have you visited the hosta forum at gardenweb?
i am north of you in the auburn area. i grow quite a few but keep them in containers. i think the containers help give them the chill they might like during the dormant season. also, i have a vole problem and they have eaten every one i had growing in the ground.
i am partial to the blues and chartreuse colors but also have some green/cream/white variegated ones.
they are one of my favorite foliage plants and i really enjoy sitting on the carport during summer, surrounded by these plants with various colors, shapes and sizes of leaves.
3 of my favs would be 'krossa regal', 'frances williams' and 'paul's glory'.

Here is a link that might be useful: hosta forum at gardenweb

Jeff, it is good to make contact with another AL grower of hosta! Thanks for the reply.

Oh yes, I've been a frequent visitor to the hosta forum over the last year. There are a few other folks who grow hosta with zones like 9a California, 8a Texas, but no one on the Hosta Forum from Alabama. I know that around Birmingham, they would have to be growing, but other than that search I did, one hit indicated that Bob Solberg had come to speak to the B'ham group, not much activity.

I know what you mean about the variety of the leaf being so beautiful. No other plant I've grown has the capacity to change so dramatically from the beginning of its growing season to the end. And, over this last year, I'm afraid I've become addicted to hosta.

Many of my selections are the fragrant ones, not chosen primarily for that reason, but because H. plantaginea is the one most likely to endure/thrive in our warm and humid zone. Mobile was just given a new zone designation of 9a, from 8b, which seems to indicate we are going in the wrong direction to give hosta culture a happy future.

Like you, I am keeping mine in containers. I'm not sure if I have a vole problem or not. I know we have moles, but have not verified voles yet. It says they are present in south Georgia (in a reference) so quite likely Auburn would have them. My dachshund caught a mole in the fall, but no voles so far.

Plants which have leafed out early this spring/winter are:
Lederhosen
Satisfaction
Fragrant Blue
Stained Glass (did not go dormant all winter)
plantaginea (3 plants all lovely)
Royal Standard
Eskimo Pie
Lakeside Kaleidoscope

Counting the ones on order this spring, some due in today and tomorrow, I have 79 different kinds, some multiples as well. I won a First View auction of some seeds, which I'll be planting also in peat pots by the weekend. Might freeze them for a couple of weeks though.

Incidentally, I have a roll of 90% shade cloth purchased from Home Depot. If I need more shade, this will be strung up between my two large pecan trees, and attached to the privacy fence posts.

I have a Flickr album about my hosta, under the same screen name I use here on GWeb, if you wish to view recent pictures. Originally I put THREE hosta in the ground, but since then I learned to go the container route. It promises a better future.

My orders have been to:
Hostahosta (Bob & Nancy Solberg)
Land of the Giants
Naylor Creek Nursery
Plant Delight Nursery
Bridgewood Gardens
Q & Z
Shady Oak
Shades of Hosta
Bridgewood Gardens
Hornbaker Gardens
Hallsons Gardens
plus, I visited and picked up plants in Carlisle MA from Robert Seawright, hosta and hemerocallis plants.

I've picked up a few plants from Lowes locally, impulse buys, and am keeping them separate from the others, using different tools etc, just in case they show any HVX. It will be easier to keep them separate in containers, is my way of thinking.

Hope you let me know how your hosta look, any pictures will be eagerly awaited. I think you can follow this picture to my Flickr album:
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If I see any for sale I would get more. I used to have lots of them in OH, the few I moved here are at my Mom's house. An awesome plant-it-and-forget-it plant.

Totally agree with moc. about the fragrance - from what my nose has experienced, only the white-flowered ones are fragrant. And wow! What an awesome aroma! The purple ones have no odor at all to me. I'm always a fan of variegated foliage as well. I remember an especially pretty one called guacamole, similar to your "eskimo pie" but a darker color on the lighter parts.

some thumbnails from last spring
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from some time back when i had them in ground and containers:
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Wow, you are a more attentive gardener than I am. Very well cared for plants.

I was busy today getting documents certified and shipped, but late in the day I took a look at my hosta moved south from Massachusetts. The 'Satisfaction', has a tight bud atop its scape, looks somewhat lavender to me, so I will be taking a photo of it tomorrow. My 'Sum & Substance' took a big leap and the one eye showing from last week now has a leaf trying to unfurl. I suppose it grew from 2 inches tall to about 12 inches tall in the last 3 days. It finally stopped raining here, and was 84 degrees today.

The hosta won't like too much of this heat, so I'm moving them (again) where shade is more dependable.

I am mostly selecting from the H. plantaginea family, which are the fragrant varieties descended from this Chinese native.
Some plantaginea have purple/lavender blooms, and varying degrees of fragrance. Just the biggest blooms are from the species itself, sometimes SIX INCHES almost like an Easter lily!
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Hosta 'Lederhosen' on left
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Both these are members of the plantaginea family of fragrant hosta:
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A really BIG HOSTA
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H. 'Satisfaction' a sport of H. 'Piedmont Gold'

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Half of my shady spot for temporary hosta location.
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I just moved to southern Alabama from northern Wisconsin where I left a beautiful hosta garden. What varieties can I grow down here?

Hi & welcome - to Alabama and GardenWeb!

hi rita and welcome to alabama. i will start by saying that the only one that i have not been able to grow (that i have tried more than once) is 'great expectations'. all of the others seems to either do just o.k. or very well. you may find that more shade is required this far south for hosta than they needed in wisconsin. i only grow them in containers so they are easily sited in shade but require more attention to their water needs. if you live in a rural area, they are attractive to deer, which are plentiful down here.