Chapter 4

Preparing the Bed

A hosta bed is forgiving once it's right, and frustrating forever if it isn't. The two things that matter are light and drainage. Get those, and everything else is fine-tuning.

Site selection — reading the light

Almost every hosta sold is described as a "shade plant," but that's a simplification. Most hostas want dappled or filtered shade, or two to four hours of direct morning sun followed by shade through the afternoon. The classic Ohio site is the north or east side of the house, or under the high canopy of a mature maple, oak, or honey locust.

Spend a Saturday in May watching a candidate spot every hour from sunrise to sunset and write down what you see. The categories that matter:

• Full shade — no direct sun, only ambient light. Greens and blues thrive; yellows turn lime and lose contrast.
• Dappled shade — sun broken into moving patches through a tree canopy all day. The hosta-perfect light.
• Morning sun, afternoon shade — direct sun until 11 a.m. or so, shade after. Best for gold and yellow cultivars, which color up with some sun.
• Afternoon sun — direct sun after 1 p.m. Avoid for almost all hostas. The hot late-day sun in July scorches leaves to brown crisps within a few hours.

The blue-leaf exception

Blue-leaved cultivars (the powdery, glaucous types like 'Halcyon', H. sieboldiana 'Elegans') want more shade than green or variegated kinds, because their blue color is a wax coating that breaks down in direct sun. A blue hosta that gets two hours of afternoon sun in August will be plain green by Labor Day.

Drainage — the deal-breaker

Hostas survive drought far better than they survive standing water. A crown sitting in soggy soil in spring will rot, often without warning — you'll go out one morning to find the leaves at half-mast and a brown mush at the base.

Test drainage before you commit a bed:

1. Dig a hole 12 inches deep and 6 inches across.
2. Fill it with water and let it drain.
3. Refill it immediately.
4. Time how long the second fill takes to drain.

Under 2 hours: ideal. 2–4 hours: fine, mulch will help. 4–8 hours: improve by amending or raising the bed. Over 8 hours: don't plant hostas in this spot. Raise the bed 6–8 inches, or pick a different spot.

Soil — what hostas actually want

The textbook answer is rich, moist, well-drained, slightly acidic loam. In practice, Ohio gardens range from heavy clay (most of the central and western part of the state) to loose sandy loam (along old riverbeds). Both can be made to work.

Hostas tolerate a pH range of 6.0 to 7.5; most Ohio gardens land in that window naturally. A $15 soil test from your county extension office (Ohio State University Extension does cheap, accurate tests) will tell you exactly where you are and is well worth doing once when you're starting a new bed.

Bed shape and edging

Hostas grow as expanding circular mounds, so beds with curved edges look more natural than straight ones. A simple approach for a north-side foundation bed:

1. Lay a garden hose along the proposed front edge of the bed.
2. Adjust the curve until it looks right from the house and from the street.
3. Mark the line with marking paint or a trail of flour.
4. Cut the edge with a flat-bladed spade in one continuous line. Hold the spade at a slight angle leaning toward the bed — vertical cuts collapse the first time the grass grows back into them.

A clean spade-cut edge is free, attractive, and effective for a season. If you want something permanent, steel landscape edging is the least visible option; plastic edging looks plastic.

Preparing the planting holes

Don't dig holes until you've laid the whole bed out (see Chapter 11). When you're ready:

• Make each hole twice the width of the root mass and just deep enough that the crown will sit at finished soil level. Hostas spread horizontally, not down — width matters, depth doesn't.
• Loosen the bottom of the hole with a fork; do not bury fertilizer or fresh manure under a hosta. A handful of compost mixed into the backfill is the only "amendment in the hole" worth doing.
• If the hole bottom is solid clay, score it with the spade in a cross pattern so roots can break out.