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Looking for sun tolerant small hostas

14 years ago

I'm not sure where to look for lists? Hopefully with pictures?

My husband is digging up a foot or more of the lawn all the way around for my flower beds to be wider. It doesn't sound like much but this was a huge victory for me.

Anyway, I'd like to add more hostas but they need to be small and some will need to be sun tolerant. Slug tolerance would be great since they are terrible here but not sure that is realistic.

I have Gold Edger, Blue Mouse Ears, Grand Tiara, Ginko Craig, Cherry Berry, Halcyon, Blue Cadet, June, and some no ids already.

Thanks

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Comments (5)

loisflan
14 years ago
Radiant Edger and Rainforest Sunrise are in pretty much all-day sun here in Zone 4, and they love it.
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countrygarden01
14 years ago
Hi Lois,
Wow! You can grow hosta; excellent condition this time of the season. Keep up the good work.
These are tuff/long season small hosta I enjoy in the garden:
Maui Buttercups
Lil Abner
Little Sunspot
Rainbows End
Secret Love/Blue Flame
Devon Green
Wordly Treasure
Blueberry Tart
Praire Sky
Roller Coaster Ride
Praire Fire
First Frost
Wolverine-can be a little sensitive to slugs and alot of sun
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Shade tolerant, sun loving, sun tolerant, shade loving???
Q
Comments (8)
well ... hmmmm .... you are on the right track ... but working on the wrong variables ... i am going to come at it from another angle ... hosta are VERY HEAVY WATER USERS ... and they use the most water.. in the most heat .. which is why they struggle in the deep south ... they simply cant pump enough water to offset the loss ... and part of that is ... night temps.. they can cope better up here in MI because at night it cools considerably ... hosta actually sweat ... transpire ... in england.. which is above the 60th parallel.. or 2/3 of the way to the north pole.. they are ALL FULL SUN ... partly because the sun barely shines.. lol .. but also because of the declination of the sun.. the British are a pasty peeps.. because the sun is not as strong.. so the hosta can cope ... compare that to LA.. and you can see a stark difference. .. so.. hosta can grow in full sun .. hosta are only shade tolerant.. but the sun .. or conversely.. the shade is not really the issue.... its all about how effectively they can pump.. enough water. and if they have a recovery period to cope ... the fact that a hosta looks ratty in late summer.. is more a function of not enough water.. rather than too much light ... ken ps: zone.. which is.. in its simplest form.. MINIMUM WINTER TEMP ... has nothing to do with it .... pps: i have tons of wood hyacinths.. i dont know why you failed with those.. unless there are multiple plants under that common name ... ppps: hosta also have a requisite dormancy period.. and if you go too far south.. they dont get it ...
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Sun Tolerant Hostas in My Zone (8)
Q
Comments (15)
Barbara, it's a hot day here when it's 80! Mind you, I'm about a 5 minute walk from the Fraser river and as you know large bodies of water will temper the air. It gets a little warmer farther in the valley, by about 10 degrees, but here on the We(s)t Coast we don't get the hot and cold they get further inland in the Interior out Myrle's and Faye's way. To each his own, and while you can dress for the cold, society does not allow us to undress for the hotter days, so, my wife and I prefer this temperate rainforest we live in. FF, the sun's angle is just basic science, the lower the angle the less intense it is. Sun tolerance basically comes from the plant staying turgid enough to continue to support itself provided it stays hydrated. The sun's intensity at our latitude is seldom able to evaporate enough water from within the plant's tissue to cause sunburn. It can and does happen, and it happens in July/August when the precipitation falls off and we're unable to provide enough additional hydration to the plant. Some Hosta species and cultivars are better able to cope with lower levels of hydration than others. For example, most fragrant-flowered hostas are very sun tolerant, whereas certainly for me any members of the Hyacinthina family can begin to look quite desiccated by mid-august if I don't supplement their water needs. As a broad rule, variegated hostas with a lot of white are less sun-tolerant. Hostas with more substance to their leaves tend to fare better, but be aware that blue hostas will go green if in too much sun because their waxy coating -which gives them their blue appearance- melts in too much sun. Pieter This post was edited by pietertje on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 13:47
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Sun Tolerant hosta
Q
Comments (10)
"Perfect Perennials" informs us that the most damage occurs from 11 AM to 4PM. They also claim that the thick leaved and fragrant hostas with enough water will also tolerate sun conditions better than others. Additionally they inform us that there is "no such thing as a truly sun-tolerant hosta, zone 6 and south they need some shade. Below I have added ones not mentioned before that tolerate four or more hours of sun without excessive care: Alex Summers Aztec Treasure Birchwood Parky's Gold Blonde Elf Blue Mammoth Blue Unbrellas'Calypso Chartreuse Ruffles Choko Nishiki Feather Boa Fragrant Gold Green Fountain Green Wedge Glory Gold Regal Gold StandardGolden Anniversary Golden Tiara Green Sheen Hadspen Blue hypoleuca Hoosier Harmony Inniswood Joker June Lady Isobel Barnett Lemon Lime Mackawa Nancy Minks OnStage Paul's Glory Venus Radiant Edger Regal Splendor Sagae September Sun Shining Tot Solar Flare Summer Fragrance Sundance Sun Dance Sun Glow Treasure undulata Albomarginata Vanilla Cream Vera Verde Whirlwind Wrinkles and Cream Zounds Just remember, the more sun, the more water they need.
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Which hosta is more sun tolerant?
Q
Comments (18)
I had to google my latitude just to see - +35.6099681. Unfortunately, it's the worst kind of sun - afternoon. At least at this time of year, the bed gets dappled sun from about 2 to 5. There is a space between two trees that I think is crying out for a hosta. ;) I could be wrong and if I am I guess I will find something else that likes that spot. I haven't seen any local hosta societies, most are east and the climate is vastly different than the mountains. There are a couple of gardens out in the Waynesville area that I'd like to visit and see if there are any knowledgeable people at. The ones that I've gone to in my area don't seem to know much about Hostas in particular, other than they like shade. Trial and error works as well as anything it seems. : ) Thanks all!
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Pieter zone 7/8 B.C.
14 years ago
While Don Rawson does lists of hostas based on 57 different parameters, including sun tolerant, I'm not aware of any such lists with pictures, that would be an absolute mammoth task. Take a look at the list and pick out some of the obvious smaller ones, such as 'Cheatin Heart', 'Dixie Chick', 'Feather Boa', 'Lemon Lime', 'Lemon Frost', 'Lemon Delight', 'Invincible', 'Maui Buttercups' to name but a few, which I grow all in full sun.

