Hosta - a flower for the next twenty years

A perennial decorative plant, one of the most pleasant and grateful - Hósta (host). Care does not take much time and does not require much effort. But one of the most pleasant ornaments of the garden is large leaves, different in shape, size and color. Regardless of whether the host is blooming, it is always the top of decorativeness. The more the attention is given to the host, the brighter and more saturated becomes the color of its magnificent leaves of various shades: the greens are supplemented with golden, cream, blue, white impregnations. Hosta, this flower, at times is located on the whole square meter, and it becomes cramped - so it grows. The height is also good: on average - up to eighty centimeters, and brought out really giant, two-meter varieties of hosts (Devon Giant, for example). There are also pygmy, five-centimeters (Tiny Tears). Campanula hosts (lilac, white, pinkish) hover above the bush on their long and graceful peduncles. The spectacle of mass flowering in the middle of summer is breathtaking: stop, mngognye, please, you're fine!

History and geography

In European gardens, the host settled in the late eighteenth century. The plant is easily crossed, so it turned out to be just a find for breeders. Today there are hundreds of varieties of hosts. Only in the English trading network seven hundred and forty-one varieties of this plant are registered. The old name - the function - was replaced by a host in honor of the Austrian doctor and botanist N. Host. The birthplace of this magnificent bush can be the Far East, southeast Asia, Japan.

Nature of the plant

Hosta is a flower adorning the shady parts of the garden. A rare plant can be so free to feel when there is a lack of sunlight and on medium-fertile soil. Very poor soils improve the addition of sand and humus, as well as mineral fertilizers. With activators of growth in the garden, the giant-the host's flower-will settle. The photo shows well these powerful, cheerful bushes and everyone, like a smiling flower. The host with light leaves lives better where there is more light, but with dark green and blue leaves - where it is dark. And all the hosts need a shadow in the hot hours of the day. This is not so difficult to do: plant a tall and sun-loving perennial near him, he will shield. Hosta - the flower is frost-resistant, it is not necessary to transplant and shelter. Wet soil near water bodies is also a favorite place of this plant.

Reproduction and planting

You can propagate seeds to the host. For the cultivation of seedlings in April, seeds are planted in pots or in May on a shady ridge, without fail, covering it. After three weeks there will be shoots, which should be protected from direct sunlight. In autumn they can already be landed on a permanent place. After planting, watered and mulched. But more often reproduction is made by cuttings or a division of a bush. This is much faster and less time consuming. Of the seeds, the grown host will only get its real decorativeness in three years.

Care of the plant

Hosta is a unpretentious flower. Care is to weed, watering, fertilizing and loosening. At one place hosts grow to twenty years, becoming almost the main attraction of the garden. Watering hosts better early in the day, and regularly, and in the heat - more profuse. Host is very hygrophilous.