Since I have a lot of shade in my front yard and part of my backyard I have room for a lot of them. I have about twenty different types so far. I tend to like the ones that have white or cream edges (margins), but I am trying to mix some plain or two-toned green ones in for contrast.
These are some of my favourites:
Hosta 'June' - Gold coloured leaves with blue-green margins. It seems to be quite resistant to slugs. It was one of 'Mark's Choices' at the Home Hardware store last year and I've been quite pleased with it.
Hosta 'Lancifolia' - this was a gift from friends and it has lovely shiny leaves that are fairly slender. It has a medium-green coloured leaves.
Hosta 'Queen Josephine' has medium green leaves with a lovely ivory coloured margins.
Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears' - this is a really tiny one, plain green roundish leaves. It's kind of adorable mixed in with the larger ones.
Hosta 'Gold Standard' - this is the only hosta that was on our property when we bought it. It's also the only hosta I'd had before (at our old house). Since I couldn't bring my hosta with me I was very happy to have this one. You can see a little damage to a couple of the leaves. I'm wondering if a little rabbit had a bite or two.
Hosta 'Longissima' is the name of this one. I looked it up on the hosta libray website and the ones there are solid green. I got this one from a member of my horticulural society, so this must be a different variety of "Longissima'. So far it is small so I'm not sure how big it will get. It's a lovely contrast to the others, because the leaves are so narrow.
Hosta 'Krossa Regal' - mine is quite small still, but these ones have an interesting feature that they grow up in an upright position. On the side you can see one of my little gophers that our niece bought us years ago.
Very cool hostas. I'll have to especially put Lancifolia on my wish list - also Blue Mouse Ears. There is a little bed of them at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and they look cool in bloom.
ReplyDeleteHi Diane! I love all of your hostas. I think my favorite is the Hosta 'June'. Is that a white dicentra in the picture of 'Lancifolia'? I have just 3 different types of hostas in my yard and I have no clue what any of them are. I've had them for 8 - 10 years. I got them back when we first started landscaping and I didn't bother to look at or save the tags. I had no clue how obsessed I would be 10 years later. :-) I love how you can divide hostas so easily to get more plants. Happy Friday!
ReplyDeleteJeff - thank you!
ReplyDeleteTracy - if you check the side of my blog there are links to some good websites. There's one of 'gardening information' and they have different forums. If you publish pictures of your hostas in the hosta forum, I bet some smart gardener would be able to identify them.
I had a couple of mine identified by a gardener called 'Ed B'.
(And, yes, that is definitely a dicentra in photo.
Diane, I love hostas, too, and both June and Krossa Regal are favorites of mine. I have planted Krossa Regal in three gardens (mine in Maine, my smaller garden in southern PA, and my mother's garden in Massachusetts), and in every case, it has grown to be a very regal presence very quickly! -Jean
ReplyDeleteIt always looks interesting when the different colours of Hosta are mixed, for contrast. Like you, the white edged ones are some of my favourites. They make it look like there are shafts of sunlight on them. I especially like your 'Queen Josephine', with its shiny dark green centres.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great selection of hostas! I've learned to love hostas this year... I always liked them, but had never seen them flower before {my mom's are mostly shaded}. Oh so pretty!
ReplyDeleteI have one that looks like your Krossa Regal out front and I can not believe how tall it is!
Diane - i just bought a Longissima yesterday. while researching information for it I came across a Longissima Manzo. I believe that may be what you have. Check it out....
ReplyDeleteRhonda
Rhonda, I hope you check back, since you didn't leave a link I can respond to.
ReplyDeleteThank you VERY much - I am sure you are right. And mine definitely is a 'miniature' one, as the Longissima Manzo is described as. I really wasn't expecting that. It was a very nice surprize, as I have only one other mini one (Blue Mouse Ears.)
Thanks again.