(gentle music crescendos) - I belong to a garden club in Morris.

We have about 20 members and one of the big areas of discussion is when to clip back and clean up hostas.

Some of the members say fall because they have more time then and the hosta leaves get so mushy if left till spring.

Some of the members say they clean them up in the spring in order to leave plant residue to hold snow for protection over winter.

Let's get this answer and lots more good hosta growing information on today's show.

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(gentle music ends) (bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) - About five years ago I attended a garden day and one of the speakers did an excellent talk on growing hostas.

Last year I contacted her to do a show with me for Prairie Yard & Garden.

We were all set, and then a windstorm came along and blew down a tree in her yard crushing her hostas.

Well that put the kibosh on that show, but when I called Jacki Froeming this year, she said, "Sure, come on over for a visit."

Thanks Jacki for letting us come.

- Yeah nice, and this year the weather is cooperating.

It's is no storm so far.

- What is your background?

- My background is in mycology.

If you know what that is, it's the study of mushrooms.

But when we moved to Minnesota, I was looking for a job and there was a job with Extension.

I didn't know what Extension was, but I applied, I got the job and it turned out that part of my job was coordinating the Master Gardening Program in Crow Wing County.

So that's how I got connected with plants.

But yes, mushrooms, and if you look around you're gonna see a lot of little decorations related to mushrooms.

'Cause that was my field.

That's what I went to school for.

- How did you get started growing hostas?

- I remember the very first time I saw a hosta, if you believe that, because they don't grow in Puerto Rico.

That's where I'm from.

So I never saw one.

And then from there I moved to Texas, from there we moved to Indiana.

And it was in Indiana in my 20s, when we went to a restaurant and the landscape in front of the restaurant, there were these plants.

They were green and white and so pretty.

And I was like, "What are those plants?"

Well, they were hostas.

So now you know, move forward in the future, I started working with Extension, and I started working with Master Gardeners and then I know what hostas were and how many of them, and I got hooked.

- How many cultivars do you have in your yard?

- You know, I get that question a lot.

I'm not gonna count.

(both laughing) First, it's hard to figure out.

Plus, I'm sure there's a lot of people that have way more than me.

So I'm not gonna say, well I have 150 and you have 200.

Let's say that I have plenty of them.

- [Mary] Where do you get most of your hostas from?

- [Jacki] All kinds of garden centers, plant sales.

It's great to know Master Gardeners because they're very generous people and they like to divide their plants and give away.

And many of the hostas that I have have been given to me by Master Gardeners, which it adds an element to the plan, in addition to say, "Oh here's Fashionista."

I remember the Master Gardener that gave it to me.

So it has like a more like, a human connection to other people, just every time that you look at those plants - [Mary] Are hostas a popular perennial?

- Very popular.

They're easy to grow, they tolerate shade, dapple shade.

Some of them may tolerate a little more sun.

They tend to grow in Zone 3 to 9.

So here in Brainerd, we are Zone 3.

I can tell you southern part of United States, Miami, chances are you will not see hostas.

They need a dormant period over winter.

Hey, a good thing of living in Minnesota, we can grow hostas and they grow well, so.

- What are some of the different shapes of hostas that you have and what does that mean?

- Shapes, if you're talking about the whole plant, there's two basic shapes.

There is the mound shape, so it goes kind of like this or the vase shape.

So it goes from the bottom and it grows up.

So depending on the landscape, what, you know, what you're trying to accomplish, the back of a border, the front of a border, a mound shape like Golden Tiara might be better than Regal Splendor, like this one, is a vase shape.

So those are the two basic plant shape.

- Jacki, what are some of the different leaf shapes of hostas?

- There are four basic types of shapes.

You have the heart shape, there's also oval shape, lance shape, which is just really long and skinny.

And we also have the cup shapes and those are kind of cute.

One great example is a big one, Drinking Gourd.

And I do have that one.

- [Mary] You obviously must be able to have different colors too?

- [Jacki] Yes, And if we're talking about solid colors, so you have your solid green, solid blue, solid gold or yellow, and now there's white hostas, which is more of a novelty plant.

- [Mary] Well I've learned so much already, but can we go and learn more?

- [Jacki] Yes, let's go and look at the hostas.

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- We are buying a lot of protein, so we decided to make our own protein on the farm and we came up with sunflowers.

The oil was actually gonna be the byproduct.

After three months we went into food grade and the oil we started bottling, went into farmer's markets with it, and the whole thing took off from there.

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- Sunflower oil is actually very heart healthy because of the high monounsaturated fats and the low saturated fats.

