Blue host: varieties, description, planting and care in the open field, photo

Hosta is a popular plant with a dense rhizome. It can often be seen in shady yards and parks. This perennial with large foliage can become a highlight of a flower bed, decorate a country plot or a garden. The blue host differs foliage of an unusual blue tint. Even the florists use it to create unusual bouquets. The host is loved by landscape designers and is often used to decorate flower beds.

Description and description of the plant

The blue host is a ground cover plant and can protect us and neighboring crop plants from weeds. In the natural environment grows in the Far East, Korea and China. For the Japanese it is considered sacred and has been cultivated in gardens for thousands of years. Previously, the tradition did not allow residents of eastern countries to import the host abroad, because in Europe this perennial was learned only in the XVIII century.

Very unusual looks blue host. Her sheet is heart-shaped and large enough. An interesting blue-green color of the leaf plate gives a wax coating. It becomes less visible under the influence of sunlight. The plant blooms in September. On the photo of the host, a plant with bright foliage, in a flourishing state it seems the real queen of the garden. Inflorescence - collected in a brush bells lilac, white or lilac. Flowering lasts from June to October. When all the buds are wilted, the flower stem should be removed.

Using hosts in landscape design

Hosts are universal plants for shady places. They perfectly coexist with most plants and are undemanding to care. The plant is unprincipled to the soil and perfectly tolerates a lack of light. Hosta is combined with ferns, aquiles, medinitsa, astilba and other flowers. A special charm is the composition of this perennial and coniferous plants, as well as group planting next to fountains, artificial waterfalls or around a pond. Thanks to a variety of varieties, you can apply your creative abilities and combine different forms of plants with each other, coming up with unusual combinations. Good looks together are different varieties of blue hosts and low green bushes. On the curbs and paths are often planted large bushes, combining them with tall plants. Beautifully flowering perennials beautifully set off the unusual color of the leaves of the blue hosts. You can grow a host as a container plant, moving it around the garden.

Blue host: landing and care in the open ground

Planting hosts in the spring begins with the selection of places. When planting on a sunny area, the leaves lose a bluish tinge and become simply green. Because you should choose penumbra. Perennial prefers places under the crown of large plants or trees. Where to put the blue host? On sandy and loamy soils it develops poorly. The ideal soil is slightly acidic and moist, but a thick drainage layer should be placed in the planting pit. Place for the plant should be protected from drafts. With a group planting, the distances between the plants should be at least 80 cm. They are watered only under the root, otherwise the leaves can be spoiled.

Preparing a landing pit

Before landing the hosts in the spring, the soil should be loosened 30 cm deep, then mixed with a complex fertilizer to stimulate the growth of the root system. Then the ground is removed, digs a small hole, twice as wide as the root system of the plant. The root cervix should be flush with the soil when planting. The roots are straightened during planting, and then they are covered with soil. The earth is rolled up, mulched with bark, and the blue host is watered abundantly.

Feeding hosts

The plant gets a decorative look in the third year of life. The leaves turn blue in two years. In fertile soil, the perennial must be fed not earlier than a year after planting. In autumn it is sufficient to cover the soil around the plant with compost. If the plant does not have enough nutrients or it grows on poor soil, for fertilizing use fertilizer in granules, scattering it around the bush.

Feed the blue host until the middle of summer, otherwise it will only build up the green mass, and not blossom, and will not have time to stop growth before the start of frost. The soil around the plant is constantly moistened, so that the foliage retains its decorative qualities and does not begin to darken around the edges. Watering is necessary in the early morning, lifting the leaves. Then the ground is mulched - this will hold moisture inside. To perennial look neat and do not lose shape, young peduncles are removed. In late autumn, the leaves are cut off: in spring new ones will appear.

Sorts of blue host

In the photo of the host, the plant is of blue color, often stands out against the background of other perennials. Because it is so popular to use landscape designers for their work. This perennial has many interesting varieties, and in the garden you can plant several different blue hosts at once.

Classical varieties include:

1. Halcyon - a bush with embossed leaves of a heart-shaped form, up to 50 cm high. Flowers - lavender shade. It prefers partial shade, but withstands a sunny location.
2. Blue Angel - a plant of large size, up to 90 cm high, a sheet of 40x30 cm. Preferred penumbra. Leaves corrugated, very large, with a bluish coating. Flowers are like hyacinths, lavender, have a pleasant smell.
3. Love Pat is a slow growing bush with dense leaves of blue color. Height - 60 cm, flowers of lavender shade.
4. Blueberry Ala Mode - a blue host with a white border on the edge of the sheet. The name translates as "ice cream with blueberries". The bush is of medium size, the leaves are rounded, corrugated.
5. Queen Of The Seas - a plant up to 60 cm high, can grow on the sunny side, the flowers do not smell. Leaves wavy, with denticles at the edges, dense and beautiful.
6. Canadian Blue is a Canadian blue host, a compact variety. The size of the bush is 30x40 cm.
7. Parisian Silk - low, but wide bush, prefers a shady location. Foliage round in shape, silvery-blue hue. Blooms long, pink bells.
8. Smoke Signals - the bush is characterized by elongated leaves. Can grow in direct sunlight.
9. Blue Mammoth is a large plant with very beautiful broad leaves of round shape.
10. Neptune - a variety with an unusual pointed, corrugated foliage. Very much loved by pests, especially slugs.
11. Blue Dolphin - leaves in the form of heart, with deep veins.
12. Pewterware - a bush with dense, blue-green leaves of a rounded shape.
13. Big Daddy, or Big Daddy, is a sort of blue host, which, according to the description, shows that it belongs to one of the strongest and hardiest. In width can reach a meter, and in height - 60 cm. Leaves are rounded, wrinkled, very dense and matte. Develops slowly, prefers shady areas. With a sunny location, the leaves lose a little color.

