Content
Hosta is used in gardening and landscape design to decorate plots as an ornamental and deciduous plant. Various varieties of crops have been bred for growing at home. One of these varieties is the host Robert Frost. Description and rules of agricultural technology will help to grow it successfully.
Description of hosts Robert Frost
This hybrid form of a perennial bush grows up to 50-60 cm, up to 90 cm wide.Round-heart-shaped leaves are large (25 by 22 cm), dense, the surface is slightly wrinkled, dark blue-green in color, along the edge there is an uneven yellow-cream strip, by the end of the season it turns white. The leaf blade has 12 veins.
Like many hosts, Robert Frost plants grow well only in shade and partial shade. The best place for them is under trees, where there is no intense sunlight. Leaves may burn in the sun. The soil in which hosts prefer to grow should be loose, moist, but drained (they grow poorly on dry sandy ones), neutral or slightly acidic. The frost resistance of the Robert Frost variety is high; the hosta can be planted in almost any Russian region. Drought resistance is average; in hot years, abundant watering is required.
Hosta Robert Frost blooms in July-August, throwing out a peduncle 90 cm high. Flowers are lavender, funnel-shaped, have a pleasant smell.
It is important to plant the bush hosts Robert Frost only in shaded places - otherwise burns cannot be avoided
Application in landscape design
Hosta Robert Frost can be planted along the edges of paths in the garden, at the borders of lawns, in front of ornamental shrubs, near water bodies. The plant looks good both in single plantings against the background of lawn grass, and in a group with other crops. Combined with:
- ferns;
- conifers with small leaves;
- anemones;
- primroses;
- astilbe;
- liverwort;
- decorative cereals;
- lungwort;
- geyher.
Peduncles with lilac fragrant flowers can be cut and placed in water.
The size of the hosta Robert Frost allows it to be grown in bulky pots. They can be installed in the corners of the garden to decorate them, near residential and outbuildings, on terraces and verandas.
Breeding methods
Best of all, Robert Frost hosts reproduce by dividing the bush and grafting. It is necessary to choose adult 5-6 year old bushes, they easily tolerate transplantation, this does not negatively affect their development. The growth of plants that have not reached this age may stop after transplanting. The best time for reproduction by division is spring and the end of August, to September, but growers with experience use this method throughout the season, from April to November, with good results.
In the spring, the hosta is divided immediately, as soon as young shoots begin to appear, the bush is dug up and the rhizome is cut with a knife or a shovel into the required number of pieces (each must have at least 1 outlet). You do not need to dig out the entire bush, it is enough to separate a part of the rhizome from it, transplant it, sprinkle the cut with ash and cover it with earth.
Host cuttings suitable for transplanting are rosette shoots with pieces of rhizome. They are planted first in a shady place or in a separate greenhouse. To reduce the intensity of evaporation, the upper half of the leaves are cut off from the cuttings. It takes about 1 month to root them.
Transplanting hosts Robert Frost is best done by dividing the bush
Landing algorithm
Bushes of the Robert Frost variety should not be placed in areas where hosts have already grown, in order to protect them from possible infection with pathogens remaining in the soil. In one place, these plants can remain up to 20 years, so the choice of the site must be approached responsibly.
Planted in 3-5 plants per 1 sq. m. The dimensions of the landing pits must be at least 0.3-0.4 m in diameter. At the bottom of each, a layer of drainage is laid from small pebbles, broken slate or brick chips. This is followed by a layer of a mixture of excavated soil mixed with humus, compost and ash (or mineral fertilizers).
The stalk or cut is deepened to the same depth at which they were earlier - on the mother plant. They are sprinkled with earth, watered, slightly compacted the soil.
Growing rules
After transplanting, the hosts of the Robert Frost variety need regular watering. Adult bushes, despite the powerful root system, also need to be watered, especially in dry, hot summers. It is due to watering that the green mass of the host grows. It is necessary to water at the root, it is not recommended to pour on the leaves, the wax coating on the surface is washed off from the water.
Hosta bushes with large leaves inhibit the growth of weeds, but they must be weeded before overgrowing, since the plants are sensitive to the cleanliness of the soil. Mulching can solve 2 problems at once - reducing the number of watering and weeding needed to take care of the hosts. Mulch inhibits moisture evaporation and the growth of harmful vegetation. Peat, pieces of bark, dry grass are used as a covering material.
Hosta Robert Frost responds well to fertilizers, it stimulates flowering, decorativeness. Top dressing is carried out 3 times a season: in spring, at the beginning of stem growth, before and after flowering. The last date for application is the beginning of August, if fertilized later, the plants will not have time to prepare for winter. After the end of flowering, the peduncles must be cut off so that the seeds do not set.
Friendly flowering hosts can decorate a path in a garden or a curb
Preparing for winter
Hosta Robert Frost is frost-resistant, it is not required to cover it for the winter, but it is necessary to do this in cold climates. In autumn, the bushes are mulched with dry sawdust, shavings, peat, hay, and straw. Roofing material, film and other similar materials that do not allow air and moisture to pass through are not recommended to be used so that the host does not start to rot and rot.
As for pruning for the winter, gardeners have different opinions on this matter. Some argue that it is necessary to prune the leaves, others that the plants should overwinter with the leaves, since pruning weakens them and reduces frost resistance. They advise removing old foliage in the spring.
Diseases and pests
The main pests of the hosts of the hybrid Robert Frost are snails and slugs. Pests gnaw holes in the leaf blades, which affects their appearance and functionality. To prevent the appearance of mollusks on the bush, tobacco dust or ash is added to the mulch spread around it. Traps are set - wet boards, stones, slate, cans of beer, under which slugs crawl. Every morning you need to check them, remove pests. If you need to get rid of them quickly, insecticides will help.
The leaves of the plant infect aphids and nematodes. In places of punctures left by aphids, spots often appear, indicating a fungal disease. The presence of nematodes can be determined by the brown stripes located between the leaf veins. Nematodes harm not only hosts, but also other ornamental crops.It is difficult to get rid of them, but you can try to destroy them with drugs specially designed to combat them - nematicides.
Diseases affecting hosts are fungal (phyllostictosis, anthracnose, gray and root rot, rust) and viral. Signs of phyllostictosis are large yellow-brown spots. Pathogens remain in plant debris, so every fall, all stems and leaves left over from autumn pruning must be burned. The defeat of gray mold begins from the tips of the leaves, then it spreads to the entire plate. If the disease is not started, spraying with a solution of fungicides will help. Root rot is manifested by a slowdown in the growth of the bush, yellowing of the leaves. Affected specimens need to be dug out, the rotten areas of the rhizome should be carefully cut off, treated with a fungicide, and the hosts should be transplanted to a new place.
Viral diseases are not treated by hosts, diseased bushes are destroyed
Conclusion
Hosta Robert Frost has not only beautiful leaves that adorn it throughout the season, but also attractive fragrant flowers. It is combined with many ornamental plants, but it looks good alone. It can be grown almost throughout the entire territory of Russia, it is unpretentious, does not require special care, except for systematic watering.
Testimonials
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRxiw-xzlxc
