The Hosta Book

Chapter

Green Hostas
Growing Hostas
Why We Grow Hostas
Where Hostas Grow
Growing in the South
Planning Hosta Gardens
Watering
Fertilizing
Dividing Hostas
Fall Planting
Winter Losses
Hostas in Containers
Problems
 
Choosing Hostas
How Big Will They Get
Hostas for Sunny Areas
Green hostas
Gold Hostas
Blue Hostas
White-centered Hostas
Tetraploid Hostas
Fragrant Hostas
Streaked Hostas
Hosta Flowers
 
Plantain Lily and the Great Slug Bait Episode
 A cautionary tale about using slug bait and other chemicals in the garden
 
The Big Move
In 2003 we moved our nursery from Maryland to Virginia. If you would like to see the story, click here.  It seems funnier now than it did at the time. 

 

 

 


Our list of hostas changes frequently, so some of the varieties mentioned here may not always be available.  We realize it would be better if everything was always up to date, but it doesn't work that way around here.

You can probably just skip over this part quickly and move on, cause nobody gives a hoot about green hostas.  I can here you all now, "Oh, that's not true..."   Well, I've been selling hostas for 25 years and I know what you guys buy, and you don't buy many green hostas. And that's too bad, because not only are there some great green hostas out there, but you need green hostas in your garden.  

The best garden is not the one with the most flowers and the brightest colors.  A hosta garden with nothing but variegated plants is just too busy.  It's like painting each window frame on your house a different color.  You need green hostas as a foil to show off the variegated plants. To add some subtlety to the garden.  You need green hostas. 

The green giants are not too hard to sell.  Everyone likes the big hostas and some of the largest are green.  'Big John', 'Colossal', 'Elatior', and the other huge plants are always popular.  Green hostas  with piecrust edges are semi-popular too, like 'Niagara Falls' at left, mostly because there aren't too many variegated plants with true piecrust edges. 

And lastly, Hosta plantaginea, the August Lily, and 'Aphrodite', its double flowered sport, are fairly popular because they have immense fragrant flowers, unlike those on any other hosta. Unfortunately, we seldom list these because they are best grown in warmer climates and we don't think they are the best choice for Northern gardens.  We have trouble growing them here because they come up too early and almost always get damaged by a late frost.  They also need a long growing season to bloom and after all the trouble of growing them, we seldom see the flowers.  They  are, however, a good choice for growing in the South.

So maybe you do buy a few green hostas.  But how many of you grow 'Fall Bouquet'? 'Raspberry Sorbet'? 'Rippled Honey'? 'Snowden'? I thought so.  They're all great plants and you should grow them even though they're not variegated. Ventricosa is a species hosta that's been around for a zillion years, it's absolutely gorgeous and belongs in every hosta garden. Even some of the old green standby's like 'Fortunei Obscura', 'Valentine Lace', the kikutii types, 'Pearl Lake' and others are excellent, inexpensive plants for filling between and emphasizing the colors on variegated plants.

We would grow a lot more interesting green hostas if you guys would only start buying them.