Reproduction of blue hosts by bush dividing

Reproduction of the blue hosts is possible by dividing the bush, cuttings and seeds. Shrubs are divided during transplantation in the fifth year of plant life. This allows you to keep their shape. The best period for separation is early spring or early autumn. The host is excavated and the rhizome is cut, leaving one or two rosettes on each plot. Places of cut sprinkle with pounded charcoal. Damaged and decayed roots are removed, and plants are planted in a permanent place. Hosts take root usually within two weeks. Therefore, it is desirable to have time to arrange them before the temperature decreases.

Cutting the Hosts

Reproduction by cuttings allows preserving the plant variety. This method is used in the summer, from June to July. As cuttings, shoots with leaves are used. The sheets should be shortened by a third to reduce the evaporation of moisture from the surface. Cuttings shelter from direct sunlight and constantly moisten the soil around.

Reproduction by seeds

Seeds appear after the plant fades. In the place of buds there is a box with which it is possible to collect the seed material. The disadvantage of this method of reproduction is the loss of variety. The seeds of the hosts do not differ in strong germination, they are soaked in growth stimulators before sowing and treated with a pink solution of potassium permanganate. The soil is also disinfected to destroy fungal spores and other pathogens of various diseases. You can do this by calcining the soil in the oven or treating it with the same solution of potassium permanganate. The soil for sowing seeds consists of baking powder and peat. It must be breathable and light. The host is sown superficially in moist soil, using disinfected containers. At the bottom put a thick layer of drainage. Seeds are lightly sprinkled with a substrate, covered with a film or placed in a greenhouse and placed in a place protected from direct sun.

Care of seedlings

The optimum temperature for germination is + 20-25 ° C. The first seedlings appear after 2 weeks. Then the greenhouse is transferred to a well-lit place and periodically ventilated, accustoming the plants to the open space. It is important to monitor the moisture content of the soil and prevent it from drying. At the stage of the first pair of leaves, the seedlings are piqued, placing them in different containers. Pots are put in a large pan with water and poured through it. The top layer of soil is covered with sand and continue to monitor the humidity. When young plants get stronger, they begin to temper, lowering the temperature of the air to +18 ° C. Hosts develop very slowly and almost always lose varietal qualities when propagating in this way.

Pests hosts

The blue host is most often damaged by snails and slugs. They eat juicy leaves and spoil their appearance with their silvery traces. The main means of combating them are traps and bait in the form of granules. Small rodents can spoil rhizomes. To protect it, it is better to clamp it in a container with a mesh or sprinkle around a poisonous bait. Especially often, pests attack a host in the winter. If in the spring the plant does not have fresh leaves, this may indicate that the root was damaged by insects. To check it, dig it out and inspect it.

For the winter, the host does not need a special shelter, but some experienced gardeners try to protect themselves by mulching the soil around the plant. If the soil is moist, such places become ideal for reproduction of field mice. They excavate the burrows around and spoil the root system of the plant. Another danger for the blue hosts is the caterpillar. They can destroy a bush overnight. Against these insects use special chemical preparations - insecticides. A dangerous pest that destroys hosts is a nematode. These worms live in the ground, but can creep on plants and feed on leaves. Trace lesions look like brown strips on veins of leaves. Aphids can also live on a blue host. Then on the leaf plate there are small spots, similar to punctures with a pin.

Diseases Hosts

Among the common diseases of these perennials are in the first place are fungal. They are fought with fungicides. Plants can be infected with viruses. Symptoms of lesions are yellow spots and dots on the leaf plate. Fighting with viruses is useless, the diseased plant is excavated and destroyed, otherwise the virus will spread to neighboring trees and shrubs. The tool that touched the diseased plant must be disinfected.

Phallostictosis is a disease caused by a fungal infection. It is often found in perennials weakened by heavy wintering and when the tops are frozen during freezing frosts. The traces of the lesion look like large merging brown spots with a grayish coating.

A blue host can also get anthracnose. Infection affects plants, weakened by a lack of nutrition and an excess of moisture in the soil. Cure the disease can be through systemic fungicides.