Hosta 'Great Expectations' Starter Bareroot Perennial. Super Cool Colors. Loves Shade.

Hostas have earned their place in gardens through their unparalleled landscape adaptability and resilience. They simply come back every year and their understated color palette, statuesque flower stems, and expansive foliage create elements difficult to replicate.

Hostas are easy to propagate through division. You can do this at any time during the growing season with little or no affect on the growth of the parent plant. But it's best that each division have at least 3 eyes so allow your hostas to mature for a few years before dividing them.

Deer and rabbit will munch on hostas, unfortunately, we know. But you can grow companion plants that may help deter critters due to strong scents, textures, or toxicity these animals tend to avoid. Lavender, Alliums, Ferns, Daffodils, Catmint, Sage, to name a few.

Organic mulch can prevent winter frost heaving in northern climates, especially for young hostas. Mulching, however, can create ideal slug conditions. Little leaf perforations are telltale sign of slug activity. Early spring application of slug bait when shoots first emerge significantly reduces infestations.

Subtle colors, tall flower scapes, and broad, coarse leaves fill a niche in garden designs that few other plants can achieve. The large leaves provide excellent coverage for dying bulb foliage, but you'll want to remove dormant hosta foliage heading into winter to keep the pests away.

Hostas come in a variety of sizes. Minis can be as small as 4-6 inches tall and 6-10 inches wide while giant hostas can dominate a garden bed by growing up to 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide (See our Empress Wu).

Dappled sunlight is good for hostas, especially morning sun. However, hot afternoon sun is not so great - deadly, in fact. Hostas are most comfortable in shady, woody settings.

Hostas grow best in moist, well-drained, highly organic soils with a pH between 5.5 and 7.5. Sandy loam is better than clay because it provides more aeration for the roots.

Hostas demonstrate remarkable resilience in urban settings, thriving despite air quality challenges posed by vehicular emissions and other environmental pollutants.