Jealous Hostas?

The following procedure has been described by Barbara Weitemier for introducing non-hosta plants into your garden:

You find a plant at a nursery that looks interesting to you. Maybe it has a nice color or leaf shape, but---it is not a hosta. You buy it anyway, with a firm understanding that you can return it if it doesn't "fit" in your garden.

1. You carry it into your garden, holding it in front of you so as to present its most attractive side to your hostas, as you approach the group of hostas near which you hope to plant the new plant.
2. If your new plant is large, you tell the hostas that you bought it specifically to provide shade for them. This explaination usually suffices for most hostas, especially the smaller varieties, although some of the older, tougher plants might show some skepticism.
3. If your new plant is small, you have a more difficult selling job. I appeal to their friendly reputation, telling them that the new plant is small and weak, and requires special protection that only they can give. This approach usually appeals to the larger plants--they know that they can overgrow the newcomer, should they so desire. Beware, though, if you have lied and brought home a rampant runner (like houtynnia (sp)), you'll be sorry!!!
4. The last approach, which nearly always wins my hostas over, is to declare that the new plant is a "snail magnet," especially purchased to benefit the hostas by diverting mollusks away from THEM!

The very best time to put another plant in proximity to your hostas is when the hostas are getting ready for their winter nap or already sleeping. Many hostas seem to have a poor memory. This has been demonstrated in some plants by a change in leaf size or coloration pattern as the plants resume growth in the spring, and most dramatically, by a "sport," which shows that the particular plant has completely forgotten what it is supposed to look like!

Thus, a new plant introduced when the hostas are not at their most alert will have a much better chance of being accepted. Most hostas will not even remember the new plant wasn't there during their last growing season! After awhile, you can have so many companion plants among your hostas, that the hostas will actually enjoy seeing you enter the garden with a newcomer. Your hostas are now "socialized." Congratulations!!

Using these explainations, I have rarely had to return a plant. Even if there is some conflict during the first growing season, the hostas, being the adaptable plants that they are, usually accept the interloper, and may even come to prefer its company!

You will not usually be thought to be "strange" by your neighbors (unless you tell them your reasons for returning a plant), and in fact, may even receive some compliments on your artful combinations of hosta and companion plants.

Main Page   Hosta Mania!!   The Orchid Window   Water Gardens   Garden Tour