Buy Hostas Online

HostasDirect is a plant nursery incorporated in Minnesota and sells many varieties of hostas, heuchera (coral bells) and other plants.

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One of the smallest, if not the smallest, of blue hostas, with small rounded leaves about 2" wide at maturity. Pale lavender flowers. The best tiny blue hosta with heavy texture; some rugosity with age. http://buyhostas.tumblr.com/post/132853241971/hosta-baby-bunting-hostas-direct

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Make Your Garden Iridescent with Hostas

Hosta plants are perfect perennial plants for any garden as they decorate your garden with a variety of hues, shapes, textures, forms, and sizes which vary according to their species. These plants can be creatively used to adorn your garden as they come with a rich and astonishing foliage. These plants are mainly shade-tolerant and thus can grow in minimal sunlight as well. 

Hostas are famous for their iridescently colored leaves and are widely preferred by amateur or weekend gardeners as these plants are low-maintenance and do not require much work apart from regular watering sessions during the first year.  While growing hostas one definitely needs to worry about pests as they tend to chew on the beautiful foliage of these plants. To avoid this problem, it is necessary to mulch the soil with bark and ensure proper spacing between every two plants. 

Planting hostas is really easy and all you need is a garden with partial shade. Also, planting them in open sunlight should be avoided as that would lead to leaf scorch that causes the bright colors of leaves to fade. It is important to provide constant moisture to the plant in the first year and this will be highly rewarding as these plants tend to grow up to anywhere between 2 inches to 36 inches once they attain maturity. To promote root growth it is important to plant hostas in a wider hole rather than a deeper hole as the roots of these perennial plants tend to grow far from the center. The best time to plant hostas is usually spring or the beginning of fall – they can also be planted in artistic containers which complement their brilliance. Hosta plants are appropriate for a green wall as they not only provide you with an interesting tapestry but also have the tendency to soften walls.  

These plants come in a plethora of shades and blue hostas are extremely popular among the gardeners for their glaucous sheen which is provided because of thick coating of a substance known as “leaf wax”. Other than blue, gardeners can also go for other beautiful shades such as white, gold, purple or even rich black. These plants are flood-resistant and with their wide network of roots, they can help prevent soil erosion. Due to their colorful appearance and the ease of maintaining them, hosta plants prove to be an ideal memorabilia that can be passed down from one generation to another.

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Some Facts About Heucheras Fertilization

Heuchera plants are one of the common choices of gardeners when it cones to perennials. Contributing a great deal to the beauty of a garden with their colorful foliage and beautiful flowers, these plants also need to be fertilized properly. Following are some essential facts regarding fertilization of heucheras:

Prepare Your Plants The soil on which coral bells plants are grown, needs to be moist and well-drained with a pH value between slightly acidic and neutral. Apart from that, it should also contain plenty of organic matter. By adding sulphur or lime, pH value of strongly alkaline or acidic soils can be brought to normal. Mix sandy soil, silt or clay with compos made from vegetable matter, soil conditioner and manure. Combine  one part of this mixture with three parts of native soil, making a 12 inch layer. Adjust the position of your coral bells in such a manner that they receive dappled shade or partial sun.

Know About Fertilizers Before starting to use a chemical fertilizer, you should be aware of some basic facts about it. Nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus are key nutrients required by garden plants. Commercial fertilizers both organic and inorganic, should contain these three elements. Quantity of these elements is represented as N-P-K balance which is an order of numeric percentages of these elements, on the labels of fertilizers. For instance, each of these key elements occupy 10 percent of the composition of a 10-10-10 fertilizer. This type of fertilizer is ideal for hosta varieties such as blue hosta plants. You can choose either slow-release or fast-acting fertilizers depending on the needs of your plants. Organic fertilizers are a major source of secondary nutrients.

Fertilization of Coral Bells A 12-6-6 or 5-10-5 type fertilizer is apt for heuchera plants. Add a reasonable amount of this fertilizer to the soil during spring. Nitrogen is essential for foliage growth in these plants. On the other hand, phosphorus helps in the growth of flowers. On mature plants having considerable strength, you can use quick-release water-soluble fertilizers. During early spring you can also apply slow-release granular fertilizers. While planting coral bells, it is better not to use quick-release fertilizers as they can burn young roots.

