After they are planted, your hostas will require little care. Attentive watering and well-drained soil are musts, and a layer of mulch (no more than 2-3") will prevent competition from weeds. Annual feeding with slow-release fertilizer will keep your hostas happy. With so many different options in fertilizer, the thing to do is to take a soil sample to your local Cooperative Extension Office for testing and fertilize according to recommendations.

Place your hostas in soil that is loose and well-drained in a shady spot that is protected from hot afternoon sun. Amend the soil with organic matter or compost. Add a slow-release fertilizer to the soil. Place the hosta in the hole so that the clump is level with the soil surface, and water thoroughly. You can plant them any time during the growing season, but the later in the season you plant, the more important it is to keep them adequately watered. Cutting off the flower scape as soon as possible after blooming tends to increase the probability of re-bloom.

Hostas do not need regular dividing to keep them vigorous. They can be left undisturbed indefinitely, but when dividing is necessary, do so in the spring just after the plant pips are emerging from the ground so the new foliage is not damaged. If the plants are left undivided, you can enjoy their mature beauty sooner.

Hostas are virtually disease-free. Major pests include slugs and snails, deer, cut-worms and leaf beetles. Slugs chew holes in the hosta leaves and make them unsightly. There are books about slug control methods including: picking them off one by one, leaving out beer-filled trays in the hopes the slugs drown, copper rings, squashing them between bricks, pesticides, and my favorite, diatomaceous earth. It is a powder of the finely ground shells of diatoms. Diatoms are microscopic sea creatures. When sprinkled on the ground, the slugs crawl over the powder, cutting themselves all to pieces, then they die of dehydration.

Deer love hostas. Apart from keeping a dog present in the affected area, there is no single cure for deer. Previously successful methods of repellent, such as leaving bags of human hair around, are no longer effective because urban deer have become comfortable co-existing with humans. A varied program with several components will be more effective than a single preventive method. Contact local nurseries for information on deer repellent products currently on the market. Rabbits and squirrels may chew an occasional leaf, but are not generally known to be problems for hostas.

Cut-worms and leaf beetles can cause more damage than slugs. Cut-worms live in the ground and feed at night by crawling up the plant and eating holes through the unopened leaves. Leaf beetles will eat holes in the center of the leaves between the veins. Sometimes this can be confused with slug damage. A natural control is the house wren. They have a tremendous appetite for those pests and for slugs. If you're not keen on birdhouses, you can fall back on commercially available pesticides. Always carefully follow label instructions and heed warnings.

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