White Feather... Really delicate... The white is pretty but doesn't last very long... And burns in too much sun... Grows to slow in too much shade
Undulata Albomarginata... So tired of seeing this one burned up everywhere lol... Tired of the edges burning on mine no matter what is done...
Undulata in general...
John

Don R created this list of difficult to grow hostas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Difficult to grow hostas

I really don't like 'Carnival'. I think it's the messy habit that I dislike and 'Spritzer', though I love the color, seems to be kind of whimpy limpy!

Actually I love the look of Fire and Ice, but it does not grow for me. I had two of them and they slowly disappeared, getting smaller each year. So that is one I will not grow again.

chris

I have no experience growing it but I read over and over again that 'Great Expectations' is very difficult to grow successfully or with any sort of substance.

I recently purchased a 'Cascades' and was informed that it can be a bit fussier due to all the white present in the leaf.

Seems to be the more white that's on the leaf the more of a need to have the "perfect" spot. Not too much light or it fries, not enough and it will grow slower, weaker, and pump more green into the leaf to compensate.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but that seems to be the general consensus on this forum from my past readings and searches.

This is most unfortunate for me since I am a huge fan of the white leafed Hosta. I recently purchased two TC starter 'Andrew' all excited, only to realize it will be a very long time before they grow up and show me the reason why I bought them.

The best piece of advice I ever received:

"You don't know how to grow a plant until you kill it".

Good luck !!!

Ludi

Paul's Glory. It was an impulse buy at a nursery...beautiful blue & green when I bought it. Brought it home & it turned green & the center is a huge & an ugly parchment color. It's flat, ordinary and boring. The only reason it's not compost is because I don't have & haven't decided on a replacement. Only hosta that I ever bought that I want my money back on plus I'd like to charge rent for keeping it around.

Even tho I have some, I like the cupped leaved hostas the least, like Abiqua Drinking Gourd because those cupped leaves are always full of debris, and if it rains, the debris starts to turn to compost and holds mosquito larvae. Then the spiders move in looking for the bugs that live in that stuff and they are covered with spider webs, which collect more debris.....

Northern Exposure, as in my garden the first leaves always come up with the drawstring effect. Ugly.

Aphrodite, that I planted for the flowers, that never open. If I just wanted a big green plant, I would have stuck with old plantaginea, and not shelled out the big bucks for something that gives me promises, and lies.

Cherry Berry, that is pretty much a dud for me and doesn't like anywhere I put it. Dies in a couple of years.

I like most of the rest of them, some I love, some are nice and some are just ok, lol!

Sandy

I thought I was the only one not in love with Paul's Glory. Mine is on the "designated for assignment" list here. Next year it will go live at my inlaws house. Nothing wrong with it...just sort of blah for me compared to others with that coloration.

What works for one doesn't work for all. I have a Komodo Dragon that will not grow for me I've had the same plant since 2001, and right now it is in a one gal pot with fried edges. I've moved it everywhere. I don't wish to dump it because of the name. (duh!) Yet my Fire and Ice is supreme.

My suggestion for the newbies is to get the ones you like to look at. Try them and see if they work. Some of those "difficult" ones might become your pride and joy.

-Babka

I killed 3 Fire & Ice before I tried growing it in a pot in the ground. I sunk nursery pot and all into the ground and it's happy as pie.

Expensive hosta... don't avoid them... just wait a few years for the price to come down. I spent a good chunk on LS Paisley print last year only to find it about 1/2 price at a local nursery this year. In 2010, I HAD TO HAVE Empress Wu, when $30 was a good price. Now you can find it for $10.

Oh, and guess what.... I lost that LS Paisley Print this winter. OUCH!

Big Daddy and Blue Angel - neither really grows for me, and they're just kind of blah blue

Guacamole and relatives - really hate the floppy, messy habit

Night Before Christmas - messy habit, the leaves tend to split for me and often show rust streaks in the white

Frances Williams - starting to get on the hate bandwagon for this one, lots of dessication in the spring

The cupped hostas - why do you want plants you have to clean all the time??

The streaked hostas - odds are good they'll revert back to solid green or blue, don't want to deal with that right now

Frances Williams

Heresy, I realize, as it's the momma for so many progeny, but any Hosta that I cannot water enough to keep from being a burnt out plant is on my 'fooui' list.

This is not the only area where I divert from the standard Hosta wisdom.

Unless you are trying yet another child of Hosta 'Frances Williams', or have a place to grow it where visitors won't see it, avoid it, IMHO.

hh

Mosswitch (Sandy) if you have a Northern Exposure that drawstrings then you simply don't have a true to type plant, more like the bad Northern Halo that were floating around.

