How NOT to plant a hosta....

[Peter]

Greeting all.....

Picked up a package of Elegans Hostas ( thanks to Bill's recommendations for giant hostas).

Picked a nice place in the yard.... the first two hostas went in nice and neat. Dug the holes, amended the soil...it was. loam/ clay to mostly clay further down.

Hole number three... nicely spaced apart from the other two... shovel went in and hit something hard, moved a few inches, shovel went in and hit something hard... tried this again and again and again. No luck.... finally decided to excavate.

There is a boulder, about 3 feet x 2 1/2 feet by xxx feet located about 5

- 6" down. Made a few half hearted attempts to dig around it... wayyyy beyond my capability.

So the monster is right in the area where the hosta should be planted..... a few feet left or right will disrupt the pattern of hostas and intrude into another part of the garden.... Not a good option.

Removing the boulder is NOT going to happen... not by hand anyway.... the thing is kinda large sized and heavy. I'm not.

So, question is... Will a giant hosta be able to grow in 6" of soil...... most of my other hostas are within the top 4 - 6" of soil. Anyone have direct experience with this?? Planting in this location is preferable, right amount of sun, right amount of shade, right amount of moisture.

Or I can move the hosta to another location and forget trying to get a symeterical pattern in this location....

Your thoughts are welcome

Peter

[Bill]

All mine are about 5-6 inches. You can always add an inch or two if you want more room for insurance. A large rock may give you a moisture retention problem though.

Don't forget Hosta like to be split apart and moved about. Large one in a great spot was eaten from below last year. New one in same spot will be behind an in ground fence. Not guaranteed but it makes me feel good.

Bill death to voles....

[Pete L]

Don't forget slug pellets! Mine were eaten alive without them!

[mleblanca]

neat. Dug the

5 - 6" down.

most of my

Peter Yes, forget symmetrical and go for a naturalistic look. Not being a fan of symmetry I would love to have a nice big natural boulder in my garden! I would uncover the whole top of the boulder and put the remaining hostas in a random natural way around the edges of the boulder, not all the same distance apart. Add some other woodsy type plants and what a beautiful spot it will be. (Oh I am drooling at the thought of a boulder to play with....just let it display all its lovely rockiness.) Emilie NorCal

[Peter]

neat. Dug the

5 - 6" down.

soil...... most of my

Alas, you will discover that even with a big stone, when one reaches a certain age, it is difficult, if not impossible to get it up...

I covered it back up.. may it rest in peace.

The hosta will go elsewhere !!

Peter

[Cheryl Isaak]

You've gotten good advice. And leaving the boulder exactly were it is and putting the hosta somewhere else is what I would do and have done many times before.

In my younger, more energetic days, I would move that rock, it wasn't were I wanted it and I put it were it would do me some good. But not any more

C

[mleblanca]

Ummm, OK, sorry to hear about your problem, but I think that is another topic! And one I am not likely to have. I think that is better discussed in another newsgroup (GRIN) Emilie