How to Look After and Display Your Small & Miniature Hostas
- John Plant
- 11 hours ago
- 4 min read
There are many different sizes of Hostas to chose from. From the giant-sized Hostas right down through large, medium, small and then the miniatures.
For most of them, the maintenance and display are very similar. However, the miniatures take a little more effort to keep them at their best.
The first bit of advice would be to keep your miniatures in containers & not to plant in open ground. At least until they are well established.
Miniatures refers to the ultimate size of the Hostas which also means that the root structure is also very small.
They cannot cope with the competition for food & water, from larger plants nearby until they are well established. So, as a guide, I will always suggest that your miniatures should be potted, not planted.
How you display them will be down to the containers and how many you have.
As an example you can put a selection of small pots in front of larger pots or display a mixture of individual pots and containers with more than one Hosta on a raised area such as a stone seat.
Use a trough, in this case, as above, a fake stone trough, to display a number of different Hostas together in this case in a group of 5 different Hostas.
They can be presented in Bonsai dishes. This is a particularly nice way of displaying individual Hostas. These can be displayed on a ready-made unit, with each dish being presented at different levels. This also makes them easier to look after as they can easily be seen. They can also be changed easily to keep the display at its best.
Some people have their Hostas in small containers in rows on a shelf. The world is your oyster when it comes to how you display your miniatures and the containers you display them in.
Of course, displaying your miniature Hostas is only part of the story. What about the compost they are potted up with?
Miniatures need just a little more care and attention than the larger ones. Whilst the bigger Hostas are happy being potted in a rich, moist compost, the miniature version is a bit more fussy. They do not like their feet to be sat in water or waterlogged. They require a bit better drainage.
The compost I tend to use is exactly the same as the larger ones but with plenty of added horticultural grit for extra drainage. This is for individual containers and larger group planted containers such as troughs.
Get the foundation right and the Hostas will fare better.
It may well be worth-while covering the holes with a bit of mesh to stop any critters such as slugs or wood lice crawling into the container & laying eggs.
Firstly, drainage holes need to be covered with crocks or similar to stop compost falling through the hole and add a bit more drainage.
The compost I use, but please use your own if it works for you, is a mix of my own garden compost and leaf mold, both sieved well, and proprietary bagged potting compost. This is usually to a ratio of equal parts. The leaf mold offers moisture retention, the compost a bit of food. I then add horticultural grit of between 40 & 50% of the rest of the compost. This will offer the drainage you need.
Potting up is simple really. Choose your container, fill with compost mix, put Hosta on surface and spread the roots out. Cover with compost & firm. Cover with horticultural grit, water, and don’t forget the label.
As you will see from watching the video, once the mix is thoroughly mixed it can be placed into its container. The video shows the use of a small trough. Compost to the top of the trough, the press down with your fingers.
Place you selection of Hostas on the surface and plant, usually in 3’s or 5’s. Firm with fingers and cover the compost with more horticultural grit. Don't forget to label each Hosta.
The surface grit not only looks good, it supresses weeds, retains moisture and stops splashes of compost when watering. This is the same for individual pots of miniatures.
Miniature Hostas are very small by nature, and can be very small when young. This is one of the smallest Hostas, ‘Clusterfest’, in comparison to a 5” long pen.
Some don’t grow very quickly so be patient. It may take a year or two for some varieties to make a real show.
Most miniatures are grown for their size and shape, but don’t forget, they flower as well. Some such as the ‘mouse’ Hostas are very floriferous. They all flower with a good ratio of flower height to the clump height.
Once established, miniature Hostas are just a hardy as the bigger ones. Ours are outdoors all year round and do not get any mollycoddling through the winter.
They are like any other Hosta, with sun tolerance and slug resistance, so check the details before displaying.
Miniatures may be small but when displayed well, the punch above their weight. It’s not a surprise that so many just love miniatures, and with just a little more care can be stunning.
At Rewela Hostas, we are delighted to provide a diverse selection of Hostas suitable for collectors, experienced growers, and beginners alike. As a small family-run Hosta business we are more than happy to share our expert advice on everything related to Hostas. Shop now on our on-line shop for a wide range of Hostas, from new varieties to classics.
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John Plant
Rewela Hostas
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