I'm incredibly jealous of your mature plants! Especially that Blue Umbrellas. It has an awesome form.

Does Queen of the Seas always green up like that? Or only in sun?

You got the blues all right. The big, wet blues.

Very healthy and robust! Beautiful.

Thanks for the comments! Every few other hostas I like to see a big blue, puts quietness and depth into the scenery. I have several of the 'Blue Umbrellas' and also 'Elegans'. My Queen of the Seas is a blue-green right now, checked through a window. Blue Umbrellas is bluer, Halcyon right now is the bluest in my garden. A small 'Bressingham Blue' will be a nice blue to once mature.
Bernd

Very nice! I love the big blues! I didn't know what I was missing until I recently bought Blue Angel (my first blue). Your pictures have convinced me that I NEED Blue Umbrellas and Queen of the Seas! Thanks for posting the beautiful pictures!

Linda

That Hosta 'Blue Umbrellas' is 64 inches wide, 30 inches tall at the center, looks even bigger because it grows on a berm with crown exposed, likes it this way (covered with mulch in winter). There was once a maple close to it, now dead. Several of its leaves are 15 in wide x 19 in long. It is probably 10 years there. This mild spring with sufficient rains seems to have done wonders with many of my hostas.
Bernd

In my zone, I thought all the blues would green up, but the bluest is Blue Angel, the only blue planted in the ground. And it is blooming too. So is Winter Snow right beside it.

BA is staying blue. I have a few other blues, some have sort of greenish spots in their blue wax coating. I expect they will lose the blue by the end of June. They sure do make things lighter though. I want to get some more hypoleuca descendents with the white backs, I think the combination will be outstanding.

Bernd, I love your Blue Umbrellas, but unless we win the lottery there is no way we can put more big hosta in our smaller garden.

Moccasin, I relate to real estate required by big hostas. I decided to simply pot up two big divisions I just got from Land of the Giants (H.'Cadillac' and 'Squash Casserole') and then figure out where to plant them, that means moving others. I understand now, that having hostas means also to remove less desirables and constantly improve the plantings.
Bernd

Bernd,

Very very nice, indeed. That Blue Umbrellas is an impressive Hosta, especially since it contributed to the demise of a Maple tree.

Steve

Steve, the closeness to the house, my wallet, and the arborist improved the livelihood for the hosta, and H.'Blue Umbrellas' just jumped right into it to take advantage of improved living conditions. There is another sibling growing right behind it. This year hosta life is good.

Here is another Hosta 'Blue Umbrellas' :

Bernd

So I cleaned H.'Big Daddy' up from his collection of pine pollen cones, but still needs a rain. Here he is this early morning. The larger leaves are 12x15 in.
Bernd

I just found this thread while googling the gardenweb for a particular hosta, Blue Umbrellas. I have rather neglected mine last year by uprooting it and sticking it in a large pot with a couple of other divisions where it remains to this day. After seeing how magnificent yours is in the photo leading this thread, I will definitely be giving it the attention it deserves. I want it to grow as beautifully as yours is.

Wow, Bernd! This thread of yours is wonderful! I've never seen these hostas showcased like this before ........ so I thought I'd play it forward to 2016!

Enjoy, my fellow hosta lovers!

Whatever happened to your Bressingham Blue?

HH, thanks again for your seedling! Yes that 'Bressigham Blue' is getting big now and leaves develop nice rugosity, though I have no picture from 2015, but here it is in 2014 :

Since that 2012 thread I have also now a new smaller 'Blueberry Waffels' which is supposedly to get really nice, plus two 'Viking Ship', 'Gunsmoke' and 'Millenium'. I just bought 'Amos', 'Old Round House' and won 'Mastodon'.

Thanks again for your Hosta Garden Tour at

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4ir9txm8XDfb1Z2MTRpSXZBUkE/view?pref=2&pli=1

which I enjoy often, just what I need in winter. We have no snow cover, but temperatures never went below 0 F, so hopefully no damage.

Bernd, thank you for sharing HH's garden tour photos. I bookmarked it on my iPad to enjoy on my AppleTV! What a peaceful and utterly beautiful tour. I caught myself more than once reaching out with my finger...trying to pause certain scenes, lol. Gorgeous!