Wondering what to do with your hosta plants before winter arrives? To your surprise, one of the best times to tend to your hostas is just before winter.
Besides enhancing the overall appearance of your flowerbeds, this is the best time of year to get your hostas ready for the colder months ahead. Plus, it may boost growth in the spring and summer.
There are three primary things to do to prepare hosta plants for the winter:
Cutting back and removing the leaf canopy and any remaining bloom stems.
Dividing & transplanting overgrown hostas.
Mulching the crowns in preparation for winter protection.
Below is a detailed breakdown of each of the three and some extra advice for making your hostas grow better than ever next year.
1. Cutting Back Hostas
Cutting back your hostas at the end of the season is one of the most important things you can do for them. It’s an essential part of maintaining the health of your flower beds and a nice aesthetic bonus.
Once the hosta’s leaves start to turn brown, snip them 1 inch above the ground. By doing this, the plant can cease wasting resources on trying to restore withering foliage. As an alternative, it will begin storing the energy for later use in the form of expanded flower size.
The longer damaged or dying leaves remain on a plant, the more energy the plant must expend to try to recover. However, once removed, the plant’s roots store energy for next year.
This is why it’s crucial to cut off the flower stalks of your hosta as soon as they complete flowering for the season; the plant can then focus its energy on producing healthy, robust leaves that will last until late fall.
