Slugs and snails love hostas, but not all hostas equally. Varieties with thick, firm or heavily textured leaves, like many blue hostas, are much harder for them to eat.
Slug-resistant hostas
No hosta is completely slug-proof, especially young shoots in spring. Combine these varieties with simple measures, such as removing hiding places and protecting new shoots, for the best result.
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Slugs and snails feed by rasping away the leaf surface, so they start with soft, thin leaves. Three qualities slow them down:
That is why so many slug-resistant hostas are blue. They descend from Hosta sieboldiana and Hosta tokudama, or from the Tardiana group bred in Britain, which gave gardens Halcyon and Hadspen Blue.
The biggest group, from compact to large. Bullet Proof is a medium-sized blue, Hadspen Blue stays small enough for edging, and Big Daddy brings heavily puckered leaves to the back of a border. For a lighter look, Blue Ivory adds a white edge and Autumn Frost a cream-yellow one.
Thick leaves are not only a blue trait. Devon Green has glossy dark green leaves, and Sunny Halcyon is a yellow sport of Halcyon with the same firm leaves. Gold-centred Smash Hit and Sunset Grooves combine resistance with bright colour.
Among the small varieties, Ayesha joins Blue Mouse Ears. At the other end, Liberty and Victory, both Hosta of the Year winners, are giants with thick leaves. Find more big varieties in our large and giant hostas.
Slugs thrive where it is damp and mild: near lawns, hedges and water, in beds edged with stone or timber, and in regions with wet winters, from Ireland to the Netherlands. In gardens like these, a slug-resistant variety can mean the difference between leaves that stay smooth until autumn and leaves full of holes by midsummer. They are also the best choice for shady corners you cannot check every evening.
If slugs rule your garden, plant a whole bed with resistant varieties rather than a single one. Mix a blue such as Bullet Proof, a glossy green such as Devon Green and a gold such as Sunny Halcyon: three colours of a similar size, all with tough leaves. Add Big Daddy or Liberty at the back for height and a band of Blue Mouse Ears along the front.
Slug resistance works best on established plants. Plant in spring, so the clump can build strong roots before its first winter, and keep it growing well: a vigorous hosta pushes its shoots up quickly and spends less time at the tender stage that slugs love. Feed with compost in spring rather than with a lot of fertiliser, which produces soft, lush growth.
Expect the resistance to grow with the plant. Young hostas have thinner leaves than mature clumps, and the leaves get thicker as the clump settles in, so the first season is the one to watch.
Slugs eat hostas with thick, firm or puckered (quilted) leaves much less than thin-leaved ones. Good examples are Halcyon and Big Daddy among the blue hostas, the miniature Blue Mouse Ears, and Praying Hands with its narrow, upright leaves.
No. Even the toughest hostas can be damaged when the young shoots appear in spring, before the leaves harden. Once the leaves are fully open, slug-resistant varieties usually stay much cleaner than other hostas.
Protect young shoots in spring, remove hiding places such as boards and dense debris near the plants, and water in the morning rather than the evening so the soil surface is drier at night.
Feel the leaf. Slug-resistant varieties have thick, stiff leaves that hardly bend, often with a waxy blue surface or a puckered texture; thin, soft leaves are eaten first. On our product pages, look for "good slug resistance" in the At a glance list.
Some are. The thickest, most puckered blue leaves often belong to steady rather than fast growers, which need a few seasons to fill out. Others grow at an ordinary pace: Hi-Class, for example, comes up early and grows fast despite its heavy leaves.
Several combine both strengths. Liberty and Victory cope with more light than most giants, and Hi-Class, Sunny Halcyon, Smash Hit and Sunset Grooves do the same in a medium size. Keep the soil moist and give them shade in the hottest part of the day. More options are in our sun-tolerant hostas.
Yes. Snails feed in the same way as slugs, so thick, waxy leaves slow them down as well. As with slugs, the young shoots in spring are the most vulnerable.
Problems & pests
Hostas are not deer-proof: Rutgers University rates them in its highest damage category, and rabbits and voles eat them too. Thick-leaved varieties may be a little less tempting, but only a physical barrier reliably works: a fence, a cage or netting dug in against tunnelling animals. Identify the animal first, because deer, rabbits, slugs and voles leave different clues.
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Problems & pests
To stop slugs eating hostas, protect the young shoots in spring: check the plants at dusk and after rain, remove what you find, water in slug nematodes once the soil has warmed up, and grow thick-leaved varieties. Copper tape, grit, wool pellets and eggshells did nothing to reduce the damage when the RHS put them to the test.
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Order and pay now, and your bare-root hostas ship from 1 March. Here is how pre-ordering works and what to expect when your plants arrive.
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