Northern Exposure was introduced after the introducer (Walters Gardens) released tons of Northern Halo which ended up coming out wrong, having a thin edge that got drawstring, so they selected out one of the better, wide margined ones and re-introduced it as Northern Exposure. A real Northern Exposure (and actually a "real" Northern Halo too) shouldn't drawstring - I think you just got a bad plant.

I agree with others that many of the white centered plants, especially those with a ton of white, are tougher to grow in the average garden. I could go through a big list of plants I've given up on over the years, but they probably repeat things already mentioned above or in Don's list.

I don't like undulata or patriot. They are too common and abused, and the where there is supposed to be white is brown and crispy.

could somebody please show me a pic of drawstring
John

Mini and very small hostas 'do not say anything to me'.

HH,

Put it in a protected spot out of the wind. That's what causes the Spring dessication.

Steve

This is the one that drawstrings for me. The green center grows faster in the spring than the white edge, giving the leaves the effect of looking like they have been pulled up by drawstrings, cupping them. The white edges usually tear and look raggedy. This happens often in a warm, early spring when the weather causes the hosta to grow rapidly. I've seen it happen on other thin leaved, white edge plants but this one does it most often.

Usually after the weather has settled and growth rate slows down, newer leaves come out normally.

This is an old plant, could have come from Walter's Gardens in the '80's, but it was sold as Northern Exposure. Seems like the older it gets, the worse it gets.

Sandy

I get spring problems with H.'Frances Williams' when I plant it into too much sun, and they then come up too early in spring. My H.plantaginae 'Aphrodite' did not open last fall either its flowers, moved it into much more sun and it is growing luxuriantly while H.'OB Langdon' is getting crispy.
I have two H.'Blue Angel', both in some shade, both came from same mother plant as single eye plants. One BA is really big now after 3 years, the other is staying smallish, has probably root competition, need to dig it up when it gets cooler, might dig a trench around it cutting tree roots.
H.'Fire & Ice', two are staying small, one is growing nicely. I have no problems with H.'Patriot', I can split them, grow them in sun or shade, they are doing great.
Good luck! Bernd

Thanks for sharing the picture Sandy. Like I suspected, you don't have a real Northern Exposure so your plant is actually mislabeled. It doesn't even look like Northern Halo which would be more likely from the '80s as Northern Exposure wasn't out yet in the '80s. I sure can see why you would think it was a bad plant, though! Your plant definitely drawstrings, and yes, the drawstring effect gets worse as a plant gets older :) Yours looks more like Lunar Eclipse.

I don't like Praying Hands. It doesn't grow well,and never looks good,even though I have one.
Honeybells-it grows like crazy,but it is a plain,boring light green hosta.
Royal Standard-another plain green boring hosta.
I have no trouble with Northern Exposure,Sandy,and I agree with Chris-that is not Northern Exposure. I have 6 Frances Williams,and have no problem with them, If you plant them in pretty good shade,they grow just fine.
Another I have that drawstrings is Lunar Eclipse,and even though it comes back every year,it stays ugly.
I,also have never been able to grow a Blue Angel;it grows but never looks as good as its sport,Earth Angel. Sandy,here is a pic of a Northern Exposure leaf, As you can see the margin is very wide,and gets wider every year. Also,it doesn't drawstring. Phil

{{gwi:1064808}}

Interesting comments. I suppose it mostly comes down to personal opionion and differences in garden environments.

Here are a few that have been mentioned that I think are doing well in my garden. Probably just beginners luck!

Blue Angel was one of my first because I wanted something big!

Fire and Ice

I also have Praying Hands and cannot get it to grow. Love it but disappointed.

Thanks Chris, I am sure you are correct. It was from of a batch of so-called Northern Exposure that came in at the nursery where I worked, I thought in the 1980's, as I remember but might have been in the '90's, probably from Walter's, and probably mislabled from the grower, as they frequently are. (It still had the original plastic plant tag, or enough of it to read, anyway.) And lots of times one plant out of 25 or 30 will be something completely different from the rest of them.

I'll change the label to Lunar Eclipse if I decide it is even worth keeping. Wonder if I divide it into several pieces if it would revert to a less mature stage and lose that effect? Probably not. And not even worth the trouble.

Sandy
Sandy

Thanks Chris, I am sure you are correct. It was from of a batch of so-called Northern Exposure that came in at the nursery where I worked, I thought in the 1980's, as I remember but might have been in the '90's, probably from Walter's, and probably mislabled from the grower, as they frequently are. (It still had the original plastic plant tag, or enough of it to read, anyway.) And lots of times one plant out of 25 or 30 will be something completely different from the rest of them.

