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Great
Hostas for Under $10.00
This might be considered a beginner's collection, but
only because the individual plants are relatively
inexpensive compared to the newer introductions. People are
sometimes shocked by the prices of the newer Hosta
cultivars. It’s a bit like stamp collecting, if you’re
not a collector, 41 cent stamps are pretty much all you
need, but if you are a real collector, price, within limits,
becomes less important. Most Hosta growers start with
inexpensive plants, and as the sickness grows, we find ways
to justify spending $25, then $50, then any amount necessary
to get a plant we just have to have.
If you still have your wits about you, there are some
beautiful plants available at very reasonable prices.
Hosta prices have little to do with garden value. New
introductions, good, bad, or indifferent, are usually priced
high because the supply is usually limited, and frankly,
often because the people who originated them would like to
be compensated while the interest is high. In time, as
supplies become more plentiful, prices fall, and even the
great hostas become very affordable.
I’ve selected 15 plants from those we grow that I think
qualify as great hostas. Some of these are as good as
it gets. Five of the fifteen are on the American Hosta
Society’s 2006 Popularity Poll, (the latest published at the
time the collection was compiled) listing the member’s 25
most popular varieties. Others may have been surpassed by
new introductions, but only at higher prices. If you
are starting a hosta collection and want the most for your
money, these are plants that have been favorites of hosta
collectors for many years.
Great
Hostas Collection
One each of the 15
hostas listed below,
Add to Order
Collection
908101 $89.95
The regular catalog
price of the plants in this collection is $123.25
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The Blues
There are four blue hostas on the list, and,
for me, they were fairly obvious choices. They range
from medium to very large in size and all are very different
in form and habit.
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VERY
LARGE
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506300 Blue Angel Aden 1986
There are a great many large blue cultivars, some
say too many. This one has large, heart-shaped
leaves, not puckered but nicely veined. It is
probably of sieboldiana lineage, but seems to be
faster growing and less crinkled than most of the
sieboldiana hybrids. It also seems to get larger
than most. I have been told of, but have not seen, a
single clump that is 10’ across. Even if yours
doesn’t break any records, its likely to be one of
the largest Hostas in your garden. White
flowers.
Add to Order
$9.95
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VERY
LARGE
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520900 Elegans AHS
1987
This is the classic big blue hosta. Huge, rounded blue
leaves, cupped and puckered, forming a mound 6' or more across
at maturity. White flowers. Formerly listed as sieboldiana
'Elegans', but now considered to be a hybrid and not a species
form.
Add to Order
$9.95
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MEDIUM
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534100
Halcyon E. Smith 1988
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Hosta with a more beautiful blue
color than this one, a chalky, powdery blue in spring, turning
to a deep blue in the summer, and holding up well in the fall
after most Hostas have turned to mush. It’s a medium size plant,
about 3 feet across in a mature clump, so it’s not going to
scream for attention like ‘Blue Angel’ or the many sieboldiana hybrids. The leaves are heart-shaped and heavily
ribbed, a bit smaller than my out-stretched hand. They arch and
overlap, forming a neat, symmetrical mound topped by pale
lavender flowers in the summer. This is definitely one of my
favorite Hostas. TF1x7.
Add to Order
$9.95
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LARGE
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542200 Krossa
Regal Krossa 80
Frosty, blue-gray leaves, upright and arching to form a
large vase-shaped plant. Lavender flowers on scapes up to
5' tall. One of the best and most popular of all hostas.
Add to Order
$7.95
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Fortunei Types
- Great for Landscaping and Massing
There are five
Fortunei types on our list. Some may think these older
plants too “ordinary”, but all four are great landscape hostas,
sturdy and fast growing. Admittedly ‘Fortunei Aureomarginata’
and ’Francee’ have been surpassed by newer introductions with
more spectacular form and striking variegation, but usually at
two to three times the price. But ‘Antioch’ and ‘Gold Standard’
are good enough to be prominent in any hosta garden. If you
budget is limited or you need lots of plants, these are hard to
beat.
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MEDIUM
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502900 Antioch
Ruh/Hofer 1979
If you haven’t seen this plant you might assume from its
description that it is just another white variegated Fortunei
type - ‘Silver Crown’, ‘North Hills’, ‘White Edge’, and so on.
