50 to Start

Suppose you were to tell me that you wanted to start a hosta garden, but you didn't know which varieties were the best.  Maybe you looked at our full list and were bewildered by all the choices, and you wanted to narrow the list down to 50 hostas to pick from. (Unfortunately, by late spring we are sold out of quite a few hostas, so there may not really be 50 hostas listed here.)

The first thing I would tell you is that there are no "best" hostas. Hostas differ primarily in size, appearance, and price, not in quality. Certainly, some would be better choices for you than others, but the most important consideration is your personal preference. 

We have considered price in our selections, assuming that anyone starting a hosta garden would want to get as many good plants as possible within their budget. We have set an upper limit of $14.95, and have included quite a few good quality, low cost hostas. We would also recommend that you consider our HalfPint plants when available.  They are smaller than our standard size plants, but they are no more difficult to grow and they cost a lot less. 

We have also tried to include a wide range of colors, shapes, and sizes.  I think the biggest mistake people make when they start their hosta garden or collection is to focus too heavily on variegation.  Variegated hostas are obviously the stars of the list, but a well designed garden needs green hostas and yellow hostas, large and small hostas. It needs variety and contrast. So our objective was not just to pick our our 50 favorite hostas, but to pick 50 hostas you can choose from that will provide enough variety to form the basis of a good design.

Unfortunately, by late spring we are sold out of quite a few hostas, so there may not really be 50 hostas listed here.