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- Mary, here is one of the best hosta beds that I have.

I have others, but this one happens to be the perfect location.

It is filtered dappled shade and it's perfect.

I think I started this one about 10 years ago when we moved here, and over time, I moved plants around and I will say that it's pretty much done.

As you can see, we have taller cultivars in the back, especially the face shape upright, like the Montana.

Shorter, more mound shape in the front like Fire Island.

But as you can see here, you can see all the colors we mentioned.

We mentioned solid green, solid blue, gold, yellow.

Oh no, we don't have white.

So if we look here, this one is August Moon and it's considered to be in the class or the group of yellows and golds.

The thing with yellows and golds, the more sun they get, especially morning sun, the brighter they will be.

The more gold, the more yellow.

So if you have one like August Moon in full shade, it will tend to be more green.

Same with the big one over there, that Sum and Substance, very common, very popular.

That is also considered to be in the gold and yellow group.

Those two, those are blue.

And we also have solid green and is on the other side of the bed and is a new one that I planted last year.

And it's called Sugar Snap.

And it's solid green.

- [Mary] How do you know with all of these available, how do you know which ones you should try?

- [Jacki] You hear from Master Gardeners, which one they like.

You also can go to the American Hosta Society.

They have the Hosta of the Year, they have a list.

So to be nominated as a Hosta of the Year, you have to assume that it's a good quality cultivar to try.

- [Mary] So how do you know which hostas to use in which situation?

- [Jacki] Usually, if you're talking about amount of sunlight, the green ones are better for sunnier location.

The blue ones will benefit from shade and also the blue ones, try to have them in an area that is away from traffic.

Because the way they get the blue color, there is a waxy coating that if you remove that, it's gone for the season.

I learned that the hard way.

At the other house, I used to have a really big blue hosta right next to my rain barrel.

So then all of a sudden I'm thinking, "What is going on with the hosta?

It's like half of the hosta is green."

Well it was me walking by the hosta and rubbing against the hosta to get water from the rain barrel that I was removing the waxy coating, that it was giving the hosta the blue color.

Now here it's at the edge, but we don't walk by the hosta so it's fine.

But if you have a tight walkway where you are going to be rubbing against the hosta, don't plant a blue one.

- [Mary] So what varieties can you put or what should you look for as a border plant?

- [Jacki] Probably you want shorter plants, not too tall.

And the ones that grow more like a mound shape, rather than vase.

One really good example, Golden Tiara.

And I have a row of them going next to steps, going down to the lake.

- [Mary] How about a ground cover?

What kind should you get for that?

- [Jacki] Actually Golden Tiara is an option too, Twist of Lime.

It's another one because it's very short.

It's spreads, the clump spreads, so obviously you will have to plant more than one plant in the location.

But if you have, let's say five, seven, then eventually with time you can have an area covered with just hostas.

- Are there some varieties that have a fragrant flower?

- Yes, and it's funny that you ask because sometimes the name of the hosta will give you a hint.

So I have a hosta called Fragrant Bouquet.

So guess what?

Yes, the flowers tend to be more aromatic than other hostas.

- [Mary] That was another source of discussion in our garden club is should you leave the blooms on the hostas or should you clip 'em off?

- [Jacki] I will say it's a personal preference.

It's whatever you prefer.

I prefer to cut them.

And I know some people will be like, "Oh, but the little hummingbirds love them," and that's okay.

I have plenty of other flowers for hummingbirds, but especially some hostas, the flowers are really pretty like Blue Mouse Ears.

The flowers stay short, they're bright purple.

I mean they're pretty.

Some hosta flowers are not so pretty.

So as soon as they start blooming, I cut them down.

- [Mary] Do hostas form seeds?

- Yes, and I haven't done it myself, but I know at Master Gardeners, that they collect seeds, they plant them.

You may remember that dormant period that we said that hosta needs?

So hosta seeds, they need that stratification period.

So what she did is, she can either put it in the fridge over the winter or she put them in an unheated garage over winter.

Now the thing with starting hosta from seeds is, there's not a guarantee that the baby plants will look like the mom.

So the variegation can be different.

And what she did, and she did a lot of hostas from seeds, she said about 95% of the seedlings will be solid green, even if the hosta where they came from had a variegation.

So maybe out of 100, five will look like the mother plant.

So there's nothing wrong with it.

You are propagating hostas from seeds.

It's just that if you were looking for that variegation, if you were looking for something to look like June or Striptease or any of those, chances are you're gonna end up with green hostas.

