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Hostas are not usually grown in Malta. For the first time, I came across tubers for sale, I tried my luck and put them in two pots in the spring. Up to now they have survived even a day of 42 centigrade. I have put then in the shade of an orange tree and they are watered and showerd every day. I enjoy growing things that are a little difficult to grow here. I have had 2 gardenias for the last 7 years, and azalea for the last 3 years, a bleeding heart for 2 and an expensive Camelia I bought this year. I also have a hortensia planted in an old washing machine tub, filled with ericatious compost, sunk in the local limey soil in the shade of a large tree. This esperiment has been successfull. The lime in our soil makes it difficult to grow these plants in the garden, so we have to use pots filled with ericacious compost. There is also traces of lime in our tap water and even our wells, that take our winter roof rain water, which of course will have washed the dust from the roofs, are not pure enough. So during the summer, I conserve the run of water from our air conditioners, and use it to water these and other plants. In winter they revel in the rain.
What a resourceful person you are, Malteser! We also collect the rain water from the roofs of our buildings and use it to water potted plants outdoors and also indoors during the winter. Regarding the hostas, I've discovered that many hostas thrive in pots. I've got a small Japanese Hosta ('Kabitan') that I've grown in a pot for about four years now. It's so vigorous that I have to divide it and repot it every spring. I simply store it right in its pot in a cool room in our basement. Thanks for giving us a brief peek at what it's like to garden in Malta. :-)
Thank you LarryR. My hostas are still alive, but with the change in weather (the tempreture now is between 20 and25 centigrade), some of the leaves are yellowing and a few have been bitten by slugs. I will have to see what happens over winter and when spring comes along. My gardenias and Camelia are now happy with the cooler weather and are sporting new growth. The bleeding heart (it grew quite well in the internal yard during summer) will soon shed its leaves and come back to life in spring.
