Description and characteristics of hostas of the Blue Angel variety, planting rules and care

Lush Blue Angel hosta bushes are valued for their decorative color and leaf shape. Florists include culture in original bouquets, use plants in landscape design, introducing an island of tropical flora into gardens and personal plots.

Description and features

Under favorable conditions, the giant hosta variety Blue Angel or Blue Angel grows up to 80–100 cm with a bush width of 1.2 m.Above the heart-shaped leaves, 40 cm long and 30 cm wide, rise peduncles with white funnel-shaped flowers. In spring, the color of the corrugated leaf plates with pronounced venation is bluish-blue. In autumn, the color of the leaves transforms into rich green.

The perennial herbaceous plant Blue Angel forms capsules with 3-mm seeds after flowering. The culture pleases with flowering during the last two summer months.

History of selection

The blue hybrid Blue Angel was obtained by a Dutch breeder in 1986. To obtain a new variety, Paul Aden pollinated the Aden varieties numbered 361 and 365.

Features of agricultural technology in open ground

Before planting Blue Angel hosts in open ground, the location and the selection of suitable conditions are determined. For normal development and hosta propagation compliance with planting technology and rules for carrying out agrotechnical measures is required.

Choosing a landing site

Suitable soil for hosta is slightly acidic, nutritious, and well-drained. An important condition is water permeability and aeration of the earth. Sandy and loamy soils are not suitable.

Hostas do not grow in pots at home, as the plant needs a period of rest at low outdoor temperatures to develop, flower and reproduce.

Lighting requirements

Hosta Blue Angel is a shade-loving variety. When exposed to direct sunlight, the leaf blades lose their distinctive color and blend in with neighboring greenery, so an open sunny area is not suitable for the variety. The ideal place is partial shade under the canopy of trees.

Reproduction

There are 3 known methods of propagating the Blue Angel - by seeds, cuttings, and dividing the bush. The last option is the most effective and does not take much time.

Seed germination is average, but there is no guarantee of maintaining varietal characteristics.

Landing algorithm:

• before sowing, the planting material is kept in a growth stimulator;
• the earth is calcined or disinfected with a solution of manganese;
• a layer of drainage is placed on the bottom of the container;
• the nutrient substrate is moistened;
• scatter the seeds superficially, sprinkled with a thin layer of soil.

The process of growing from seeds to full flowering of the bush takes 4 years.

Cuttings are carried out throughout the summer. Separate the young shoot with the leaf, which is cut off by 1/3. Next, plant the cuttings in partial shade, regularly moistening them. To create a greenhouse effect and quick rooting, place a plastic bottle with a cut out bottom on top.

The bush is divided at the end of August after bud formation or in early spring. Cut the rhizome with a shovel so that there are 2 rosettes in each section. The cut sites are treated with crushed activated carbon or wood ash and immediately planted in a permanent place.

How to plant

Blue Angel hosta bushes grow up to 1.2 m wide. Based on this, the distance between plantings is maintained at least 1.5–2 m. When planting plants in the fall, it is taken into account that the crop takes root within 2 weeks in warm weather.

Before the event, the soil is dug up using a spade and complex fertilizers are applied. Provide a width for the planting hole that is twice the volume of the roots, and provide drainage.

When planting, the roots are straightened and covered with soil so that the root collar is flush with the soil surface. The earth is lightly compacted, watered and mulched with sawdust and bark.

Rules of care

Caring for Blue Angel hosta is not burdensome, but requires the following recommendations:

• to fertilize the plants, annually mulch the soil around the crop with compost;
• fertilizing is done twice per season - in the spring, the hosta requires nitrogen (a solution of mullein, chicken droppings), in the fall, potassium and phosphorus are added to the bushes;
• at the beginning of the growing season, weeds are weeded;
• Irrigate the hosta as needed, avoiding water droplets getting on the leaf blades.

The Blue Angel bush looks neater and more compact when the flower stalks are removed.

Before the onset of frost, the above-ground part of the plant is cut off; the crop does not need any insulation measures.

