The hosta is a versatile plant for your shady landscape. First, let's talk color. Hostas come in a spectacular array of cools colors from soft gold to cool blue tones. The amount of sun the plant receives helps determine the depth of the hosta color. In addition, many of the varieties have leaves that are streaked with a narrow or wide band of creamy white. Now let's talk texture. Hosta leaves range from smooth to wavy to wrinkled to puckered. The striking dimensions to the leaves can give your landscape a special focal point, becoming almost a specimen plant. Then there's size. You can use the smaller varieties as edgers or ground covers. Hostas could serve in place of lirope along a shady path or patio. Place the larger, mounding varieties in the center of a shady bed for some drama. On top of all this (no pun intended), many hostas will bloom in the late spring to early summer. The flowers appear on a slender stalk that rises about 6-12 inches above the foliage. Some even are scented. Check out the Pine Forest Gardens site for a quick tour of some hosta varieties.
Growing conditions
Hostas perform best in shade; some varieties can handle sun for brief periods. Take note of the sun-shade pattern in your landscape if your considering planting hostas. If there's more than 4 hours of high, bright shade, one of the yellow to cool green hosta varieties might work best. The deeper the shade, the deeper the color of hosta foliage. They also require regular watering: not too wet, but moist pretty much all the time. Hostas and ferns make good companion plants since both require very similar growing conditions. Hostas might not do so well in the southernmost part of Florida because it's so warm. However, if you keep your hostas in containers on your patio or deck, they'll stand a better chance of surviving.
Hostas are pretty hardy plants with only two principal pests: snails and slugs. These two nasties happen to like shady moist areas as well, plus hostas have these really nifty large leaves to hide under and later eat. For most of Florida, snails and slugs aren't too much of an issue. They just don't enjoy the sand on their squishy little bodies. However, it never hurts to keep a watchful eye for evidence of their presence. One of the best ways to prevent snails and slugs from getting a foot-hold (sucker-hold?) is to water in the morning and keep mulch away from the plant stems.
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