Hostas vs Hurst Green Slugs

Having just wandered around the Oxted Open Gardens, and been on the Club visit to High Beeches and Borde Hill, I have become aware that many of our members have a single question in mind when they look at other people's hostas - specifically, how on earth do they keep them slug and snail free?

Although clay has some advantages for gardeners in keeping hold of nutrients, it makes Hurst Green Gardening difficult in many other ways, notable of which is the tendency to encourage slugs and snails on account of its dampness.  We have seen a number of open gardens over the last few weeks, including some at Toy's Hill, and the hostas in the latter were spectacular - in fact, they were virtually hole free.  We met another member of the Club in these gardens, and all of us looked longingly at the hostas and muttered the same thing about slugs, in a rather green-eyed fashion which probably did our karma no good, but made us feel a great deal better at the time.

We could go on about the possibilities of growing hostas in pots, surrounded by copper bands, or the relative merits of using slug pellets (or catapults - apparently slugs can't find their way back if displaced more than 20m, which must have been a fun research project, and which is coincidentally about as far as my neighbour's neighbours boundary, one neighbour removed so they don't think it is me that is firing them.).  Instead, I point you to an article in this months issue (June 2014) of The Garden, which mentions that some hostas are in fact naturally slug resistant, if not almost slug proof.

Apparently - and who knew? - hostas with thick, heavy and often corrugated foliage tend to shrug off slug and snail attacks.  These tend to be the ones derived from Hosta sieboldiana, so that many are grey-green, but at least one on the list is a rather striking gold colour.  The article lists five hostas to try, which I have pictured below.

Some of these hostas are commonly available, but the RHS plant finder (try this link) should have nurseries listed that stock the others.



Hosta Praying Hands
Photo courtesy of hostaplants.co.uk
 

Hosta Blue Mouse Ears
Photo courtesy of hostaplants.co.uk

Hosta Krossa Regal
Photo courtesy of hostaplants.co.uk

Hosta Sum and Substance
Photo courtesy of hostaplants.co.uk

Hosta One Man's Treasure
Photo courtesy of hostaplants.co.uk

The stems of Hosta One Man's Treasure
Photo courtesy of hostaplants.co.uk