Plant Guide

Other Names:  Plantain Lily, Funkia

Description:

Attractive mounds of heart shaped buttery yellow leaves, with dramatic dark green margins; leaf centers mature to white; pale lavender flowers emerge in mid-summer; provides beautiful texture and contrast to the garden and border

Ornamental Features

Morning Light Hosta features dainty spikes of lavender tubular flowers rising above the foliage in mid summer. Its attractive textured heart-shaped leaves remain buttery yellow in colour with distinctive dark green edges and tinges of lime green throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Morning Light 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

Morning Light Hosta is recommended for the following landscape applications;

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

Planting & Growing

Morning Light Hosta will grow to be about 12 inches tall at maturity extending to 16 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 28 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 24 inches apart. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. 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.

Morning Light Hosta is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing a mass of flowers and foliage against which the larger thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.