Hosta Ivory Coast

Hosta Ivory Coast is the smaller brother of hosta 'Sagae' from which it comes. It has a wider border, going deeper into the middle of the leaves. Leaves oval, more pointed than hosta 'Sagae'. Central part of the leaves is blue - green. In the second half of the season, between green center and yellow edge appears in a light green color area. In early summer the clump is topped with fowers on high stalks. Very nice especially at the beginning of the season. Hosta "Liberty," "Majesty" and "Ivory Coast" are very similar and it is difficult to define the differences between them. A similar hosta "Clifford's Forest Fire" has a bit more drooping leaves and more outstanding clump shape. All mentioned cultivars are resistant to slug. Allow them max. 6 hours of the sun during the day, in the partial shade it has better color contrast.

How to grow hostas

Save light shade to shade place in your garden to plant hostas. Filtered sun is best for the colorful varieties to reach their full color contrast. The green and blue hostas are the most shade-tolerant. Usually the yellow cultivars are the most sun-tolerant. The most dangerous is a direct sunshine, especially hot afternoon sun. This is the most critical where temperatures are high. Variegated varieties, especially those with a lot of white in the leaves, burn very easily. Blue color of leaves turns to green-blue or even fully green with too much direct sun. Plants with thick leaves are better suited for dry soil conditions than thin-leaved ones, but none is able to grow years-long in very dry soil. Plant hostas in moist, humus-rich soil.

Water your hostas well immediately as you plant them. Give them water regularly during their first one or two growing season.

Hostas grow slowly and may take 2 to 5 years to reach their full size, longer for the largest species and cultivars. Reserve a plenty of space in your perennial bed for hostas. Most of them are medium sized or large perennials. Hostas are almost fully disease and pest resistant. The most dangerous injury can by caused by slugs, snails and deers.