Hosta is a popular plant with dense rhizome. It can often be seen in shady courtyards and parks. This perennial with large foliage can become the highlight of a flower bed, decorate a summer cottage or garden. The hosta's blue is distinguished by foliage of an unusual bluish tint. Even florists use it to create unusual bouquets. The host is loved by landscape designers and is often used to design flower beds.
Characteristics and description of the plant
Blue hosta is a ground cover plant and can serve as protection for itself and neighboring cultivated plants from weeds. In the natural environment grows in the Far East, in Korea and China. For the Japanese, it is considered sacred and grown in gardens for thousands of years. Previously, tradition did not allow residents of eastern countries to import a host abroad, because in Europe they only found out about this perennial in the 17th century.
It looks very unusual blue host. Its sheet is heart-shaped and large enough. An interesting blue-green color to the leaf plate gives a wax coating. It becomes less noticeable when exposed to sunlight. The plant blooms in September. In the host photo, a plant with bright foliage, in blooming condition, seems to be the real queen of the garden. Inflorescence - bells collected in a brush lilac, white or lilac. Flowering lasts from June to October. When all the buds are wilted, the peduncle needs to be removed.
Using hosts in landscape design
Hosts are universal plants for shady places. They get along well with most plants and are undemanding to care. The plant is not picky about the soil and perfectly tolerates a lack of light. The host is combined with ferns, aquilegia, Lungwort, astilbe and other flowers. The composition of this perennial and coniferous plants, as well as the group planting next to fountains, artificial waterfalls or around the pond, have special charm. Thanks to the many varieties, you can apply your creative abilities and combine different plant forms with each other, coming up with unusual combinations. Different varieties of blue hostas and low green shrubs look good together. Large bushes are often planted on the curbs and paths, combining them with tall plants. Beautifully flowering perennials beautifully accentuate the unusual coloring of blue hosta leaves. You can grow the host as a container plant, moving it around the garden.
Blue Hosta: Outdoor Landing and Care
Landing hosts in the spring begins with the selection of places. When planting in a sunny area, the leaves lose their bluish tint and become simply green. Therefore, you should choose partial shade. Perennial prefers places under the crown of large plants or trees. Where to plant a blue host? On sandy and loamy soils it is poorly developed. The ideal soil is slightly acidic and moist, but a thick layer of drainage should be put in the landing pit. A place for the plant should be selected protected from drafts. When planting in a group, the distances between plants should be at least 80 cm. They are watered only under the root, otherwise the leaves can be damaged.
Landing pit preparation
Before planting hosts in spring, the soil needs to be loosened 30 cm in depth, and then mixed with complex fertilizer to stimulate the growth of the root system. Then the soil is removed, a small hole is excavated, twice as wide as the root system of the plant. The root neck when planting should be flush with the soil. The roots during planting are straightened, after which they are covered with soil. They roll the earth, mulch the bark, and the blue host is watered abundantly.
Feeding hosts
The plant acquires a decorative appearance in the third year of life. Leaves turn blue in two years. In fertile soil, perennial will need to be fed no earlier than a year after planting. In autumn, it is enough to mulch the soil around the plant with compost. If the plant lacks nutrients or it grows on poor soil, fertilizer is used in pellets for fertilizing, sprinkling it around the bush.
You can feed a blue host until mid-summer, otherwise it will only increase green mass, not bloom, and will not have time to stop growing before the frost begins. The soil around the plant is constantly moistened so that the foliage retains decorativeness and does not begin to darken around the edges. You need to water in the early morning, lifting the foliage. Then the earth is mulched - this will retain moisture inside. So that the perennial looks neat and does not lose shape, young peduncles are removed. In late autumn, pruning leaves: new ones will appear in spring.
Varieties of blue host
In the host photo, the plant is blue, often stands out from other perennials. Because it is so loved to use landscape designers for their work. This perennial has many interesting varieties, and in the garden you can plant several different blue hostas at once.
The classic varieties include:
- Halcyon - bush with embossed heart-shaped leaves, up to 50 cm high. Flowers - lavender hue. Prefers partial shade, but can withstand a sunny location.
- Blue Angel is a large-sized plant, up to 90 cm high, a leaf 40x30 cm in size. It prefers partial shade. The leaves are corrugated, very large, with a bluish coating. The flowers are similar to hyacinths, lavender color, have a pleasant smell.
- Love Pat is a slow-growing bush with dense leaves of blue color. Height - 60 cm, lavender flowers.
- Blueberry Ala Mode - a blue host with a white border around the edge of the sheet. The name translates as "blueberry ice cream." The bush is medium sized, leaves are rounded, corrugated.
- Queen Of The Seas - a plant up to 60 cm high, can grow on the sunny side, flowers do not smell. The leaves are wavy, with denticles along the edges, dense and beautiful.
- Canadian Blue - Canadian blue hosta, compact variety. The dimensions of the bush are 30x40 cm.
