How to grow hostas and best varieties

For shaded or boggy parts of the garden, hostas are a popular choice. They’re also great for growing in pots. Even the trumpet-shaped flowers can look good, plus they’re often scented and attract bees in to the garden. There’s a wide choice of shapes, sizes and leaf patterns, which can all add drama to a shady corner of the garden or patio.

Which? Gardening magazine grew a range of popular varieties in the north and south of the UK over two years to see which would give us the best display.

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Key facts

PLANT TYPE Herbaceous perennial

POSITION Shade or part shade

SOIL Reliably moist, acidic to neutral 

How to grow hostas: month by month

Best hosta varieties

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Full testing results for hostas

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Caring for your plants

Planting 

For growing in pots, use a Best Buy compost for containers 

Help your plants with a recommended soil improver

Place the pot in shade or part shade. Hostas with blue leaves tend to need the most shade, while those with paler leaves can have better colour if they get morning sun.

For borders, plant in a shady spot with reliably moist soil.

Try some other plants that love shade

Caring for plants in pots

Water regularly so the compost doesn’t dry out. When the pot gets congested with roots and leaves, either move the plant to a larger pot or take it out and divide it into sections (in autumn or spring). Replant some of these plants into fresh Best Buy compost for containers mixed with a Best Buy controlled release fertiliser.

Discover our Best Buy watering cans

Common growing problems

Slugs and snails

As any hosta grower knows, the plant’s leaves can be stripped to stems by slugs and snails. You may hear smearing the rim of pots with Vaseline or sticking copper tape to the outside recommended, but when we tested barrier methods like these, we found none were really effective. Also, snails are particularly good at climbing nearby structures and coming in over the top, avoiding the pot and its barriers altogether. Some hostas seem marginally more attractive to molluscs than others, but all will get eaten to some extent. 

To protect your plants, use organic slug pellets containing ferric phosphate, which aren’t thought to be toxic to other animals and are effective. Or pick the molluscs off by hand, but don’t leave them alive nearby as they will come back.

Read more about slugs and snails

Vine weevils

Vine weevils can attack hostas grown in pots. Check the compost for white, c-shaped grubs between late summer and winter. Use a biological control in August or September, or a chemical control (Bug Clear Ultra Vine Weevil Killer) at any time.

Read more about vine weevils

Fungal rot

Waterlogged pots can lead to a fungal rot in the crown of the plant. Replant in fresh compost if that happens.

Leaf scorch

Leaves can scorch in too much sun or if the soil dries out.

How we test hostas

We chose a range of hostas that included examples of all the main leaf types and colours, and planted three of each variety in a 45 x 45cm pot. We grew them for two years, kept them well watered and gave them a liquid feed three times during each growing season. The trial was carried out at the Which? Gardening magazine trial ground at Capel Manor in north London and Logan Botanic Garden near Stranraer in Scotland.

We assessed them for: whether the colour and shape were attractive; how attractively arranged the leaves were; how well the plant shape suited growing in a pot; if they were diseased or particularly prone to damage from pests, including slugs and snails; the attractiveness of the blooms, and whether they had scent.