- [Mary] So when the breeders make a new hosta, is it by seed or how else?

- [Jacki] Seeds is time consuming.

It's a time consuming process.

So what they do is tissue culture.

So they develop sports by taking tissue from a hosta that looks a little different and they do tissue culture.

So in the lab with big setup, they produce a lot of plants and that's how they start new plants.

Like for example in these flower beds we have Striptease and we have Gypsy Rose.

Well, Gypsy Rose is a sport, a Striptease.

So at one point a hybridizer noticed that Striptease maybe had a leaf that was a little different and they took that portion of the plant, they did tissue culture, they develop a new plant, they gave it a name, Gypsy Rose.

They applied for a patent and for 20 years they collect, you know, revenues from that plant that they developed.

But it's from a small genetic mutation from the plant.

- [Mary] Can you use hostas in containers?

- [Jacki] Yes, and I've done it a few years.

This year I didn't do that.

But you can, you just wanna make sure that it is a deep enough container, not too shallow, at least five, six inches deep.

And at the end of the growing season, if you wanna save the plant, you can either take it out of the container and put it in the garden, planted, or you can bury the entire pot in the garden.

But chances are, because of our winters, there's no guarantee that the plant will survive if you leave it in the pot.

- [Mary] This has been so interesting, but I'd like to learn more about planting and maintenance and care.

- [Jacki] Yes, I have another flower bed.

Let's go and see it.

(gentle music) - I have a question, I like the look of evergreen trees, but I don't want anything too large.

What do you recommend?

- Well for that purpose, dwarf conifers might fill the niche.

If you don't want a big old white pine or a big Norway spruce that'll take up half of your yard, you could plant the dwarf conifer and which one depends on the size of your yard.

They come in various shades of green and other colors like yellows and blues.

So they could be real nice accents in the garden.

Like two of my favorites are right back here.

Dwarf creeping Colorado Blue Spruce.

So instead of a tapered cone, you have one that just spreads along the ground if you want a ground cover.

Another one is the Weeping Norway Spruce back there, which comes out in the springtime with yellow leaves, which lasts through much of the year.

And then they turn green as the season progresses.

And it's got this nice weeping effect and it won't take up a whole lot of space.

And if a weeping tree is not something that you'd like, dwarf conifers come in many other forms.

There's a lot of very small, tight rounded ones or small cone-like ones like the Korean Fir, one called Ice Breaker, that's very slow growing and has silvery new growth and might reach two or three feet in 10 years, you know, so it'll stay nice and compact.

You could have really creeping dwarf conifers, especially different kinds of junipers that will form a good ground cover to help keep the weeds down too.

So one good tall narrow plant is the Weeping White Spruce, Picea glauca Pendula.

And we've got a very nice specimen here at the arboretum that's about 20 feet tall and only about five feet wide or four feet wide.

So it would work very well for a tight space where you do have room to grow up.

- [Narrator] Ask the Arboretum Experts has been brought to you by the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska.

Dedicated to welcoming, informing and inspiring all through outstanding displays, protected natural areas, horticultural research and education.

(gentle music ends) - [Mary] Jacki, if people want to plant hostas, when is the best time to do that?

- Either spring or fall is whenever you have the time.

I prefer to do it in the spring.

The only thing with a disadvantage of doing it in the spring is like, there's been times that I got a new hosta in the spring.

I go to the flower bed, I'm putting it in the ground and I'm like, "Oops, wait, something coming up."

So that's one disadvantage of doing it in the spring, but you didn't even know something was there.

But spring and fall, both are the good times to do it.

Probably avoid the middle of summer when it's too hot because it's too much stress on the plant.

- Okay, if you wanna divide hostas, when is the best time to do that?

- Okay, before I tell you the time, the best time, I have to say, there's a good reason for dividing a hosta and a bad reason for dividing a hosta, like a right reason and a wrong reason.

A right reason is because you wanna propagate the hosta.

Instead of having one clump, you want three clumps or five clumps.

But if you tell me that you are dividing your hosta because it got too big for the location, I would say that's the wrong reason for dividing a hosta.

You just put the hosta in the wrong location.

But the best time to divide, again, in the spring.

It's a really good time when they're barely coming up from the ground, you can see the clump, but the leaves haven't opened, you can divide them then, yeah.

- [Mary] Is there a certain kind of soil that you can use or have to use for them?

- [Jacki] They like well-drained loamy soil, probably not too sandy.

If your soil is too sandy, maybe you wanna amend it with compost.

But for the most part, they're very forgiving plants, they're very low maintenance.

