Hostas with Roses, Oh my!

A basic gardening premise is that plants should be selected considering the environmental conditions of the location where they will be positioned. On a large scale, that means selecting plants for the correct USDA plant hardiness zone if you want the plants to survive through the winter.  It also means selecting plants that will do well considering the site’s soil, drainage, sun, wind, and water conditions.

One of the most obvious selection criteria is the amount of sun and shade that the plants will be exposed to throughout the day.  There are some that require lots of sun, especially if the specimens are to grow strong and flower well.  At the other extreme, there are some plants that prefer shade and will burn up if exposed to too much direct sunshine.  Then there are many gradations in between, where the plant can tolerate a range of sun/shade conditions, although often they may thrive better with the right mix.

It is widely understood that roses need lots of sunshine, frequently cited as requiring at least 6 hours of direct sun per day to bloom well.  At the other extreme, hostas are generally considered to be shady plants even though most bloom better with some direct morning sun.  Today, you can buy some ‘full sun’ hosta cultivars, but that label is misleading.  More correctly, they should be referred to as ‘more sun-tolerant’ hostas, because they still need some shade protection from the mid-day sun.

Rarely is there a situation where roses and hostas should be planted together, except in the unusual case where direct sunlight conditions vary dramatically within the same garden bed.  And yet, landscapers and homeowners do it frequently, with the invariable result of burnt hosta leaves or flowerless roses.