Plant Library Archives - The Salty Knitter

Two Mini Hosta in Hypertufa Planters

I have one last Mini Hosta planting to share, for this year at least, and it’s actually two. Two or three years ago I made a couple of hypertufa using the bottom of a trash can for the mold. I had seen a relatively squat planter with straight up and down sidewalls that I wanted to replicate. This year I planted mini hosta in those hypertufa.

Both planters feature hosta purchased last year. I had them planted under my Japanese Maple and neither seemed to be doing very much. I also wanted to have them in the new back garden where I could see them from the house.

Hosta ‘Mini Skirt’

I planted ‘Mini Skirt’ with a blue fescue, creeping jenny, and white angelonia. The angelonia is one of those try it and see what happens situations. Angelonia is usually planted in full sun and tolerates heat well. It will get the heat but not so much the sun so it may work okay or it might completely flop. At the last minute, I crammed a leftover spider plant and some asparagus fern in there. Asparagus Fern will likely be scarce for the 2020 season, so if you like it in your planters I recommend you overwinter a bit indoors.

You can see the slugs or something have been at this one, most of that occurred when it was under the Japanese Maple. If it continues, I’ll sprinkle some Diatomaceous Earth around it.

Hosta ‘Church Mouse’

Church Mouse has these lovely crisp and twisty blue-green leaves. When it flowers – soon, the buds are showing – the flowers are on short stems and they are perfectly proportioned to the plant. Church Mouse was an impulse buy, but as soon as I saw it I just had to have it.

For this planter I added a twisty juncus for height, some Dichondra Silver Falls for my spiller and since it is still a bit small for this year, a spider plant for filler although a little bit of fescue would better continue the blue & silver theme.

I’m happy with my Mini Hosta in Hypertufa. In the fall once the leaves have died back I’ll move both into the shed for the winter so the boy dogs can’t do what boy dogs do.

Have you planted any of the smaller hosta in your garden or do you keep them in pots? Have you made any hypertufa for your garden? Kim at the Hypertufa Gardener has all kinds of tips and ideas – I used her guidelines to make mine.

Mini Hosta Tool Box Planter

Have I convinced you that Mini Hosta are just as cool as succulents yet? If I haven’t made you a fan yet, maybe my mini Hosta Tool Box will do it.

I mentioned a trip to Picker’s Pig Pen in my last post, what I didn’t mention was this fabulous old tool box. It was exactly what I was hoping to find. It has just the right amount of rust and it’s perfectly battered. One of the cutest succulent planters I’ve seen on Pinterest is an assortment of succulents in an old tool box. I needed a tool box so I could reproduce that planter with mini Hosta!

I only paid $20 for everything I got Saturday and honestly the table base was worth that easily! So these two boxes were pretty much free. Even the bit of tool box rubble was free! Old drill bits and miscellaneous screws. You know the stuff!

Both metal boxes were cleaned up and I drilled drainage holes in them with a drill bit meant for metal. When you are drilling in metal it helps to have some wood underneath that you don’t mind drilling into. There still might be some burrs, but the holes turn out much neater.

The Tin Box

I planted the galvanized box with creeping jenny and a Hosta ‘Waterslide’. Waterslide isn’t a true mini, but it is a small hosta. Mine is even smaller than it should be because I almost killed it a couple of years ago so it’s coming along.

The Tool Box

I planted the tool box with a green and white mini Hosta and some Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’. But I didn’t stop there…

I spray painted some brushed nickel house numbers to attach to the lid of the toolbox.

So have I convinced you that Mini Hosta are cool yet or do you need more proof?

I’m still on the lookout for an old bird cage and a metal chair so I can replicate those looks too. I’ll make a convert of you guys yet.

Mini Hosta Kettle Planter

Sure succulents are cool, but have you tried Mini Hosta yet?

They come in blue, green, yellow, and all kinds of variegated combinations. Some are really tiny and some are just small, leaves might be long and narrow or short and round.

Miniature Hosta are just as collectible as succulents. Well really, all hosta are collectible, but miniatures have nearly as many adorable planting options as succulents. Check out my up-cycled enamel kettle planter!

I found this blue enamel kettle at Value Village and decided it would be perfect for a small planter. Most of the time I prefer large planters, but for a miniature, this is a large planter.

Hosta are a perennial but they do very well in planters. Some people have hosta that are in the same planter for years, they just store it in an unheated building over the winter and bring them out when the pips are ready to emerge.

Benefits of Hosta in Pots

you can control the moisture more easily in a planter.
they’re portable, you can move them where you like without touching a shovel.
perfect for tenants who want a lovely garden but don’t want to leave behind their collection if they move.
if you worry about HVX, pots and planters are effective quarantine for new plants.

