Plant Guide

Other Names:  Plantain Lily, Funkia

Description:

A cream leaf center with variable dark green margins and olive green spots; leaf is narrow and lightly recurved; spikes of lavender flowers in late summer; a beautiful miniature hosta for a rock garden or small space

Ornamental Features

Dixie Chickadee Hosta features dainty spikes of lavender tubular flowers rising above the foliage in late summer. Its attractive recurved narrow leaves remain dark green in colour with showy creamy white variegation and tinges of olive green throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Dixie Chickadee Hosta is a dense herbaceous perennial with tall flower stalks held atop a low mound of foliage. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. Gardeners should be aware of the following characteristic(s) that may warrant special consideration;

• Insects

Dixie Chickadee Hosta is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Border Edging
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover

Planting & Growing

Dixie Chickadee Hosta will grow to be only 4 inches tall at maturity extending to 12 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 8 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 6 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. It grows at a slow rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant does best in partial shade to shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.