The fragrant Royal Standard hosta was introduced by Wayside Gardens in 1965.
Photo by L.A. Jackson
Finding hosta fanciers in South Carolina is not hard, as most gardeners know these pretty perennials can be pretty tough when it comes to dealing with ever-changing conditions in the garden.
But some hostas can be pretty weird, too.
Typical blooming hostas flaunt their flowers in the spring, but there is a renegade group that waits instead for the full heat of summer to set in before showing off their blooms—and many are even fragrant! These oddities are informally known as August lilies and botanically come from the Hosta plantaginea clan.
Interestingly, these hot-to-trot hostas aren’t the result of some forward-thinking 21st century genetic modification to counter global warming. No, August lilies are old stuff. Brought over from China in the early 1800s, they proved to be quite heat-tolerant, making them the darlings of many a landscape gardener in the sunny South.
Since it was introduced by Wayside Gardens way back in 1965, the poster child cultivar of August lilies, Royal Standard (easy to find, by the way), has been putting a spell on gardeners with flower towers rising from large, elegant green leaves in late summer to beguile passersby with ghostly white, sweetly scented blooms.
Fancier H. plantaginea cultivars have been introduced since Royal Standard, including such dandies as the aptly named Guacamole, a widely available selection with snappy avocado-hued foliage, and Stained Glass, another easy-to-find August lily with green leaves swept by broad strokes of muted yellow. Have a small garden? Try a space-saver such as the popular Sugar Babe with its variegated leaves and nose-pleasing, purple-streaked flowers.
Getting August lilies off to a good start is the key to whether they survive or thrive in the garden. If possible, plant them where they bask in early morning sun but are lightly shaded in the afternoon. While August lilies tolerate many soil conditions, they will perform better in heavily tilled, organically enriched sites. Also, since hostas prefer well-draining soil, potting up a few is certainly an option.
Applying a light amount of balanced, slow-release fertilizer in the early spring will satisfy August lilies’ nutrient needs for the growing season.
Finally, slugs are the bane of hosta growers everywhere, but their garden party can be spoiled with due vigilance and timely applications of an iron phosphate-based slug killer. And when your hostas die back in the fall, cut the spent leaves off and toss them in the trash to prevent slugs from overwintering in the debris.
August in the Garden
• The days of summer might be on the wane, but the veggie patch certainly isn’t past its prime. This month is a good time to plant spinach, radishes, mustard greens, kale, cucumbers, collards, cauliflower and cabbage.
• Lovers of fall-planted, spring-blooming bulbs will still have to wait a few months to add them to the garden, but in the meantime, plant bulbs now. No, not tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and the like, but rather unusual fall-flowering beauties such as colchicum, autumn-blooming crocus and sternbergia that mature rapidly and blossom in the heat of the late growing season.
Tip of the month
A sundial is an eye-pleasing garden addition, but to make it more functional, align the gnomon—the angled shadow maker—to true north on Sept. 1 at high noon when the shadow should point directly to the 12 o’clock Standard Time mark. To fine-tune your sundial’s accuracy, do this adjustment again on Dec. 24, April 15 and June 15. Also, the gnomon’s angle should be the same as your latitude, so if it is movable, adjust using a level and protractor or put a shim under the sundial for the proper angle. During Daylight Savings Time, mentally add an hour for the correct time.
L.A. Jackson is the former editor of Carolina Gardener magazine. Contact him at lajackson1@gmail.com.