Mini/tiny hostas

Dear Hosta folk.....because my hosta collection has been out of control for
years now , over the past 5 or 6 years I have been collecting more mini
hostas (as if there IS an answer to the hosta disease). Except for H.
'Uzo-no-Mai' which is a true annual for me, I have  had fair luck in
keeping these little treasures.The real problem comes from their
disapearance under H. 'Big Mama' and the 201 st sport of H.'Sum and
Substance'. I now keep these tiny hostas in one area with barbed wire
fences , spot lights,guard towers and a moat. This keeps the giants from
breaking in and interacting with my Liliputian hord. These minis are
carefully mulched with granit grit which keeps them in place during our
frost heaving seasons.

When I started this collection I asked a lot of people for advice. Most of
that advice can't be sourced now and some mythology may have grown up in my
mind. I was told by more than one peron that since the roots of these tiny
hostas were much closer to the surface of the ground that I had to pay
special attention to keeping them well mulched because the  freeze/thaw
cycles of the top 2 or 3 inches of the soil raises havoc with the roots and
tends to kill a lot of these tiny hostas .

I have never had a problem, except with the aforementioned H. 'Uzo-no-Mai,
and am wondering if I had actually dealt with a real problem or a
non-existent problem? Does this shallow /surface root problem actually
exist? Experience has of course taught me that newly planted hostas (with
roots yet to grasp the soil) can be heaved from the ground during the first
winter with the prowess of a javelin thrower. But that is the "new" plant
as yet unsited to its spot.   All this has come to mind because I was asked
about such a problem a few weeks ago and handed out my sourceless mythology
as gospel. Any experiences with this matter would be appreciated. I prefer
to limit my idiocies to politics.  Do tiny clumps of established mini
hostas need special mulching because of the root proximity to the surface?


"A book is a mirror. If an ass peers into it, you can't expect an apostle
to look out." Lichtenberg

Glen Williams
20 Dewey St.
Springfield , Vermont
05156
Tel: 802-885-2839 

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