Organic Matter for Heucheras Alfalfa meal and bone meal are some excellent organic supplements for heucheras. Both of these are source of important nutrients. These supplements are generally blended with the soil on which coral bells are planted. Alternatively, this can be applied as a dressing on the top of soil.  

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Planting Period for Heuchera Coral Bells

Heuchera plants, also known as coral bells, are perennial species known for their attractive appearance featuring beautiful foliage and colorful flowers. Stems of these plants can grow up to a height of 1 to 2 foot. Flowers of these plants are bell-shaped. Planting these species in shady areas of a garden, one can add more visual appeal to it. Hence, these plants are one among the favorites of many gardeners.

Having a beautiful look, heuchera coral bells have the ability to grow in full shade, partial shade as well as sunlight. However, some species grow better in shade. Furthermore, maintenance needs of these plants are minimal. While planting these species, one needs to take care of several concerns. Following are some important considerations while planting heucheras.

Right Time to Sow Seeds Late winter or early spring is the best time to plant coral bells heuchera seeds in an outdoor garden. Lightly cover the seeds after sprinkling them on the ground. This way they will get enough sunlight for germination. For successful germination of seeds, soil temperature needs to be maintained at 60 to 70  degrees Fahrenheit. The time taken for these seeds to germinate can vary from 10 days to 2 months.

Separating Heucheras During Fall During fall, you can separate heuchera plants by dividing them. This needs to be done once in 3 to 4 years. To divide your heuchera plant, dig it up and separate its roots from the crown of mother plant. Coral bells can be propagated through cuttings as well. Cut off a 4-inch long part from a healthy stem and pluck all leaves except the two on top of it. The cut end needs to be dipped in a rooting medium. Then place it in a pot having equal amounts of perlite and peat moss. Transplant it outdoors after some time.

How to Transplant Seedlings? Seedlings can be transplanted in an outdoor location during spring. Till this time, these seedlings will stay protected from harsh winter chill. There should be a gap of 9 to 12 inches between transplants. An area with full sunlight or partial shade is best-suited for planting these seeds. Soil needs to be well-drained, and it should have a pH value between 6 and 7. However, it should not stay wet for a long time.

You need to remember above mentioned points while planting heuchera plants in your garden. Once these plants start growing, they will not need too much care or attention. In early spring, it is beneficial to apply a thin layer of mulch around these plants.

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Reasons for White Spots on Blue Hosta

Growing perennial plant species in your garden is a useful practice. Such plants need minimal maintenance and are shade-tolerant. Hostas are a common choice for gardeners when it comes to perennial plants. Having beautiful foliage and flowers, hosta plants add a splash of color to the shady areas of a garden.

People often choose blue hosta for decorating their garden. As it is clear from the name itself, the foliage of this hosta variety is blue in color. The leaves of these hostas are covered by a wax-like coating which gives them a blue color. These beautiful leaves may sometimes have white spots on them. Several causes can be responsible for this situation.  

Following are the major factors that cause white spots on blue hosta plants:

Garden Pests

There are some garden pests such as leaf hoppers that feed on the the leaves of blue hostas, sucking out their juice. Consequently, the leaves are left with stippled dots all over. The color of leaves may even change to brown. If ignored, these pests can harm the shoots of the plant causing them to die. Normally the control methods work effectively on juvenile insects but not on the adult ones. This is because adult insects are difficult to control.    

Foliage Diseases Caused by Fungi

Blue hosta plants get afflicted by certain diseases that affect their foliage in particular. Anthracnose is the most common among these diseases. It is a fungal infection that results in ugly white spots surrounded by a brown border on the leaves. The color of these spots can vary from light tan to white. With the advancement of the disease, the spots get bigger and finally split. The surface of the leaves thus gets damaged, making them look tattered and disheveled.

Foliage Diseases Caused by Viruses

Viruses too can be responsible for the odd foliage symptoms observed in blue hosta plants. The major symptoms of viral infection are white spots, chlorosis, shriveled leaves, splotches and irregular patterns on leaves. Unfortunately, there are no control measures for viral diseases in hostas. The infected plant needs to be dug out and destroyed, otherwise the disease may spread to other plants in the garden.