- Parisian Silk - a low, but wide bush, prefers a shady location. Foliage round, silver-blue hue. Blooms for a long time, pink bells.
- Smoke Signals - the bush is distinguished by spiky pointed leaves. It can grow in direct sunlight.
- Blue Mammoth is a large plant with very beautiful broad leaves of a rounded shape.
- Neptune is a variety with unusual spiky, corrugated foliage. Very loved by pests, especially slugs.
- Blue Dolphin - heart-shaped leaves with deep veins.
- Pewterware is a bush with dense, bluish-green leaves of a rounded shape.
- Big Daddy, or Big Daddy, is a variety of blue hosts, the description of which shows that it belongs to one of the most powerful and hardy. It can reach a meter in width and 60 cm in height. The leaves are rounded, wrinkled, very dense and matte. It develops slowly, prefers shady areas. In a sunny location, the leaves lose their color a little.
Propagation of blue hosts by dividing the bush
Propagation of the blue host is possible by dividing the bush, cuttings and seeds. Bushes are divided during transplantation in the fifth year of the plant's life. This allows you to keep their shape. The best period for separation is early spring or early fall. The host is dug up and the rhizome is cut, leaving one or two rosettes on each plot. The cut places are sprinkled with crushed charcoal. Damaged and rotten roots are removed, and plants are planted in a permanent place. Hosts usually take root within two weeks. Therefore, it is advisable to have time to plant them before the temperature drops.
Cutting hosts
Propagation by cuttings allows you to save the plant variety. This method is used in the summer, from June to July. As cuttings, shoots with leaves are used. Sheets should be shortened by a third to reduce evaporation of moisture from the surface. Cuttings shelter from direct sunlight and constantly moisten the soil around.
Seed propagation
Seeds appear after the plant fades. In place of the buds there remains a box with which you can collect the seed. The disadvantage of this method of propagation is the loss of variety. Hosta seeds do not differ in strong germination, before sowing they are soaked in growth stimulants and treated with a pink solution of potassium permanganate. The soil is also disinfected to destroy fungal spores and other pathogens of various diseases. You can do this by calcining the soil in the oven or by treating it all with the same potassium permanganate solution. Soil for sowing seeds is made up of baking powder and peat. It should be breathable and light. The host is sown superficially in moist soil using disinfected containers. A thick layer of drainage is laid at the bottom. The seeds are lightly sprinkled with a substrate, covered with a film or placed in a greenhouse and put in a place protected from direct sunlight.
Seedling Care
The optimum temperature for seedlings is + 20-25 ° C. The first seedlings appear after 2 weeks. Then the greenhouse is transferred to a well-lit place and they begin to periodically ventilate, accustoming the plants to an open space. It is important to monitor soil moisture and prevent it from overdrying. At the stage of the first pair of leaves, the seedlings are picked, placing them in different containers. Pots are placed in a large pan with water and watered through it. The topsoil is covered with sand and continues to monitor moisture. When young plants get stronger, they begin to harden, lowering the air temperature to +18 ° C. Hosts develop very slowly and almost always lose varietal qualities when propagated in this way.
Pests hosts
The blue host is most often damaged by snails and slugs. They eat succulent leaves and spoil their appearance with their silver footprints. The main means of dealing with them - traps and bait in the form of granules. Small rodents can spoil the rhizomes. To protect it, it is better to clamp it in containers with a net or sprinkle poisonous bait around. Especially often pests attack the host in the winter. If fresh leaves do not appear in the spring of the plant, this may indicate that insects damaged the root. To check it, they dig it out and inspect it.
For winter, the host does not require special shelter, but some experienced gardeners try to protect themselves by mulching the soil around the plant. If the soil is moist, such places become ideal for propagation of field mice. They dig holes around and spoil the root system of the plant. Another danger for blue hosts is caterpillars. They can destroy the bush in one night. Against these insects use special chemicals - insecticides. A dangerous pest destroying hosts is a nematode. These worms live in the ground, but can crawl onto plants and feed on leaves. Traces of the lesion look like brown stripes on the veins of the leaves. Aphids can also settle on a blue host. Then small spots appear on the sheet plate, similar to punctures with a pin.
Disease Hosts
Among the common diseases of these perennials in the first place are fungal. They are fought with fungicides. Plants can become infected with viruses. Signs of damage are yellow spots and dots on the leaf plate. It is useless to fight viruses, a diseased plant is dug up and destroyed, otherwise the virus will spread to neighboring trees and shrubs. A tool that comes in contact with a diseased plant must be sanitized.
Phyllosticosis is a disease caused by damage to a fungal infection. It is often found in perennials weakened by a hard winter and when the top freezes during freezing frosts. Traces of the lesion look like large merging brown spots with a grayish coating.
Blue host can also get anthracnose. Infection affects plants weakened by a lack of nutrition and an excess of moisture in the soil. The disease can be cured with the help of systemic fungicides.