Digging deeperPlant Library

Other Names:  Plantain Lily, Funkia

Description:

Glossy medium-green leaves with creamy variegation and wavy margins; provides beautiful texture and contrast to other plants; fragrant white spikes of flowers in mid-summer

Ornamental Features

So Sweet Hosta features dainty spikes of lightly-scented white tubular flowers rising above the foliage from early to late summer. Its attractive textured oval leaves remain emerald green in color with distinctive creamy white edges throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

So Sweet Hosta is a dense herbaceous perennial with tall flower stalks held atop a low mound of foliage. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting hummingbirds to your yard. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Insects

So Sweet Hosta is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

So Sweet Hosta will grow to be about 12 inches tall at maturity extending to 18 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 12 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 10 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant does best in partial shade to shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.