Content
Hosta is a plant that is loved by everyone - both beginners and professional designers. It successfully combines versatility, unpretentiousness, and unique expressive beauty. Hosta Katerina is considered one of the most popular varieties.
Hosta Katerina can be recognized by its yellow core framed by a blue-green border
Description of hosta Katerina
Hosta is an ornamental foliage plant. She is rightfully considered the queen of the infield. It got its name in honor of the Austrian botanist Host. It is also called funkia. There was also such a German botanist - Funk. Therefore, hosta has 2 names.
Hosta hybrid Katerina blooms in July-August. The entire warm season, from May to September, retains its decorative properties. Fits perfectly into any landscape design composition. The features of this variety are as follows:
- the leaves are dense, blue-green, with a lemon-colored stripe in the center, heart-shaped, the diameter of the rosette of leaves is approximately 50 cm, the squat bush is formed of medium height, up to 35 cm;
- flowers are light lilac, funnel-shaped, peduncle up to 50 cm high;
- resistant to garden diseases and pests, not damaged by slugs, therefore does not require special treatment;
- seedlings and seeds grow well in moist but well-drained soils;
- can grow without transplantation in one place for about 20 years.
Hosta is known as a shade-loving plant. Grows well in the most shaded areas of the garden or flower bed. But modern selection has brought out varieties that can grow in open areas. Those hostas that have golden, white, and yellow colors in their shades, as a rule, are not afraid of sunlight.
Hosta Katerina can also be considered such varieties. She loves shade and partial shade, like most of her relatives. But since it is a hybrid variety, it is adapted to the sun's rays and can withstand its exposure at midday. But this requires a small openwork penumbra, slightly covering its greenery.
Hosta Katerina is unpretentious and ideal for both experienced and novice gardeners; it is very resistant to cold weather. It grows at an average speed; it will take several years to form an adult bush. Regions with a humid, cool climate are more suitable for cultivation. A long absence of sufficient moisture, sunshine and heat is destructive for these plants.
Application in landscape design
Hosta Katerina pleases with its lush greenery, unique coloring, and original shape of the bush. The leaves of the plant in the hands of an experienced florist become an excellent addition to any bouquet. It goes well in compositions with roses, carnations, and ornamental grasses.
Hosta Katerina looks great on the banks of ponds, artificial garden ponds, and in flower beds where there are rocky hills.This plant does not like any straight geometric lines and should not be planted along roads, but rather in a circle, for example, along the banks of artificial reservoirs. Hosta is often planted under the canopy of trees because of the light openwork penumbra created by the foliage.
Hosta Katerina can be planted along rocky paths; it serves as an excellent decoration for any garden.
Reproduction methods
Until the hosta grows, weeds around it are regularly removed and the soil is loosened. After 3-4 years, when the bush grows and becomes quite spreading, this will no longer be necessary. But a new problem will arise. An adult hosta loses its attractiveness and therefore it is better to plant it.
Dividing the bush
Hosta Katerina is practically not afraid of transplantation. Propagated mainly by dividing the bush. If you dig up the mother plant in early spring (April-May, at +15 and above), cut the rhizomes in half, and immediately plant them, they will take root well and quickly within 3-5 days, without losing either their strength or color.
You can transplant Hosta Katerina correctly as follows:
- even before digging up the hosta from the old place, you must immediately prepare the planting holes and fill them with water, it is better to do this 2-3 hours in advance and pour about a bucket of water into each, let it gradually absorb;
- dig up the mother hosta, deepening the shovel further from the center of the bush, so as to remove as large a lump from the ground as possible and damage the root system as little as possible;
- With one sharp pressure of the foot on the shovel, cut the hosta in half - it is important that the blade goes straight to the ground in one movement, the rhizomes of the hosta are easy to cut and usually there are no difficulties;
- lower the resulting halves of the bush into prepared holes filled with water, place them at the same level from the ground as the mother plant, no lower and no higher;
- Sprinkle with earth and level it, water again, pour dry earth on top so that a crust does not form on the surface.
It is important to divide a hosta bush with a well-sharpened and disinfected tool.
Cuttings
Sometimes, when processing a bush, individual shoots are broken off, which have almost no roots, but only a small “patch”. Such a cutting, if planted somewhere separately in a greenhouse or in the shade under cover, may well take root in a few weeks.
Propagation by seeds
More often used for breeding purposes. Freshly harvested seeds are planted in the ground ahead of winter. Or they are artificially kept at low temperatures for 3-4 months. The planted seeds spend the winter period in the ground, in a state of sleep. During this time, their hard outer shell softens and cracks. The seeds are stimulated to grow, resulting in a rupture of the surface. Seedlings that appear in spring usually develop slowly. Decorative properties appear only at 4-5 years of age.