The Mini Hosta Kettle

This kettle won’t be used to make tea ever again after I drilled a couple of drainage holes in the bottom.

Hosta ‘School Mouse’ is the star of this planter. See the green stuff growing on the top of the soil? That’s something that happens sometimes in greenhouses, scrape that off before transplanting.

School Mouse was an impulse buy, but notice how similar it is to ‘Church Mouse’? I love those ruffled twisty leaves.

I added some creeping jenny (Lysimachia) as a trailer and there it is – a planter that is just as adorable as a succulent. Still don’t believe me? Take a look at the Hosta Turtle I made last week.

So what do you think? Could you get hooked on Mini Hosta?

Mini Hosta Turtle Topiary

We’ve had so much rain this spring, I really haven’t accomplished much in the garden. But we finally had some sunshine on Sunday so I made a Hosta Turtle.

Fred the turtle was looking pretty rough after the winter this year. He’d been kicked around and was missing a leg, along with his tail and his head. None of the Hens and Chicks were left, thanks to boy dogs peeing on all the things, so today he got a do-over with a twist.

I meant to try this a long time ago – a Hosta turtle. It works out perfectly, because under the maple tree where he’s located there are too many surface roots. I had a Hosta ‘Sun Power’ there, but the maple tree roots eventually choked it out.

Miniature Hosta

All hosta are highly collectible, from the giants right on down to the miniatures.

The one above has a narrow green edge around the leaves. Here it is pictured next to Golden Tiara to give you an idea of the size.

Miniature in green with a white edge on the leaves.

The blue crinkled leaves of Church Mouse

Mini Skirt, showing cream for early spring it will brighten to white and blue as the season goes on.

I used a few pieces from this mini-Hosta from the garden. I don’t know which variety it is but it’s quite small, along with some Blue Mouse Ears.

Materials:

You can buy a lot of the supplies at the dollar store. The sphagnum moss can be a bit harder to find, try nurseries, any place that sells orchids may have some. Sometimes you’ll find it in the reptile section of pet stores – it’s used for bedding. I’ve included some links below that may be helpful but please note – they are affiliate links.

4 – 4″ Clay Pots
12″ Wire Hanging Basket
Plastic saucer or plate to fit bottom of basket. I used a melamine plate from the dollar store and drilled drainage holes.

florist wire
2 pieces of chicken wire, 1 approximately 12″ x 8″ and another around 10″ x 6″.
4 washers.

Sphagnum Moss
Potting soil.

Directions:

Form the larger piece of chicken wire into a tube and close one end.

Fill the head with moss.

Use the florist wire to attach the head to the basket.

Repeat with the smaller piece of chicken wire to make a tail.

Line the basket with moss, leaving a space for the potting soil, then set aside.

If you haven’t already, drill your bottom plate or plant saucer. You will need one hole for each leg plus some drainage holes.

Thread a washer onto some florist wire and up through the bottom hole of the clay pot.

Thread the wire up through your bottom saucer/plate. Secure all 4 of the feet. You can see that rather than have them attached at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, it’s more 1, 5, 7, and 11 o’clock.

Fill the turtle shell with potting soil.

Use florist wire to secure the saucer in place.

Plant your Turtle!

Notice I’ve only planted Hosta at the top. Had I planted them along the sides, they might have looked fine for this season but I don’t think it would work when they re-emerge in the spring next year. Hosta know up from down, so the new spring growth would all head for the top. Other than that, plenty of people overwinter Hosta in pots so I think this will work out fine.

I added some creeping jenny for the bottom half of the shell – just so you know, it will root down where it touches the ground and it is a perennial.

Like the look of Mini Hosta and looking for more planting ideas? Check out some of my other ideas here – Mini Hosta

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How to Mount an Orchid

Lately, I’ve been seeing mounted Staghorn Ferns trending a bit. Staghorn Ferns aren’t always easy to find, but Orchids can be mounted too. And since it’s something I’ve wanted to try for a long time, I’m going to show you how to mount an Orchid.

Last year, my oldest started building a shed. When he was digging the post holes, he pulled out some really cool looking bits of tree root. I decided to use one of them to mount my orchid.

I mounted an orchid on one of them. Many orchids are epiphytes, meaning they would normally grow on trees.

Materials to mount an orchid:

Orchid – most grocery store orchids are phalaenopsis which are perfect for this. If you purchase a different type just make sure it’s one that likes growing in trees.
Bark. You can purchase cork bark in pet stores where it’s used by reptile enthusiasts, or you can purchase from Amazon using my affiliate link here.
Sphagnum moss
Thread or clear fishing line.

I started by cleaning all the existing growing media from the orchids roots. And then I forgot to take any more pictures until after I finished.

Thankfully I made a video of the process. I sincerely apologize – I had no idea I breathe that loud!