What is your favorite under-rated hosta

13 years ago

What is your favorite under-rated hosta? I am not talking about the Hostas of the Year and the ones that everyone raves about. Instead, I was wondering do you have one or two that do not seem to get mentioned much on the forum but that you love? They look great, perform well (or at least well enough), but do not show up in the alphabet game or in people's posts.

Since I asked I will start. I have a small collection so not much experience to draw from. Also, most of mine are fairly new. However, 2 years ago I got St. Paul as a freebie. I have come to love this one. It stays blue longer than my other blues, grows well, and catches my eye when I walk past.

St. Paul

Featured Answer

mctavish6

13 years ago

All of the above plus every other hosta in the garden. I'll mention two that I don't think I've heard anyone on the forum say they loved except me.

Cool Hand Luke for the sturdy, round, even quality. I love the very slight margin varigation compared to the many more showy kinds.

Hirao Majsty because it's so flowingly beautiful, huge, shiny and has my favourite flowers of all.

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Comments (21)

hosta_freak
13 years ago
Not my best pic,but Abiqua moonbeam has been a good grower for me. When I planted this hosta 3 years ago,it was so small,I could now plant it under where it is now,and you wouldn't be able to see it! This pic is from last year. Phil

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jel48
13 years ago
Queen Josephine. I don't have a pic handy at the moment, but she has such beautiful shiny leaves and is very attractive in the garden.
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hostahaveum
13 years ago
I second Q.Josephine, everyone comments on her shiny beauty. I also love Tenryu a very tall stately hosta mine comes up a dark bluish gray then slowly turns greenish blue then it goes to a light grayish green. The color changes & shape are outstanding as I have a green leafed Chinese Wisteria behind it. Then when the scrapes grow its like jack & the bean stock. I think the flowers were about 6feet tall last season what an amazing sight. We had a very rainy summer & it was good for the plants. In a sea of variegated plants sometimes we over look a hosta for its shapeliness. I think its a must have, but give it some good space behind or at the end of others in the boarder as it will be so much taller.
thisismelissa
13 years ago
Royal Flush. No pics handy, but I do love her!
Pat z6 MI
13 years ago
'Wolverine.' Looks like a walking tarantula. Love the blue & green streaks inside the creamy margins. Grenfell/Shadrack's picture is the best.
loisflan
13 years ago
Patann, you should check out Lakeside Dragonfly - it's Wolverine with wider margins - a real beauty. I also love Radiant Edger, Risky Business and Piedmont Gold.
mary52zn8tx
13 years ago
I have grown very fond of Lime Piecrust. It isn't as frilly or as yellow as some of the newer varieties, but it has been a good steady hosta for me. I like it next to Millennium.

Spritzer is another spring favorite. It glows from across the yard. It has an attractive shape in a container, and it is a fast grower. Wish it stayed that bright all summer.
razorbackfan
13 years ago
I don't have pictures, but my choices are Salute (a beautiful blue that's also slug resistant) and Captain Kirk (a pretty bi-color light/dark green).
paul_in_mn
13 years ago
Fortunei Hyacinthina
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Paul
User
13 years ago
Jester
Eleanor B
13 years ago
Emily Dickinson & Raspberry Sorbet
AND.......I agree with Mary 52 @ Spritzer
ninamarie
13 years ago
Another recommendation for Salute. It's lovely wherever I put it. Very fertile, too. Very slug resistant, nice blue foliage and its upright habit demands attention. A good companion, it also makes other hostas look better, too.
I think El Capitan is underrated. Beautiful, slug resistant foliage and it too, shines wherever placed. Fast grower, yielding lots of divisions, if you can bear to split.
My absolute new favourite is 'Sleeping Beauty.' Pointed, frosted nlue-grey leaves with an irregular creamy margin.
The margin differs from leaf to leaf, from hosta to hosta. No mound is exactly the same. Sleeping Beauty grows quickly, and in a new bed, planted last year, she is my favourite among about 150 new hostas planted.
flowerchild59
13 years ago
I love several of the lakeside hostas such as metermaid, shoremaster and accolade.
Non lakesides are sweet home chicago, party favor, spring fling.
treemon
13 years ago
For me it's Formal Attire. About eight years ago when I bought my first hostas I found it mixed with a number of Fortunei Aureomarginata. Leaves are a dark blue-green and held quite upright. In spring Formal Attire has a gold to cream edge, but in summer it turns almost white. ThereÂs a lighter green color where the margin overlaps the center color. The leaves are about 9 inches long with the margins reaching 1 inch. The substance is good, but I do see slug damage later in the season if I don't use bait. It has not grown fast, but after all these years it is about 4 ft across. I don't often see Formal Attire in others' gardens or offered for sale. Although it is not flashy visitors often ask about it.

Mark
ninamarie
13 years ago
This is a really fun thread. There are a lot of good recommendations here.
McTavish, those are two beautiful hostas. But please tell us about the flowers. Are they really that blue?
chris-e
13 years ago
I had not even heard of this hosta until I was sent one as a freebie with some I had ordered last year. For a second year plant, Dust Devil is really impressing me! It has grown a lot even from the time this picture wss taken about 3 weeks ago.

chris
bunnycat
13 years ago
I agree with Patann. Wolverine is one of my top 10 favorites. Looks great all year.

I wanted to try some sun tolerant, and preferably fragrant hostas in my sunnier back yard. Lots of large ones to choose from, and all did well.
I was also looking for small ones to put on the outer edge of my daylily garden. This is 'Sugar Babe," one of Solberg's intros. Makes a nice dense mound, is maybe 15'-18" across now. It has fragrant purple flowers on short scapes. PERFECT for edging in a sunny area.

Sugar Babe
mctavish6
13 years ago
ninamarie -Yes Hirao Majesty flowers are exactly that color. I'm posting one more picture of the stages it's flowers goes through. I remember when I ordered that one from Hosta Choice in Ontario. Margot told me the emerging flowers reminded her of a bird beak. They really do. From tht stage they become tight clusters above the foilage then the contrast of purple and white. They end up a fairly strong lavender color.

Cool Hand Luke also has some pretty nice flowers.

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User
13 years ago
Gorgeous, McT!
agawa
13 years ago
Sum & Substance
Sorry, no pics

I have something that looks like Spritzer with more blue, wider margins that gets asked after often. I have a bad habit tossing tags when I plant, and that one got plugged 10 yrs ago.
It's parked with german iris and a cinnamon fern.