I have heard you have to cut all the leaves off. Is that true? And if so, when should I do it?
2006-10-04 04:02:22 · 8 answers · asked by Beth H 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Garden & Landscape
I agree with others, you don't have to do anything. I have never cut the leaves off ours, and they grow back as big and vibrant as ever each and every year. Right now, they are a big as I remember them ever being.
2006-10-04 07:03:16 · answer #1 · answered by AF 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Rick has got a good answer there.
A lot of gardeners like to "tidy" up in the fall. It's way to early for that. Sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving is the best time for fall clean up projects. I too live in Michigan, and the leaves aren't even falling here yet.
If you feel the urge to clean your perennials in the fall, wait until the foliage is Dead (with a capital D) and just pull or rake it up. Ideally wait until early spring to do that. Be sure to get the dead foliage out of there before the hosta sprouts through the dead foliage.
I hope that this helps
Good luck-
2006-10-04 14:11:36 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nothing! You dont need to do anything to them at all. After the leaves die you might want to rake them off. Cutting the leaves have no effect. When the plant dies off after the first frost you can dig up the huge rootball and divide it into smaller plants if you want. Just wash the dirt off and take a knife and divide the roots, replant in the ground or in pots and next year they will grow. The roots will look like a bunch of fat thick pointy thumb like objects connected together and each one of those is a plant. Just divide them by ones or groups and replant. Hostas are very hardy, there is not much you can do to this plant to kill it.
2006-10-04 11:58:59 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
You pretty much do nothing, since they will die back anyway and comes back in the spring. When leaves and stems turn yellow, pull them off(They should come right off.), and mark the ground, just in case you forget where! You should put a good amount of mulch on top of it for the winter, so they will survive the cold weather. You'll see new purple color grows poking through the ground next spring.
2006-10-04 16:55:05 · answer #4 · answered by Cosmos 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I live in Ann Arbor and I pretty much leave mine alone. I mulch my entire garden in fall. In spring, I cut back any dead leaves on my hostas ( it's less work in spring since the leaves have died back).
2006-10-07 14:56:56 · answer #5 · answered by Janiepoo 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have hostas, you just leave them alone. They die in the winter and come back in the spring.
2006-10-04 11:04:07 · answer #6 · answered by Sassy 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
They are so hardy, it is nearly impossible to kill them! You can cut back the leaves, I guess, but we've never done a single thing with ours and each year, they come right back.
2006-10-04 11:10:44 · answer #7 · answered by melouofs 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Where I live in the Midwest right now is the time to cut them back, leaves and all.. Of course leave the roots in tact. Don't even touch them. They will grow back in the spring.. :)
2006-10-04 11:05:05 · answer #8 · answered by Sunflower 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