I have a hosta, it was a Golden Tiara that it was showing signs of maybe a virus or something.

I threw it in the woods.

It's growing in the woods.

So yes, they're very easy to grow plants, yeah.

- [Mary] Should you fertilize hostas?

- [Jacki] If you want to, yes you can.

It can be a basic fertilizer.

10-10-10.

Apply early in the season, you know, at the beginning of the spring.

And if it is something that you're doing foliar application, the liquid kind, halfway through the summer stop doing, 'cause you want plant to stop growing and take more energy to the roots.

And that goes for many perennials.

You know, you don't wanna be fertilizing perennials late in the season.

Annuals, yes.

Perennials, no.

- [Mary] Should you put mulch around the hostas?

- Yes and no.

So it depends.

Have you heard that from Master Gardeners?

It depends.

So if you don't have any slug damage, if you don't see any holes in your hostas, yes, add mulch, organic mulch, shredded leaves, shredded bark, it will reduce weeds, it will conserve moisture in the soil.

But if you start seeing hostas with slug damage, which are holes on the leaves, remove the mulch.

They're hiding under the mulch, yeah.

- What other things can you do if you have slugs to get rid of them?

- Remove any place where they can hide, the mulch is one obvious one.

A lot of times is if you have decorations, if you have rocks, they will hide under that.

But what I do is I put down granules for slugs at the beginning of each growing season.

- [Mary] How about deer?

I've got deer at my place.

What do I do for them?

- You have to spray.

Or, I mean, if you have a fenced-in area where you have the hostas, that will be ideal.

Otherwise, what they recommend is whatever you use, whatever repellent you use, to switch it throughout the growing season, don't use the same spray, you know, from May through October, is switch it.

- [Mary] I see in your beds that you have other plants planted in besides hostas.

What are some of these companion plants?

- [Jacki] I have Coral Bells.

That's a really good option.

Arbequina is a good another one, but the one that I really like and it's right here in front of us, Pulmonaria.

Really fuzzy leaves.

The deer will not eat them.

And they have really pretty flowers early in the spring.

So when nothing else is blooming, Pulmonarias, also known as Lungwort, they're blooming.

- [Mary] Do you need to water the hostas and the other plants quite often?

- [Jacki] Well, these last few summers have been really bad, especially here in Brainerd, but I'm sure all across the state we have been low on rainfall.

So I water, I water quite often.

I try to do it early in the morning and I try to water at the base of the plants.

I try to avoid overhead watering, especially with the blue hostas and some of them.

So if you can remove the nozzle of your hose and then just go straight at the bottom of the plant, that's much better than overhead watering with your nozzle, yeah.

- Well now you have to answer the question in our garden club.

Should you clean them up in the fall or in the spring?

- Personal choice.

Whatever you prefer.

I clean them in the spring because yes, first the more plant material is there, maybe the more snow will accumulate, extra winter protection.

Plus in the spring, I know where the plants are because I can tell where the dead leaves are.

So when I'm cleaning it out, I'm like, "Oh yes, on the ground there's something there, that it should be coming up."

- [Mary] Jackie, what are your three most favorite hostas and why?

- That's not a fair question.

Isn't that like asking which kids, which of your kids is your favorite one?

But if I had to pick, obviously Emperor's Wu, which is right here next to us, and it's just because of the size.

I mean, look at the size of that one.

But I also like the mini ones, the Mouse Ears.

And there's so many of them that have the Blue Mouse Ears, Laughing Mouse Ears?

I mean you, I go from the really big ones to the really little ones, but some of them are really, really nice and every year they come up with new ones.

(gentle music) - [Mary] Well, this has been marvelous.

Thank you so much for teaching us all about the hostas.

- Well, it's, you know, I enjoy talking about hostas.

So welcome anytime.

(gentle music continues) - [Narrator] Funding for Prairie Yard & Garden is provided by Heartland Motor Company, providing service to Minnesota and the Dakotas for over 30 years, in the heart of truck country.

Heartland Motor Company, we have your best interest at heart.

(gentle music continues) Farmers Mutual Telephone Company and Federated Telephone Cooperative.

Proud to be powering Acira.

Pioneers in bringing state-of-the-art technology to our rural communities.

(gentle music continues) Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen in honor of Shalom Hill Farm, a nonprofit rural education retreat center in a beautiful prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota.

And by Friends of Prairie Yard & Garden, a community of supporters like you who engage in the long-term growth of the series.

To become a friend of Prairie Yard & Garden, visit pioneer.org/pyg.

(gentle music ends) (bright music)