These Mistakes Are Ruining Your Hostas—Here's How to Fix Them

Nothing is worse than when springtime arrives and your beloved plants fail to return. For some plants, this is a common situation that gardeners face. It can be frustrating trying to understand why your plants aren't thriving as they did the previous year, but before you give up on them, there are a few common mistakes to consider.

Hostas are known for being low-maintenance plants, so seeing them struggle or not return this spring can be disheartening. To help you understand why your hostas aren't thriving, we spoke to an expert horticulturalist about the common mistakes that can ruin hosta plants and how to fix them so you can restore the beautiful, lush greenery to your garden.

The Right Amount of Sunlight

For hostas, too much or too little sunlight can affect the quality of the plant. "The amount of light needed varies by the specific variety of hostas being grown," says Damon Abdi, Assistant Professor of Landscape Horticulture at Louisiana State University. "With varieties possessing dark blue foliage often needing the least light, brighter colored foliage varieties needing more light (but still try to keep it less than 4 hours of direct light), and variegated varieties somewhere in the middle."

Lighting conditions vary depending on the placement of the plant. When planting your hostas, be aware of how much light the location receives throughout the day. According to Abdi, hostas generally prefer morning sun because it is less intense. When deciding on the location for your hostas, consider the surrounding trees and how their foliage shade will affect the lighting for the plants. If the lighting situation changes over time, move and divide your hostas to a new location where they will be able to thrive.

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Over- and Underwatering

Overwatering plants negatively affects many varieties, just like underwatering. For hostas, if they are planted in shadier locations, the soil will often stay wet longer, leading to overwatering.

Underwatering can occur when hostas are planted closer to trees. "Competition for water may reduce moisture for plants," says Abdi. Hostas thrive in moist soils that are not too wet or too dry.

To ensure you're not over- or underwatering your hostas, set a schedule for watering approximately 1 inch a week. "Established hostas can be somewhat tolerant of dry soil, but don't push your luck too much and let it remain dry for too long," says Abdi. Adding a healthy layer of organic mulch on top can help maintain the soils moisture to avoid it from drying out in between irrigation.

Plant Location

The location where you decide to plant hostas is crucial for their survival and growth the following year. "Hostas can outgrow their environment, becoming too big for a particular location," says Abdi. "Consider the typical mature size of the specific variety of hosta that you are growing and make sure that you have sufficient space for it."

If your hostas have grown too large for their original location, this can be fixed by dividing them. By dividing hostas, you take one large plant and split it into smaller ones that you can spread out across your landscape. The best time to divide hostas is in the spring, and you don't have to repeat this practice each year, only when the plant gets too big or when you decide on a new landscape appearance, says Abdi.

Deer

If you notice significant damage to the foliage, it could likely be from a deer feeding on your hostas. This is common in rural and suburban areas and may require changing how you manage to protect your plants from predators like deer.

"Consider installing fencing to exclude deer from your prized hostas," says Abdi. "There is not much concern for deer in urban areas, but for suburban and especially rural areas, this may be necessary to ensure that your hostas are not food for hungry deer."