It's up to you if you want to take the time to research. I would. More for the reason that I would not want to duplicate because so many can look different when young. Especially if you are collecting.

define collecting

I have by my count 30 or so different hosta

think i can ID 8

Collecting? I have 170 or so and that is small by comparison to some. However, if I have a NOID I make my best efforst to ID them all.

Post a photo and we will make our best effort to try to help you.

Alexa

Others on this site may call this a sacrilege but. . .why do you care? I care about the names of my daylilies because I have to divide them every 5-8 years; knowing their names, therefore their colors, makes replanting and giving them away much easier. But I've planted my hosta beds to remain untouched for years and years. You don't have to divide hosta; they'll just keep growing happily.

this weekend, my brother-in-law came by and walked my hosta garden. He asked me how I remembered the names; I just went down the row naming all of them -- but as I did it, I realized that I could have said "abracadabra bibily bobily bo" and he wouldn't have known the difference.

If you're going to compete in leaf shows or sell/give your hosta, you need to know the names. Otherwise, JUST LOVE THEM!

A contrarian who loves her hosta -- N

i need to think about this

part of me says it would be nice to be able to id them all
another says you bought them for the foliage you posted about wanting to remove all the scapes why do you care

If it were only 3 -4 that i had to ask people here for i'd probably just do it but it may end up being most of them and I do not want to impose on people

i have thought about just naming them John Doe I John Doe II John Doe III Jane Doe I Jane Doe II etc

I like to know the names of all my hostas,and I do know all but a few of them by sight. I usually put in a name tag by each one as I get it. I have a few NOIDs,but so does everyone. If you take a non-hostaholic into your garden,their eyes glaze over when you talk about them,and they say"you know the names of them?" But mostly,they say that's nice,and keep walking! Phil

When I first started with hostas I didn't care about their names either. Then as I began to get more of them, I found I had a difficult time talking about them without their names. I really wanted to call them Ralph, Scampy, Rudy and Topher, but no one would know what I was talking about then either. Since I like to talk about them on this forum and elsewhere I find it facilitates my purpose if I can use names that everyone else can recognize.

But if you don't want to talk about them, or sell them, or use them for barter, then by all means, keep them anonymous.

Lainey

I am partly in the canp of "A rose by any other name..." and also realize that being able to name them allows me to talk about them with others without saying that huge one with the pointey down grey-ish leaves and the white blooms....no not the one with the tall stalks but the other one...
I don't "collect Hosta"...I admire the differences and am buyuing a variety of different ones....but I see no point of having Revolution and Clifford's Comet....and am realizing that if I can't call a mane to a hosta....then it's not different enough to be worth it's keep.
Linda C

well, if no one really cared about knowing names we wouldn't have half the posts on this forum from people asking for id's!

clearly, it's not a bad thing to have a name to go with a 'face'. go ahead and post some pictures here- it's no imposition. and it's free. especially if you've got a list of what you own -- then it's just a matching game and not such a huge shot in the dark.

i COLLECT HOSTA. apparently.. lol ... the only ones i really hate.. are the duplicates i bought ... simply because it was a waste of money ...

i also have many iris and daylily .. mostly gifts or trades ... COULDNT GIVE A RATS BEHIND WHAT THE NAMES ARE ....

its all about your goal in life ...

on the other hand.. if you like puzzles.. it would be fun to figure most of them out... we are pretty good with ID's.. when you learn how to post pix.. especially if we are matching names to pix ....[but if you do that.. dont do to many IDs in one post]

so what PLEASES YOU??? ... thats what it boils down to ....

ken

Twoyur, my impression of the posters on this forum is that they would not feel that you had imposed on them by asking for identification, but would, instead, rise to the challenge. So suit yourself. If you don't care, don't bother. But if you would like to know more about the hosta you have liked for so long, by all means ask.

It's a game for us, please let us play "pin the ID on the hosta".
Dave

You should only worry about the names if you care.

It gives me pleasure to know what hostas I have in my yard, so I do care about that. But on the other hand, I have no-name hostas and I love those just as much. I even bought an untagged hosta a couple of weeks ago because I really liked it.

Anyway, if you care about the names, this group can help you ID them, especially since you have a list of what's there. If you don't care about the names, then why bother?

patriot
hole mole
dancing in the rain
june fever

nuts there are five and i know 4 names

{{gwi:1038890}}

no id

two pics one in middle to right is frances williams to left is just a plain old green hosta as far as i can tell

leaf on center one is ave 12 inches long 8 wide
plant is 24 inches high 36 to top of scape

{{gwi:1038891}}

{{gwi:1038892}}

In the first picture, June Fever is in the lower right hand corner. To the left of June Fever is Holy Mole (large green leaves w/ lighter green centers). Dancing in the Rain is the one with the most white in the center of the leaf -in front of the foundation under the spigot. Looks like you've got another one of those to the right of June Fever just out of the picture. Patriot has the white edges (to the left of Holy Mole).

