Growing hostas in Zone 9

Hi there. I live in Davis, west of Sacramento (zone 9), where it gets quite hot in the summer. I recently bought my first hostas (Dancing in the Rain, Liberty, Loyalist, Orange Marmalade and Journey's End) and am keeping them in pots for the time being to see which part of our yard will make the best home for them. I'm wondering what experience other California gardeners in zone 9 have had with hostas. As you can see, I'm partial to hostas with lots of white but am thinking I will have to focus on more heat-tolerant green or blue varieties since some of the white-centered ones, especially Dancing in the Rain, seem to melt out even in the shade. Any experience you'd like to share--or recommendations for particular suitable varieties--would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi GerBo,
I live in Concord about 1 hour south of you. Anyway I have some hostas but don't have a great success with them. They are in full shade, planted under some trees. I have gophers eating them and squirrels digging them up. and don't forget snails. I have them grow with some hydrangeas. Just my sad story.lol
Linda

Hi GerBo.

I live in Phoenix, AZ, (zone 9b) where is much hotter that in your part of the world and I had succes with hostas. I have 5 of them. Two of them are in pots, the rest are in my shady garden.
The first one I bought, was a miniature (no idea about the name) and I kept it in a pot with copper tape around the rim and screen placed over the hole in the botom of the pot to protect them from snails.
After almost 10 years, it multiplied to over 13 and it blooms every year.
The other one that I have in a pot is called Guacamole and is doing great and have been blooming too. The other three were planted last year and they are still small, though one has bloomed a couple of weeks ago.
Make sure your soil is water retentive and rich . I would suggest you incorporate lots of compost before planting the hostas. Make sure to protect them from snails and slugs by placing copper tape around them since the beasts get an electric shock if they cross the copper tape.
Good luck and I include a picture of the miniature one .

Rodicap, thank you for the encouragement. I put one (Journey's End) in the ground yesterday, in a shady spot under a bay tree. It gets a little bit of dappled sun several times a day but is completely protected from the hot afternoon sun. The other four are in pots. I did use a mix that's rich in compost and also added perlite. I guess that's all I can do at this point :-).

I do want to get some more hostas for other spots that get some sun so I'm looking into sun-tolerant varieties.

Gerhard

Gerhard, there are more and more breeders that are developing more sun tolerant varieties.
Do you have a favorite hosta site where you shop and do you know the names of those sun tolerant types ? I would not mind planting some near my regular and climbing hydrangeas and the camelia. They enjoy pretty much the same conditions.

Rodicap,

In the California forum, a helpful member pointed me to this thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/738133/. It has a long list of sun/heat-tolerant varieties. I will go through it tonight.

I've only placed one hosta order so far, from GardenCrossings.com. The plants seem healthy and I have high hopes they will live and maybe even thrive (except possibly for the white-centered ones such as Dancing in the Rain, which don't seem to like our heat at all).

Gerhard

Thanks Gerhard. I will make sure to look it up. As far as ordering, it will have to wait till fall.

Rodica