Over the entire summer, the hosta presented itself at its best: tastefully designed and colorful leaves, which were enthroned by lavender-colored flowers in June. Now autumn is approaching and the question arises: Does the hosta need pruning?
Should you cut hostas back in the fall?
Pruning the hostas in autumn is not necessary as the wilting leaves serve as natural winter protection for the plant and provide shelter for insects. However, the dead stems should be removed in summer to prevent seed capsules from forming.
Leaves have a protective function
It is best not to cut off the leaves. They provide natural winter protection when they fall down in the fall and lay over the plant's root area. If you don't remove them but leave them in place, you don't need to prepare your hosta for the winter in any other way.
The old leaves – winter protection and shelter
After the first frost hits the hostas, the leaves tip over. They are starting to wilt noticeably. In addition to their function as winter protection, they provide an important shelter for insects over the winter.
You don't like the wilted leaves?
If you think that the old leaves don't look nice but rather spoil the overall picture, you can of course remove them. However, this means that winter protection is no longer necessary and may have to bebe made available elsewhere, for example through fir brushwood. In the fall you can cut away the leaves if you don't like them.
Remove old plant parts in spring
If you left the foliage on the hosta:
- in spring the leaves are muddy and brown
- some of it is rotten
- remove remaining leaf parts before new growth (in April)
- removing the old leaves promotes new growth
- Scissors are not necessary – leaves can be plucked out
It's better to cut away the old inflorescences
In addition to removing the old leaves, the inflorescences should be cut off in summer. This also applies to hostas in the pot. The flowers are on long stems that shoot up from the middle of the perennial around June. Cut these stems down when the flowering period is over.
If you don't do this, the black seed pods will form:
- Training the seeds is exhausting
- Self-seeding is prevented
- New hostas have different properties than the mother plant
- New hostas can later displace the mother plant
Tip
The leaves can also be cut off from May to August and used, for example, for floristic purposes (bouquets or arrangements).