Pieter
idiothe
14 years ago
You could have fun with families...

Cheatin' Heart, Faithful Heart, and Illicit Affar (or Stolen Kiss) look great together

Maui Buttercups looks good with its sport Rainforest Sunrise (and where the heck is the reverse, gy sport... should have showed up by now with all the popularity of the parent ann RS...)

Dixie Chick and Dixie Chickadee (formerly just Chickadee) are nice reverses of each other - green and a very clear white and speckles - and you will inevitably get a nice green sport to match them out of D Chickadee...

Vanilla Cream with its sports Ice Cream and Heart and Soul (or Wylde Green Cream)

and one of my favorite small sun-tolerant families...

Lemon-Lime (yellow-chartreuse parent of the bunch_
Twist of Lime (LL with a thin green margin)
Lemon Delight (most vigorous of the bunch - green with yellow margin)
Lemon Frost (y with white margin)
Lime Fizz - said to be a seedling of Lemon Delight
Shiny Penny - seedling of LL x Shining Tot
and
doggone it, I know I've got one more out there but its dark and wet out...
User
14 years ago
If you go the website of the late Papou, hosta collector and archivist extraordinaire, you will find numerous lists and pictures of hostas organized by categories.

His list of hostas by size and leaf color might be especially helpful to you.

Also, as you explore the site his photos of each garden show beautiful combinations of hostas and you are sure to find some edgers that will suit your needs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Papou's list by size and color

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