They are all good plants and all just a bit different, but plant
them all together and you can spot ‘Antioch’ from 30 feet. It
has won multiple awards from the Hosta Society, and going back
through my copies of the Journal, I could not find a year when
it wasn’t ranked highly on the popularity poll, right up there
with all the expensive new introductions. I like ‘Antioch’
because it has an informal look to it, large pointed green
leaves that arch nearly to the ground, with wide, irregular
margins of creamy white. Each leaf is different, and a mature
clump is really beautiful. Lavender flowers.
Add to Order
$7.95
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MEDIUM
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525500 Fortunei
Aureomarginata Hylander 1987 (Medium)
Dark green leaves with a yellow margin. Lavender
flowers.
Add to Order
$5.95
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MEDIUM
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526400 Francee
Klopping 1986
Dark green leaves with a neat, narrow white edge, a more formal
and elegant plant than many of the fortunei types like
‘Antioch’, ‘North Hills’, etc. Flowers are lavender.
Add to Order
$6.95
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MEDIUM
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529100
Gold Standard P. Banyai 1976
This is simply one of the best hostas ever introduced. The
foliage is unremarkable as it emerges, medium green with a
slightly darker edge, but the center gradually lightens to a
beautiful bright golden yellow, while the dark green edge holds.
A sport of ‘Hyacinthina’, it is a vigorous grower and
multiplies rapidly. It has the typical Fortunei shape and size,
maturing to a graceful spreading mound about 3’ across. Too much
light and the yellow fades to white in the summer, but with the
right exposure, the color is hard to beat. Lavender flowers.
Add to Order
$6.95
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MEDIUM
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555600
Night before Christmas
Machen 1994
This is a sport of ‘White Christmas’ with long, deep green
leaves with a white streak down the center. Much more vigorous
than ‘White Christmas’ forming a medium to large mound with
lavender flowers. The center fades to light green in mid summer.
The word “before” in the name is not capitalized in the
registration
Sorry, single plants are sold out.
Available only with the collection.
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Fragrant
Hostas
There are only
two fragrant hostas on our list. H. plantaginea is not on
the list, in fact it’s not in our catalog at all, because I have
so much trouble growing it. It comes up very early in the
spring and is frequently damaged by late frosts. It
happens so often here that I quit trying. Fragrant hybrids
often come up a bit later and are less frequently damaged.
The hostas below are excellent, especially for the price, and
very fragrant. The fragrant hostas are generally best for
areas too sunny for other hostas.
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MEDIUM
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566500 Royal Standard $5.95
‘Royal Standard’
produces large white, very fragrant flowers in great numbers. It
has shiny, dark green leaves in the shade, lighter if given a
bit of sun. It is often used for mass plantings, tall edging,
and even as a foundation plant because of its fast growth rate,
abundant flowers and great fragrance. This was the first hosta
ever patented, back in the early sixties.
Add to Order
$5.95 |
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MEDIUM
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573800 So Sweet
This was the first hosta to be
awarded the title Hosta of the Year by the the American Hosta
Growers Association. The award is given to one outstanding,
garden-worthy hosta each year. Small for a fragrant hosta, it
quickly forms a compact mound of white edged leaves, covered in
the summer with large, very fragrant flowers.
Add to Order
$9.95 |
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The Others
The last four of the fifteen round out the
collection to include as wide a variety as possible.
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LARGE
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503700 August
Moon Langfelder 1996
Forms an impressive mound of large, rounded, heavily puckered
yellow leaves. Probably a sieboldiana hybrid. Bright
light gives the best color. White flowers.
Add to Order
$6.95
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SMALL
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518200 Diamond Tiara $6.95
This is probably my favorite of
the Tiara Group in this price range, although ‘Emerald Tiara’
runs a close second. It forms a neat mound of dark green, white
margined leaves. It grows fast, produces abundant flowers, and
looks good throughout the season.
Add to Order
$6.95 |
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VERY
LARGE
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576300 Sum and Substance
This is the giant of the hosta
world against which all other large leaved varieties are
measured. Mark Zillis, generally considered the expert on hosta
dimensions, says that Van Wade’s plant, which measures 114”
across is the largest hosta he has ever measured. That’s more
than 9 feet wide! While you are unlikely to break Van’s record,
you do need to allow this plant plenty of space.
Add
to Order
$9.95
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MEDIUM
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585800
Wide Brim
Aden 1979
Low and wide, with great color and texture, ‘Wide
Brim’ is bound to be a standout in any planting. Leaves are deep green, heavily
puckered, with very wide, irregular yellow to cream margins. Increases rapidly. Because it
doesn’t get very tall, it goes well in front of the larger blues. Pale lavender
flowers.
Add to Order
$7.95 |
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