Content
Hosta is used in gardening and landscape design to decorate areas as an ornamental foliage plant. Various varieties of the crop have been bred for growing at home. One such variety is Hosta Robert Frost. Descriptions and rules of agricultural technology will help you grow it successfully.
Description of hosts Robert Frost
This hybrid form of perennial bush grows up to 50-60 cm, reaches a width of 90 cm. The round-heart-shaped leaves are large (25 by 22 cm), dense, the surface is slightly wrinkled, dark blue-green, with an uneven yellow-cream along the edge. stripe, by the end of the season it turns white. The leaf blade has 12 veins.
Like many hostas, Robert Frost plants grow well only in shade or partial shade. The best place for them is under trees, where there is no intense sunlight. In the sun, burns may appear on the leaves. The soil in which hostas prefer to grow should be loose, moist but drained (they grow poorly on dry sandy soil), neutral or slightly acidic. The frost resistance of the Robert Frost variety is high; hosta can be planted in almost any Russian region. Drought resistance is average; in hot years, abundant watering is required.
Hosta Robert Frost blooms in July-August, throwing out a peduncle 90 cm high. The flowers are pale lilac, funnel-shaped, and have a pleasant smell.
It is important to plant the Robert Frost hosta bush only in shaded places - otherwise burns cannot be avoided
Application in landscape design
Hosta Robert Frost can be planted along the edges of paths in the garden, at the borders of lawns, in front of ornamental shrubs, and near ponds. The plant looks good both in single plantings against the background of lawn grass, and in a group with other crops. Combined with:
- ferns;
- conifers with small leaves;
- anemones;
- primroses;
- astilbe;
- liverworts;
- decorative cereals;
- lungworts;
- heucheras.
Peduncles with lilac fragrant flowers can be cut and placed in water.
The size of Hosta Robert Frost allows it to be grown in large pots. They can be installed in corners of the garden to decorate them, near residential and outbuildings, on terraces and verandas.
Reproduction methods
Robert Frost hostas are best propagated by dividing the bush and cuttings. You need to choose mature 5-6 year old bushes; they can easily tolerate replanting and this does not negatively affect their development. The growth of plants that have not reached this age may stop after replanting. The best time for propagation by division is spring and the end of August, to September, but experienced flower growers use this method throughout the season, from April to November, with good results.
In the spring, the hosta is divided as soon as young shoots begin to appear, the bush is dug up and the rhizome is cut with a knife or shovel into the required number of pieces (each must have at least 1 rosette).You don’t have to completely dig up the entire bush, just separate part of the rhizome from it, replant it, sprinkle the cut area with ash and cover it with earth.
Hosta cuttings suitable for transplantation are rosette shoots with pieces of rhizome. They are first planted in a shady place or in a separate greenhouse. To reduce the intensity of evaporation, the upper halves of the leaves are cut off from the cuttings. It takes about 1 month for them to take root.
Hosta Robert Frost is best replanted by dividing the bush.
Landing algorithm
Robert Frost bushes should not be placed in areas where hostas were already growing, in order to protect them from possible infection by pathogens remaining in the soil. These plants can remain in one place for up to 20 years, so the choice of site must be approached responsibly.
Plant 3-5 plants per 1 square. m. The dimensions of the planting holes must be at least 0.3-0.4 m in diameter. A drainage layer of small pebbles, broken slate or brick chips is placed at the bottom of each. This is followed by a layer of a mixture of dug up earth mixed with humus, compost and ash (or mineral fertilizers).
The cuttings or divisions are buried to the same depth as they were previously located on the mother plant. They are sprinkled with earth, watered, and the soil is slightly compacted.
Growing rules
After transplanting, Robert Frost hostas require regular watering.Mature bushes, despite their powerful root system, also need to be watered, especially in dry, hot summers. It is due to watering that the green mass of the hosta grows. It is necessary to water at the root; it is not recommended to pour on the leaves; the water washes off the waxy coating on the surface.
Hosta bushes with large leaves inhibit the growth of weeds, but they need to be weeded before they grow, as the plants are sensitive to soil cleanliness. Mulching can solve two problems at once - reducing the number of watering and weeding required to care for hosts. Mulch inhibits moisture evaporation and the growth of harmful vegetation. Peat, pieces of bark, and dry grass are used as covering materials.
Hosta Robert Frost responds well to fertilizers, this stimulates flowering and decorativeness. Fertilizing is carried out 3 times a season: in spring, at the beginning of stem growth, before and after flowering. The deadline for application is the beginning of August; if you fertilize later, the plants will not have time to prepare for winter. After flowering has completed, the flower stalks must be cut off to prevent seed setting.
The friendly flowering of hostas can decorate a garden path or border
Preparing for winter
Hosta Robert Frost is frost-resistant; it does not need to be covered for the winter, but in cold climates it is necessary. In the fall, the bushes are mulched with dry sawdust, shavings, peat, hay, and straw. It is not recommended to use roofing felt, film and other similar materials that do not allow air and moisture to pass through, so that the hosta does not begin to rot and rot.
As for winter pruning, gardeners have different opinions on this matter. Some argue that it is necessary to trim the leaves, others - that plants should overwinter with leaves, since pruning weakens them and reduces frost resistance.They advise removing old foliage in the spring.
Diseases and pests
The main pests of Hosta hybrid Robert Frost are snails and slugs. Pests gnaw holes in leaf blades, which affects their appearance and functionality. To prevent the appearance of mollusks on the bush, tobacco dust or ash is added to the mulch laid around it. They set traps - wet boards, stones, slate, beer cans, under which slugs crawl. Every morning you need to check them and remove pests. If you need to quickly get rid of them, insecticides will help.
The leaves of the plant are attacked by aphids and nematodes. In puncture sites left by aphids, spots often appear, indicating a fungal disease. The presence of nematodes can be determined by the brown stripes located between the veins of the leaves. Nematodes harm not only hostas, but also other ornamental crops. It is difficult to get rid of them, but you can try to destroy them with drugs specially designed for control - nematicides.
Diseases that affect hosts are fungal (phyllosticosis, anthracnose, gray and root rot, rust) and viral. Signs of phyllosticosis are large yellow-brown spots. Pathogens persist in plant debris, so every autumn all stems and leaves remaining from autumn pruning must be burned. Gray mold damage begins at the tips of the leaves, then it spreads to the entire blade. If the disease is not advanced, spraying with a fungicide solution will help. Root rot is manifested by slower growth of the bush and yellowing of the leaves. Affected specimens need to be dug up, rotten sections of the rhizome carefully cut off, treated with a fungicide, and the hosts transplanted to a new location.
Hostas do not treat viral diseases; diseased bushes are destroyed
Conclusion
Hosta Robert Frost not only has beautiful leaves that decorate it throughout the season, but also attractive fragrant flowers. It combines with many ornamental plants, but also looks good alone. It can be grown almost throughout the entire territory of Russia, it is unpretentious and does not require special care other than systematic watering.
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