I need some help. We moved into our house in November last year. In the spring we weeded around all of our nice landscaped areas. Low and behold millions of hostas came out of the ground and filled our yard. Ok maybe not millions but more than I care for. I know nothing about hostas care and haven't even looked into it until now as they are dying and getting all eaten up by things. When we moved in they were not visible so they must have done something like chop them all down or something I would imagine. Is that what I'm supposed to do? There was nothing above ground when we moved in, how do I get it to look like that again now and then bloom again in the spring? I'm new at all these green plants!! Help please
You don't have to do anything to them in the fall, all part of the charm. Over winter the leaves die and just blow away. They are really low maintenance, don't like fully sun and you can thin them in the fall and they grow all bushy again in the spring.
Somepeople do trim them with hand clippers, but I just let mine go. I don't really "clean-up" my landscape in the fall - I wait till spring, that way the birds can have any seed they may have on them for winter food. If you don't want them all I'm sure you might find a friend of two that would be more then willing to help you dig them up in the spring... or thin them a little by digging them up and seperating them. Most of mine were from this friend or that friend... I love them since they can grow in the full shade or some sun & require so little attention, but still look nice when you get a mix of different hostas or other kinds of plants around them.
Hostas do go dormant every fall. They appear to die. You can let the leaves compost in place, or cut the dying leaves off and have a neater appearance. If you have more hostas than you want, dig up some roots and give them away to neighbors. Or you may even be able to sell them on Craigslist – they are a popular plant.
I cut mine to the ground at the end of the season with regular gardening shears. But as others pointed out, you don't have to do anything.
Hostas can be cut down. They will come back in the spring. Usually by this time of year they look pretty sad. Deer usually finish ours off. Maybe the previous owner cut them way back to make the yard look more organized to sell the house? Hostas keep coming back unless you dig them up. The big leaves come up in the landscaping then bloom LATE summer. They are very hardy, so don't worry about huring them by cutting them down.
Hostas are UNKILLABLE. They are monsters on steriods.
You can dig them up with a shovel, cut them apart and move them or give them away.
My granparents LOVED them and would make a weekly trip over to get their next load when mine decided to take over my front yard. Mine were HUGE. I cut the leaves back when they die in the fall.
My husband mows ours down every year...they come back just as beautiful in the spring!
Hostas are EXTREMELY hardy - especially when established well. In the fall they will die back and you can just pull off/mow over the leaves. In the spring, they will grow new. Grubs, unfortunately, like to eat the leaves and make them spotty/holey. You can rip them up and move them, take whole chunks off the side of the root ball for planting elsewhere, or just chop whole chunks off the root to toss out and make the plant a bit smaller again. Unless they are in full sun (they like a mix of sun & shade), they'll bounce back from just about anything you can do to them. One of my favorite plants because they aren't fragile and nearly everyone can grow them. :)
Once the hostas turn yellow, dye off grab the hole bunch of stems and saw them down with a sharp knife or use pruners to cut the stems low to the ground. They will regrow in the spring.
