Container gardening with hostas

Container gardening with hostas has been a long time practice of mine. For shade and part shade container gardening, you cannot beat the price and easy care hostas are in pots, planters, and even baskets. Since hosta are perennials you will have years of enjoyment plus each year you can divide the hosta to create more plants to pot or to share.

I have been container gardening with many varieties of hostas for 20 years. Container gardening for me started out years ago because I lived in rental homes and apartments and I could not have a flower garden where I lived so I improvised- I had a potted garden.

Hostas, in my opinion, are the best plant to buy for shade/part sun gardening because they are so versatile and ‘play well with others’. The leaves of hosta really add dimension and color to a container (or pot). I really love the combination of Impatiens with variegated hostas. I have a large pot that holds ferns and heuchera and varying heights of variegated hostas.

This spring as I uncovered the leaves from my overwintering potted hostas in the garden, I counted 30 pots! Now there are those who say hostas cannot be overwintered and I say “really? because I do and have for almost 20 years”. In colder climates you will have to protect them from extreme temperature and brutal winds. How? When I lived in zone 5 (Illinois) I used to dig a hole and put the the hostas in the trench and put the dirt around them and then cover them with leaves. You could use an unheated shed or garage too because freezing temps are okay for the hostas in pots because you want them to go dormant. However, you do not want the roots to be exposed to sub zero temps which will kill them.

Here in zone 7 I huddle all my potted hostas and potted plants together under and around the Oak trees- blanketing them with leaves. It works because the heat of the Oak tree and the potted hostas help keep the plants protected. You cannot just leave the pots out in the open but huddling pots together under a tree or buried in a trench covered in leaves, will help protect them for the winter. I have been doing it for 12 years since moving to Virginia and haven’t lost a hosta yet. I know it may be hard to believe but living plants put off heat (and energy) just like people do when we huddle together to get warm.

Many of my hostas are just in pots. If you do not have any hostas to start then wait for the garden centers to get them in and pick one that has filled in the pot so you can divide it. You can add annuals such as Impatiens or even begonias to fill the pot with beauty and color. The sky is the limit!