I'll change the label to Lunar Eclipse if I decide it is even worth keeping. Wonder if I divide it into several pieces if it would revert to a less mature stage and lose that effect? Probably not. And not even worth the trouble.

Sandy
Sandy

I think I now know what happened. I went out and took a long look at some of my older hostas. That plant now identified as Lunar Eclipse, thanks to Chris, (which I looked up on HL and mine is a dead ringer for it), and several others came from my husband's garden when we moved them here. He owned the nursery where I worked, and his landscape crew planted his hosta beds. There is another hosta which has been a NOID, and IT is a dead ringer for Northern Exposure on HL. We were very careful to keep the original tags with each plant when we moved them, and that plant was clearly labeled. So I' m blaming the landscape crew for switching the tags, lol! At least they labeled one, most of the time they didn't bother.

It's still an ugly plant, whatever its name is!

Sandy

That's great Sandy. Yes, Lunar Eclipse is not worth having around. I have one in my garden too, and I don't know why I keep it. It is horrible, and I'm even more horrified to have sold it at one time before I knew about what it does. I sold Northern Halo many, many years ago that also ended up getting drawstring and am embarrassed to admit that too. But I really like Northern Exposure so felt I had to defend it a bit. Glad I could help you ID the NOID ;)

Two I have never purchased because I'm not attracted to their appearance: Praying Hands and White Feather.
One I've had for a number of years, but pitched it to make room for more interesting hosta: Janet

I have a new praying hands and it has grown like crazy just since June but I am not sure what I did right or if it is just a good plant I bought. So far I like them all so hard to say which would be on the dislike list as each is so different in their own way. Maybe the ones I beat up with water pressure but have regrow leaves so are way nicer now

One that has never appealed to me is Tattoo, which was talked about so much a few years ago. I just don't find the markings all that interesting.

Barbara Ann: Cute when I bought it, but it turned into a boring blue hosta with a narrow white edge that drawstrings. Sugar Daddy has been a dud, down to two leaves this year. Carnival and Praying Hands I wouldn't dig up and toss, but I wouldn't replace them if they died, either. On the other hand, Blue Angel grows like a charm here, and Great Expectations looked fine until I left my idiot son in charge of watering while we were gone. GE wants a good stiff drink every day and lots of light.

Mosswitch, I agree on the cupped ones. I like looking at them but all of our trees shed so they gather debris that will rot the leaf if I leave it.

Frances Williams: made the mistake of buy a few small ones and all have burned edges, I'm going to move them to the deep shade.

Anything that has more than a dozen scapes - like Honeybells...I HATE scapes. Actually don't care for many flowers of any kind or color. I end up starting to cut below leaf level as soon as I can see them. With over 350 hostas, it's a problem and I admit I'm OCD, ADHD and AR!!!! I should find another plant. Or a twelve-step program.

Westy

Sandy(mosswitch) I have a hosta which was labeled as Northern Exposure with the same drawstring trouble as yours. Mine is only a few years old. I thought maybe there was something wrong with it or where I have it planted and kept thinking I might dig it up and move it to a pot to see if anything changed. Sounds like that isn't going to make a difference but it is interesting that yours turns out to be something different after all. Wonder if mine is actually a Lunar Eclipse too. I will have to take a good look at it. Here I was thinking that Northern Exposure was such a disappointment because it always looks so crummy, but it may not be NE after all.

Gold Standard might have to go. Unless I try it in my shadiest spot first. Too bleached out, otherwise.
Michelle

Fire & Ice
Sea Thunder
Carnival
Pandora's Box
Lakeside Kaleidoscope
Great Expectations
Night Before Christmas
Super Nova
Patriot

Praying hands and Wheee. Just do NOT like the look of either of them. Not sure about ripple effect either.

CindyCRNA, I agree with Steve Mass that the principal cause of desiccation on 'Frances Williams' is caused by wind. I have 3 FW. The one that is more exposed to wind and sun gets a bit of desiccation burn but not much. I believe that most of the pictures posted in this forum of FW doing well have been in areas protected from wind. Lots of water helps too.

Any dessication problems with FW are dwarfed by the effects of too much sun on other hostas. This year I have OB Langdon and even Atlantis with scorched leaves. FW you should plant in the shade, will prevent that it will show leaves early in spring and then get effected by late frost.
Otherwise I have hostas growing well which other people have problems with. Problems probably are related to climate, planting depth and soil, not the plant itself.
Bernd

Vallas,

Lakeside Kaleidescope??? Really?

What's not to like?

Steve