Prevention of White Spots

Pests and microbes such as viruses and fungi are the organisms which cause uneven white spots on the leaves of blue hostas. Following are some effective measures to prevent white spots:

Leave enough free space around each plant to facilitate proper air circulation.

Apply insecticide on the leaves.

Cut off the affected foliage as soon as possible.

Use neat and well-maintained garden tools.

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Winter Storage Preparation for Garden Tools

One can always find a set of specific tools with a gardener or even those who spend minimal time for garden maintenance. While some people wish to keep their garden tools properly organized, some others are hardly bothered about it.

The health and immunity of garden plants, particularly the perennial species such as hosta plants depends to a great extent on the cleanliness of garden tools. Use of dirty and rusty tools can cause infection, thus spreading diseases among the plants.

Garden tools need to be maintained properly. This will not only help to keep them as good as new, but will also reduce the expenditure on the replacement of tools. With proper tools, maintenance of plants such as heucheras becomes simple and safe. Apart from cleaning the garden tools, it is also necessary to prepare these for winter storage so that they can have a longer life.

Here are the necessary measures while preparing your garden tools for winter storage

Clean the Metal Surface of Tools:

Tools such as garden trowel are used on a regular basis. With continued use, dirt accumulates on their metallic parts. This dirt needs to be removed after using the tool. For this purpose, you can either wash the tool with water, or scrape off the dirt with a wire brush.

Oiling of Tools:

Gardening trowel and shovel have metallic parts which are vulnerable to corrosion. These parts need to be coated with oil. Oiling not only helps to avoid rusting of tools, but also prevents the breakdown of blades.

Sharpening the Blades:

Most of the gardening tools have blades. You need to sharpen these blades just before oiling them. The gardening tasks can be much easier and quicker with strong and sharp tools such as steel trowel. Sharpened tools will be ready for use at the start of spring.    

Smoothing the Wooden Handles:

The wooden handles of garden tools get rough with continued use. Scraping the handles with sandpaper after every use helps to keep them smooth. If the handle of a tool is broken or split, you should replace it. This way, you can avoid injuries while using the garden tools.

Maintenance of garden tools is a high priority, especially when you are growing species such as hostas. If you are replacing any of your tools, make sure you choose replacement tools of high quality. Implementing the above mentioned measures, you can prepare your tools before storing them for winters.    

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Ways to Protect Hostas from Frost Damage

Hosta plants are favorites of many gardeners not only because of their beautiful foliage, but also due to the minimal effort required in their maintenance. Apart from that, these plants have the ability to grow in shade, which is not a very common characteristic among plants. Blue hosta plants are among the most commonly chosen species for gardens. Frost can cause considerable harm to these plants. Here are some steps to prevent that damage.      

Select the Right Species for Your Garden: If you want the hostas in your garden to last for a long time, you should pick the best-suited one in the first place. Some species of hostas are more susceptible to frost damage than others. It is better to go for hostas with dark-colored foliage as they are more tolerant to frost. One of the major questions that comes to a gardener's mind is, “Where can I buy hostas?”. You can simply log on to the online nurseries that sell hostas, and choose the best variety.  

Choose a Favorable Location for Plants: Low garden elevations are not a suitable place to grow hostas, as they collect cold air. In the areas where the soil is warm, hostas emerge early. Such hosta varieties are more vulnerable to frost. Susceptible hostas should be planted in a location that does not get direct sunlight. Shaded regions are apt for this purpose. If you are not able to find an area with direct shade, you can spread loose mulch around the plants.

Submerge the Pots in Soil: Hostas growing in above-ground pots or containers can easily get affected by air temperatures. You can avoid this by submerging the pots in soil or mulch.

Use Fertilizers that are Rich in Potassium and Phosphorus: Mixing the soil with fertilizers that are rich in phosphorus and potassium, provides an ample supply of nutrients to the hostas.  Apart from that, it also helps to prevent frost damage that can be caused to these plants.

Directly Cover the Plants: Covering the hosta plants directly is a good measure to prevent frost from damaging them. However, you need to make sure that there is not contact between the cover and the leaves of the hostas. Leaves touching the cover are prone to frost damage, especially if you are using a plastic cover. Moreover, a randomly placed cover can crush the foliage of hostas. You can use stakes to prevent the cover from touching the leaves of your hostas.