Diseases and pests

Common Hosta diseases Blue Angel:

Virus X (HVX)

The appearance of streaks, spots, and small inclusions on the host should alert the gardener. Such pictures do not correspond to varietal characteristics, but refer to signs of damage to the Hosta Virus X (HVX) crop.

The disease leads to interveinal chlorosis, dwarfism of the bushes, and subsequently to the death of the plant. The virus cannot be treated, so infected bushes are removed from the garden beds and taken out of the garden.

Hosta Virus X (HVX) penetrates hosta tissue through wounds and leaf cuts when pruning and dividing bushes through contact with undisinfected garden tools.

Root collar rot

The disease is diagnosed by yellowing and discoloration of leaf blades. The advanced stage of the disease leads to the death of the crop.

Noticing yellow leaves, the plant is dug up. The roots are washed and inspected, areas of rot and rot are cut out, and the sections are disinfected with fungicides. The hosta is transplanted to a new place.

Phyllosticosis

Gradually merging brown spots with black spots are the first symptoms of phyllosticosis.Later, an ashen coating from fungal spores forms on the leaves, the leaf dries out and dies.

The Phyllosticta fungus selects weakened, poorly wintered plants. Treatment includes moderate irrigation, removal of damaged parts of the crop and the use of fungicides - Abiga-Pik, Strobi, copper sulfate

Gray rot

Spores of the Botrytis fungus infect leaves, starting from the edges to the center of the leaf blade. The affected areas become covered with a gray coating, rot, and dry out.

At the initial stage of the disease, Hosta Blue Angel is treated with Topaz, Fundazol, Skor, spraying the bushes three times every 10–14 days. In an advanced stage, gray mold cannot be treated.

Of the pests, slugs cause the most damage to the host. Clams begin to chew holes in the plant as soon as the first spring shoots appear.

Sawdust, tobacco, lime are brought under the bushes, and traps are set. If folk recipes are powerless, use granular preparations Slime Eater, Thunderstorm.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety

Advantages of the Blue Angel hosta variety:

• unpretentiousness to air composition - the plant feels good in urban areas;
• decorativeness of bushes;
• high built-in immunity, resistance to fungal diseases;
• frost resistance;
• temporary drought resistance;
• unattractive to insect pests.

No obvious shortcomings were noticed in Hosta Blue Angel.

The culture is used to decorate artificial reservoirs and is planted along borders, near the entrance to the gazebo. Plants are diluted with plantings of primroses and phlox.

If you plant the Blue Angel variety next to crocuses and daffodils, then after the primroses have finished flowering, hosta bushes will fill the empty spaces in the flowerbed.

Analogs

Analogues of Blue Angel hosts:

• Fond Hope is blue-gray in color with slight ripples on the leaf blades;
• Blue Mammoth (Blue Mammoth) stands out for its large white flowers;
• More Elegant - hosta with blue bubble leaves;
• Prince of Wales (Prince of Wales) is distinguished by very large green-blue leaf blades;
• Headliner grows into a medium-sized bush with purple flowers;
• Snowden is a giant variety with blue-green leaves reaching a height of 1.2 m.

Group plantings of different varieties of blue hosta look beautiful in landscape design.

Reviews

Hosts learn about the real advantages and disadvantages from reviews of flower growers.

Alena, 36 years old, Moscow:

I became interested in growing herbaceous plants 3 years ago. I planted 4 hosta varieties. Among them, the Blue Angel variety stands out for its large bluish leaves and abundant long-lasting flowering. It’s not for nothing that the culture is called the miracle host.

Tamara Ivanovna, 46 years old, Kyiv:

I had the temerity to plant Blue Angel in the sun. At the initial stage, the host is pleased with the blue color, you can’t take your eyes off it. But by July the leaves turn green and the magic of the culture disappears.

Tatiana, 33 years old, Zaporozhye:

I decorated the banks of the pond dug by my husband at the dacha with Blue Angel hosta. I couldn't be happier with this elegant, unpretentious plant. This year we plan to plant blue hosta at the entrance to the greenhouse and in the flower bed with primroses.