new information. I hope you enjoy the updates as much as I enjoyed working on them!