Keep the hostas well-watered: Keeping the hosta plants well-watered is an excellent measure to protect them from frost damage. Having adequate water, the hosta plants will be able to retain the heat for a long time.

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Guidelines to Follow While Dividing Hosta Plants

Foliage is an important characteristic of a hosta plant. Among hostas, the foliage can differ on the basis of its texture, shape, size, and color. People often look for blue hostas and white hostas for sale. Other colors include gold, green, and several other outstanding combination. Blue hosta plants are commonly used for decorative purposes. The online nurseries make sure that before putting hosta plants for sale, they nurture and maintain them properly so that they can be delivered to the buyer in the best condition.

Hostas are root inductive and tend to produce more plants from their roots or rhizomes, that later spread out. The plant needs to be divided during their growth phase, so that they mature perfectly. Here are some basic guidelines one must follow while dividing the hostas.

Figuring out the right time to divide: The hosta plant needs a division during the spring season. However, make sure you do not go ahead with the division as the hot weather conditions do not work in the favor of the plant. To avoid the plant from dying, divide it just before winters. These plants are tough and you need to put in some effort to divide them.

Digging: Dig the soil in such a manner that you make a circle around the plant. The radius of the circle should be approximately 4 inches for small plants and about 12 inches for the bigger ones. Larger plants will have longer root, so be careful while digging and make sure you do not cut any roots. If you pay attention, it is likely that you will cut some small roots of the bigger plants.

Finding the smaller plants to be separated: In the base clump of the large plant, you can find individual smaller plants. These are the ones that need to be separated. To see them clearly, you can wash the roots with water. This step is a must if you are dividing hostas for the first time.

Separating the smaller plants: If your hosta plant is not big enough, you can easily separate the smaller plant from it. You just have to pull it at the stem and gradually go down till the root. First, pull the stem, slowly moving it in back and forth. Do the same until the root of the smaller plant breaks free from the stem. For larger plants, you can cut through the bunch of roots with a shovel, trowel or a kitchen knife. Be careful while separating the stems with the knife, so that the roots and leaves are not harmed.

After you have separated the smaller hosta plants, immediately place them in water. Place the original hosta plant at the same spot, keeping it at the same level as before.

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Beautify Your Indoors as Well as Your Garden with Colorful Heucheras

If your garden does not have Heucheras, you are really missing out on something. Your garden is missing that colourful palette of  purples, oranges, greys and greens. Luckily, there are ample varieties of heucheras for sale in the nurseries and even in the online plant stores. Popularly known as coral bells, these plants are always highly demanded to add that colourful zing to your yard. Coral bell plants belong to the family of perennial foliage plants that come in different shapes, sizes, and colours. These are one kind of plants that require different growing needs depending on the varieties.

Some excellent features

These are ideal to be kept as indoor plants.

The best part is that most varieties of heucheras plants will stay even evergreen all through the year, including the winters.

These are plants without flowers but can make your garden look colourful with their varied colours of leaves.  

The leaves are in different shapes like as large and heart-shaped, round, ruffled or variegated.

The coral bells often change colours throughout the season.

Easy to care and low maintenance.

Some popular colours

Heucheras are available in different colours like as in

Shades of green or Chartreuse

Shades of Purple

Shades of Orange

Shades of Pink/Burgandy

Shades of Black/Silver etc.

Here is a brief guide on buying and planting Heuchera plants for your garden:

Heucheras are usually the shade plants. Their best location is where they can receive the early morning sunlight and where the area consists of well-drained soil. However, you can find varieties that can thrive on direct sun or partial sun. Some grow in the shade, some are drought tolerant and so on. That is why heucheras plants are a gardener’s favourite as they can thrive in any place. 

When purchasing a coral bell plant, consider light tolerance. Ask which varieties are sun-tolerant and which varieties require heavy shade. There are varieties which can take more sun in cold climates.

It is always better to start growing heucheras in containers. It will be then easier for you to move them around in the garden, until you find the ideal combination of sun-shade. Heucharas potted plants are easily available in online stores. 

Fertilize the plant using an all-purpose fertilizer or compost once a year. The best season is spring when the plants just begin to flush out. Adding organic fertiliser is always a good idea.

It is also advisable to dry the plant out when it is watered because soggy soil is not good for these plants.