Hosta Katerina easily tolerates dividing the bush
Landing algorithm
Hosta Katerina rhizomes can be purchased in the store. Usually they sell young roots, with 2-3 buds, and, as a rule, open. Rarely are they sprinkled with sawdust or peat. Having brought such plants home, they must be planted immediately. How to do it:
- dig a hole and make a mound inside it;
- lower the plant and fan out the roots, leveling them around the center;
- lightly sprinkle with soil to just cover the root system;
- lightly water, 1-2 liters will be enough for one young bush;
- After the water is absorbed, cover with a layer of dry earth so that there is no crust.
The plant must be covered with something, shaded, so that the soil retains moisture for as long as possible. Old boxes are used for this purpose. Such a shelter will protect the young hosta from animals that can dig up a fresh hole and thereby destroy the bush. Small holes in the box will allow you to diffuse hot light and create shadows. Such conditions will provide the necessary comfort in the first 10 days while the roots take root.
Hosta Catherine is best planted in early spring. The planting site should not be exposed to direct sunlight. It is necessary that there be at least light partial shade created by nearby plants and buildings. Hosta Katerina can grow in almost any soil. But it takes root best on well-drained soils with a neutral reaction, where the groundwater table is shallow. The least suitable soil can be improved with compost.
Reproduction of Hosta Katerina by seeds requires a lot of attention and time
Growing rules
The root system of Hosta Katerina is shallow and forms close to the surface, so the plant cannot easily tolerate heat and lack of watering. You should try to pour water not over the leaves, but under the roots, so that spots do not appear on the greenery, and the waxy coating, color and decorative properties do not disappear. One large bush requires approximately 1 bucket of water. Watering should occur every 1-2 days, with the exception of rainy days. It is better to choose the time either early in the morning or after 7 pm.
Hosta Katerina really likes mulching, which allows you to retain enough moisture in the soil. To do this, you can use bark, wood chips, leaf or coniferous litter, pine nut husks, peat, grass clippings and many other natural materials. Mulching helps not only enrich the soil with organic matter, but also improve its structure.
You need to loosen the soil around the bush starting in April and periodically throughout the season. This will provide oxygen access to the roots of the plant and remove weeds that suck nutrients from the soil. Depending on the age and growth of the plant, loosening is carried out to a depth of 5 cm to 15 cm.
Top dressing
If the plant was planted in fertile soil, then for the first 2-4 years you don’t have to worry about feeding it with anything. But after 5 years, organic fertilizers are used. Mulch the soil, add decomposed manure, mowed lawn grass, straw or peat. If an adult plant begins to bloom worse or turn pale, then granules of complex mineral fertilizer, which contains potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, are added to the soil. And after this, the plant is watered abundantly to the very root.
If you need to grow a beautifully formed bush with bright decorative properties, you cannot do without regular fertilizing on nutrient-poor soil. They are carried out 2-4 times per season:
- the first time - when the newly planted hosta releases the tips of its future leaves;
- the second time during flowering;
- third time after flowering.
Preparing for winter
Many may say that there is no need to prepare Katerina hostas for winter, since it is a fairly frost-resistant plant, but this is a mistake. After flowering ends, the flower stalks of Hosta Katerina are cut off so that the bush does not waste energy on producing seeds and does not become loose. There is no need to trim the leaves; they will cover the roots of the plant all winter.
And in September they begin preparations for wintering. And at this time the hosts can be seated. At the beginning of September, it is necessary to mulch the bush well with grass and, preferably, peat. The compositions must be mixed and not laid out in separate layers. The mixture should have a predominance of peat. In the spring it will serve as a good fertilizer, when the plant needs nitrogen and other substances. You need to mulch before the leaves fall, that is, before frost.
A fading hosta is no less beautiful than a blooming one
Diseases and pests
Hosta Ekaterina is considered a disease-resistant variety. But it may be susceptible to some diseases characteristic of its species:
- if the hosta has stopped blooming, this means that the planting site was chosen incorrectly;
- with irregular and insufficient watering, the leaves of the plant will dry out or turn yellow;
- rotting of the root collar can occur due to fungal infection, the leaves turn white and die, it is necessary to cut out the damaged area, treat the cut with fungicides, and replant it in a new place;
- Rodents damage the rhizomes, it is necessary to place poisonous baits.
Hosta Catherine has thick, veined leaves. The slugs that plague most hostas do not like to feast on this plant variety. Even if they climb onto a bush, as a rule, they do not gnaw through it.
Conclusion
Hosta Katerina is a very beautiful ornamental plant. It does not require special care; even a beginner in floriculture can grow it. It can decorate any garden or flower garden, taking its rightful place in it!
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