In your second photo (hosta with the wavy edges) my guess would be Niagara Falls.

i like the maples in the window well .... you better take care of those.. before they start living in the basement ...

also ... time to start killing some grass ... and at least doubling the width of that bed.. and moving some of them out of there ...

you have some well WELL GROWN specimen plants.. and in a year or two.. they are going to swallow each other up ....

there is a post by some nut.. about MOVING A FULLY LEAFED OUT HOSTA.... use the GW search ....

the holy mole can use up the spot from the right of june moon to the left of patriot within 2 years .... all by itself ....

good luck

ken

Some of you may have read this before.

I am anal when it comes to naming the hosta.

I do a map, which constantly needs updating ... and is nearly a lost cause.

More importantly, however, when I plug a hosta in a hole, it gets two  count em TWO tags  one above ground, and one below ground. I use a cheapie plastic ident with a permanent marker and put it underground (usually at 11 a.m.) and then I put a metal marker above ground in front of the plant. If i kick the metal tag, or it gets lost, I can always dig up the plastic marker and find out what it is. Yes, the plastic tags become brittle in the ground over time, but they should last a few years.

I also have a recipe card for each hosta. Each year I take the box out to the garden and make notes. Number of eyes, how it's doing, if I need to remind myself to move it, etc. The cards are used to enter into my computer database.

Spare time?

What's that?

^_^

dkB

ken
Maples appear there every year and i rip em out and they return used to use brush killer but am afraid of overspray hitting the hosta

those hosta have been in there 2 years and they were little when placed there guess they like it. they were payment for a job I did but wouldn't take any money for

I have a new bed along back that has similar light but currently no hosta. looks like there will be soon or should I wait until fall

There are two of each of the four that i had names for and that one unknown one. there is also, stuck in behind a forsythia, a blue hosta that does have a tag. i discovered the tag while taking pics The label reads blue mammoth I think its going to have to be moved also

Silly me,

Thank you for the IDs the pics i saw of june fever look like my pictures but when i look at the plant it appears to be almost waxed it is so wet looking but it didnt appear in this picture or in the library one

The large wavy edged one I have no idea so Niagara falls it is. A friend had been admiring it in a local nursery about 10 years ago and i purchased it as a gift for her. About 5 years ago she divided it and gave some to me . All she could remember was it was in an area that was labeled PIE CRUST Hosta and that i had given it to her

So... we now have Niagara Falls

Again, Thank you for your assistance

A Pie crust label? Uh-oh. There's a hosta called "Pie Crust Power". Maybe that's what you have. I guess you could look up the bloom time of the flowers to see if that one's a better match to yours than Niagara Falls.

according to her all various hosta were arranged together under that banner

i think it was just a generic description as were the blue green and gold labels

from the description in the library Pie Crust Power has light lavender flowers, these are definitely white

Your hostas look very healthy. You are obviously doing right by them. In my opinion, they need names, if possible. The fact that you asked the question indicates that you agree, otherwise you would never have considered it. I would guess that the "plain old green hosta" in the second photo is Royal Standard. If it is, it will have fragrant while blossoms later in the summer. My hostas give me so much pleasure, I think it is only appropriate that they have names.

I am not sure if letting them get by on their own merit is doing well by them but it is pretty much what I do

Only think I did do was remove all the mulch that covered all the beds that I have hosta in. The field mice were having so much fun building a public transportation system under it to each of their favorite eateries

While it has allowed the aforementioned maples and grasses to begin to grow in the beds the hosta are doing much better then when being covered in mulch

Have read a few posts I guess I am an unknowing believer in Ken's "they're hosta they can take it" school

I strongly believe in knowing the names of all my hostas. Among other things, I record the grower/hybridizer, the year it was first introduced, and where and when I acquired it. I will not buy from any of the various home improvement stores, where labels often get switched around.
That being said, every spring I end up with a dozen or so plants without labels. Obviously, the names of the NOIDS most be among the names of the hostas I acquired, and can easily be found. Most of these orphans result from dividing known hostas, when I forget to label the new divisions.
Then there are those hostas, which are either sports, OP seedlings etc. and I record them just as well. If you feel it is to early to name them, identify them at least with some letters or numbers.
By fall it is time to take pictures of all my hosta beds. I make B/W printouts and walk outside with the stack of paper in my hand and enter each name directly on the print out, or you might use 1 inch dia. Avery adhesive labels to white on. Use color prints if you don't mind the expense.
If you are trying to identify plants from a friend, or those that came with house, try to estimate how many years they were with the last owner. That will reduce the number of possibilities drastically.

I bought 23 hostas the summer of '05. I was part of a garden walk for the year '06 so didn't have time to recheck all the tags and by the time I did lots of them were unreadable or gone! I have been struggling ever sense to try and match the hosta with the list of hostas I bought that year.

I know that you mean when you have an nonhosta person come through your garden. I want to be able to respond with a name if they ask what is that one called, even if they really don't care and are just making conversation! LOL
After all they are my 'babies'.

Connie

Connie

At least you have them names to match them with

For the most part I do not have many of the names i just have a jumble of plants though thanks to the people here the jumble is slowly going from nameless to named