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Hosta Flowers
 I
got in trouble once on a forum when I proclaimed that hosta flowers are not
very pretty. Well, they're not. If you want beautiful flowers,
grow dahlias, or daylilies, almost anything but hostas. Admittedly,
hosta flowers are not ugly, and there are a few hostas with attractive,
fragrant flowers, but for the most part, we grow hostas for the leaves.
Hostas have a different point of view.
Plants are intensely focused, they want to reproduce. Only survival is
more important than reproduction. In order to make babies, your hostas
have to produce seeds, so to them, flowers are very important, even if
they're not very exciting.
Since your hosta really wants to
reproduce, if the plant doesn't bloom, there's probably something wrong.
If your plants do not produce flowers, It's probably because they are not
getting enough light, your growing season is not long enough for that
particular variety, or because they were stressed, generally from lack of
water. One year without flowers might not be important, but if it's a
regular thing, you need to fix the problem.
Many people think hostas are shade loving
plants. They're not. They are shade tolerant. They are
not, as some people believe, the solution for areas that are so shaded that
nothing else will grow. They prefer morning sun, dappled shade
throughout the day, part shade, or some other situation that gives them
ample light but protects them from hot sun. If your hostas are look
fine, are producing large, dark green leaves, but not producing flowers,
they are probably not getting enough light. They may survive under low
light levels for a while, they may even look better than plants that get
enough light, but will not be able to sustain themselves over the long term.
If you live in an area with a relatively
short growing season, you may have trouble getting H. plantaginea and
possibly some other fragrant varieties to produce flowers. Hosta
plantaginea. frequently called the August Lily, is the only fragrant
species. Its flowers are very large, up to 5" long, pure white, and very
fragrant. It is native to South China, an area with a long growing
season and moderate winter temperatures. All fragrant hostas were bred
from this species or its hybrids. Because they are genetically programmed
for a long growing season, they may not have enough time to complete the
growth cycle in your area. Because the fragrant hybrids received half
of their genetic makeup from other plants, they don't usually need as long a
growing season as the species. We have a
page on
fragrant hostas for more information.
The third factor is water. Hostas
are native to Japan, China, and Korea, an area that gets substantially more
rain than most parts of the U.S, especially in the summer. If your
plants are severely water stressed before blooming, it may not produce
flowers. If you have read our
page on
watering you know the importance of keeping your plants from
drying out from spring through fall.
There are a few people who think hosta
flowers are attractive. As I mentioned, I learned that the hard way.
There are also many of us who simply cut off most of the flowers so the
plant doesn't waste energy producing seeds.
Admittedly, there are some hostas that
produce a nice show of flowers. As we mentioned earlier, the flowers
on the fragrant varieties are often significantly larger than others. Even
some of the smaller flowered hostas produce a nice show in grown in mass
plantings.
The color range is limited, from pure
white through lavender to purple, occasionally with a hint of pink. I can't
recall ever seeing a hosta flower that I would consider truly blue, and
there is nothing even close to red or yellow. Color can vary a bit
with temperature, and the minerals in your soil may have some effect, but
these variations are minor.
 Many
hybridizers are working to improve hosta flowers. Our own introduction
'Uncle Albert' has a beautiful, large flower head, but it doesn't last long
enough to be considered a breakthrough. It may be a step in the right
direction. Other breeders are making progress, but so far, there are
no color breakthroughs, or other improvements that would make me change my
mind. Hostas are still foliage plants.
If you want beautiful flowers, grow
dahlias.
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