Make it a point to fill holes or depressions in ground around your home, as well as hollow stumps or holes within trunks of trees. These, too, can gather water and lure mosquitoes to nest in area. Be sure not to use foliage, grass or some other type of natural product that might serve to retain water and become akin to a comfy mattress on mosquitoes’ bed.

Screens, doors, windows and other entryways that may contain holes or other violations of their integrity should be repaired in order to keep mosquitoes from entering home. Of course, it goes without saying that doors and windows that don’t include screens should never be left ajar. This would be equivalent of ringing dinner bell for these pesky insects.

If you should happen to have an ornamental water garden on your property, be sure to keep water stocked with mosquito-eating fish, such as goldfish, minnows or guppies. When mosquitoes hover over water – which they’re inclined to do – fish will eat them and help to reduce their population around your home.

Other precautions, such as covering trash cans, barrels and stored boats will also help your efforts at pest control, but don’t rely on bug zappers. These do very little to discourage mosquitoes from taking residence around your home. Your focus should, instead, be on ridding yourself of excess water that may have accumulated in key points around your property.

However, as could be expected with a genus so rich in cultivars, hostas come in all kinds of sizes. The miniature “Baby Bunting” reaches only a few inches in diameter at maturity while some cultivars may span eight feet across.

Although widely available at nurseries and garden centers, most often hostas are propagated by lifting and dividing mature plants in late summer.

Hostas grow best in a location that receives morning sun and afternoon shade. Soil should be slightly acidic but rich in nutrients and organic matter. Plant hostas at least a foot deep. Because shallow root clump spread horizontally and equal diameter of foliage, planting holes should be about 1 ½ size you expect from mature clump.

Hostas like water. Keep new plantings well watered for first two weeks. After that, your hostas will benefit from a deep (1-inch minimum) weekly watering, which aids in healthy root development. Symptoms of inadequate moisture are leaf tip burning and drooping.