Hi All,
I'm new to hostas and need some help please. Last year the deer ate the hostas a friend had sent me. This year I decided to make them a part of the potted hummingbird garden on my raised deck. I found a great sale on them locally and now have about a dozen that are waiting to be planted. Here's the question. Do they need to be potted now in the container that will be their home at full size or can I put 2-3 small ones together for now and move them to the big pots as they grow?

Thanks!

Hi LALAMBCHOP,

You can go ahead and put two or three in same pot and when they get bigger then give them their own pot. I have a lot of my hosta's in pots.

susan

If they need to be in a larger pot I would still do them individually. Then when you want to put them in their still larger pot you can do so without disturbing the roots which in my opinion sets them back. Good thing this is not a hard fast rule and we can each choose our own way.

How about if I transplant while they are dormant? That wouldn't disturb the roots, right?
My other thought was to fill in the currently empty space in the large pot with annuals.

How large do the pots need to be? The width of the plants at full size?

Well, some people start off with a pot suitable for a long haul, because they don't want to disturb the roots, but I do repot every year while they are dormant if they need it, before they leaf out and they don't seem to notice. I have fooled a lot of plants that way, even Peonies and you know they do not like to be moved.
I have also added annuals to the pots to make them colorful and attractive.
I have hosta's that get four or five feet wide and they are only in three gallon pots, that should last for a while depending on how fast they grow. Some will get large quickly and others grow real slow and could take five years or more to get to a mature size. I would suggest looking up the hosta's you have on the database or if they are not there try to Google it. Get as much information as you can about each Hosta and then you can decide what size pot and where they need to go. Some need a little sun and some don't.
Can you tell us what kind of hosta's you have bought?

Thank you for your help! I've found their sizes, etc. Here's what I have:

Plantaginea
Patriot
Paul's Glory
First Frost
Robert Frost
Cherry Berry
Wide Brim
Fragrant Bouquet
Gold Standard
Guacamole
Halcyon
Olive Bailey Langdon
Paradigm
So Sweet
Yellow River

You have some beauties there....I grow most of them and they are good growers except Cherry Berry which is a little finicky.

Terrific! I have all those except So Sweet and Yellow River. They seem like moderate growers to me. All of mine get a few hours of sun per day and it really helps them color up. I saw a Paul's Glory today that was almost all green, I never would have guessed it was Paul's Glory, one of my favorite, but mine is mainly gold, it gets about three hours of evening sun and some people would never put a Hosta into the sun like that. You are farther north than I and it should work out OK for you also. If I had a deck and all these hosta's I would go ahead and put each one into a three gallon pot. You can just buy the black ones and set them inside something more fancy later. Also you can plant a few annuals around the edges and group other container plants along with it. Coral Bells, Painted Fern, Astible, etc. You have some wonderful hosta's, the colors on the Paradigm, Olive Bailey Langdon, Guacamole, and Paul's Glory, Gold Standard, Fragrant Bouquet will surprise you if you give them a couple hours of sun. As a general rule the Blue's need the shade because they have a wax coating that makes them blue, that wax will melt and can be washed off if you water from the top a lot. ( I am talking about Halcyon.)

Wow. That's fascinating about Halcyon. I'll post a pic when I get them all planted.

WhooooHoooooo!! Thanks!!

I finally have a couple of pics to post with my new babies. I took your advice Susan and put those you mentioned in the sunnier corner.

That's beautiful Leslie!! I love the containers you chose and the way you grouped them. Amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.

Thanks!

Love this idea. I never thought about putting hostas into a container. I can see some brightly colored coleus in the pots with the hostas as well.

Thanks for sharing this idea!

Yes, it really does look attractive!

Funny you should mention coleus, these are rooting a couple of feet from the hostas......

Funny you should mention coleus, these are rooting a couple of feet from the hostas......

Wow! What will you do with all those? You must love coleus.

Most of them are for a plant sale at my son's school but I do love them! I have almost 2 doz varieties of sun coleus.

Very nice Leslie, beets cupcakes! I think it is so beautiful, I have never had any luck with it though. Are yours in part sun or shade?