Freshair....not sure if you are aware that if you become a member of the Hostadirect.com website (no $$ unless you want to donate) there is an advanced search persay that gives ALOT more options to search and there is a plant shape category....just an fyi. Thats the most extensive search breakdown that I have ever found.

Salute. Blue, medium, upright.

thanks, nina - hadn't heard of that one

sensibull - i also didn't know about the search on hostasdirect - so i signed up & did the search for "small-medium" & "erect" and it said "no matches" - i eliminated the size parameter & still got "no matches" - so according to that search, there are no "erect" hostae - ideas?

~ freshair

hmmm I looked salute up by its name and it says vase shaped, so don't now what their critera is for erect...but I did find that search useful

Try using the term 'uprightp in your search! That's how they are referred to!

'Praying Hands' would fit that description and is small but some folks don't care for it.
It IS different!

Oh, just thought of a couple more--'Restless Seas' and 'Flemish Sky' both blue!

I'm thinking......

'Warwick Delight' looks pretty upright for me, right now! I'd think 'Warwick Comet' could be, too!

Anyone else think 'One Man's Treasure' can be considered 'upright'?

I think it may be important to keep any hosta from multiplying too much, in order to maintain
the 'look' of being upright! I bet as they multiply and become more crowded the outside 'branching' tends
to get pushed forward or more 'downward' and mounded. Just trying to 'think' this through--I don't know
that for certain!

Happy hunting!

Golden Meadows is very erect with almost horizontal leaves and heavy substance as a two-year-old in my garden. It is one that has distinct divisions so I expect that it would be not be hard to keep it at a desired diameter.

IMHO .... no hosta stays vase shaped forever ....

over the years.. they all form clumps ....

unless you keep digging them up and reducing the size of the crown ...

ALL the ones listed ... THAT I HAVE ... are no longer vase shaped ..

ken

Dag--nabbit, ken! I thought YOU knew how to whip those hosta into the shape you really want them to be!

Another legend taken down!!! Sigh! ;o)

I think we are getting lost in imprecise terms. Most hostas form clumps. Some... Kabitan, Otome No Ka, kikutii, are primarily rhizomatous and form colonies, but most form some kind of crown and a clump.

They vary in the basic form of the clump. Some are very horizontal. Squash Casserole, no matter how great the diameter becomes, will tend to stay lower to the ground. It does get taller as it ages, but the form remains more horizontal than vertical.

On the other extreme are the ones that tend to be taller in proportion to their diameter. This makes them, in common parlance, "upright" or "vase-shaped." Though there are some plants with an exceptional stiffness to the leaves, so they remain upright (Bridegroom) or horizontal, but on most plants, as the leaves get larger and heavier, they will tend to arc back toward the earth. In some plants, the combination of upright petioles and drooping leaves gives what most folks call a "cascading" form.

And of course culture plays a part. Plants that are tall and upright in shade might be lower and smaller leaved and more mound shaped in more light. Krossa Regal is a good example of this... very much an upright, vase-shaped plant in the shade, but in a lot of light it can fool me. I've more than once walked up wondering what a slightly rippled green hosta clump is actually KR in a lot of light.

But there is no doubt that there are different forms that the plants tend to have, and age doesn't remove that tendency.

I'm looking out my kitchen window at a stand of 20+ Krossa Regals, growing undisturbed for 15 plus years, and they are still very clearly upright and vase-shaped. I know that if I removed one, moved it to very rich soil and more light, the clump would grow more rapidly and the outside layer of the plant would tend to create more of a "skirt" and its appearance would be less upright - but nonetheless, KR is an upright, vase-shaped plant.

and on the original topic... I'm only in my second year with it, but Ginsu Knife appears to be an upright, or maybe cascading, form...

True, Ken. But for those of us with small gardens, we tend to divide our hostas a bit more frequently to keep them small.

Here are my suggestions.

Definitely Praying Hands. Others are Venetian Blue, Elvis Lives, Lakeside Party Dress, Rhythm and Blues, Red October, Permanent Wave, Rhodefolia, and Hart's Tongue. These all have an upright form until they reach about 10 eyes.

whoa - i went away for a couple of hours and bam - y'all are great

"20+ krossa regals" - that'll likely be the quantity of my entire hosta garden! - i know it's hard for some of you, but you're gonna have to think small for me

hey_j & "erect" vs "upright": in the HostaSearch Database on hostasdirect.com (should we tell them their name should be "hostaedirect.com"? - teehee) under "plant information - plant shape", the upright-ish option is erect - the others are mound, cube-mound, and flat-mound - that's why i used erect

just did the hostaEdirect.com search again and still no matches for erect - what's the point of having a members-only advanced search if it won't even pull up praying hands?

golden meadows: LUV the coloring - how big does it get - no info from lemke
salute & rhythm and blues: great shape - will seriously consider that one
praying hands: i seem to be in the minority, based on comments when the HOY 2011 was announced, but i LUV praying hands: but that one is a sun lover & this spot is in the shade
warwick delight: that one looks great, also, but lemke has it listed as "mound-like"

looks as if we need another . . . List - project for a raining day, maybe

~ freshair

Golden Meadows is typically described as medium or medium-large, 20" X 36" at maturity. Some sellers list it at 18" or 22" inches tall. It needs sun to bring out the colors, from what I have read. (Mine is temporarily in pretty deep shade and is moving to a sunnier spot this week.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Previous thread re. Golden Meadows

I found a Plantspotters article that pictures Reiner van Elderen, the developer of Golden Meadows with a mature clump in a pot. BTW, that site shows the mature dimensions as 24" high by 26" wide.

Here is a link that might be useful: Golden Meadows creator and his creation

While it's only in its 2nd year for me and started out as a mere 2 shoots, I'm very taken with the upright growth habit of 'Sea Octopus'. I traded for it last year and was rather disappointed with its overall appearance, form and leaf shape when I got it last year. If you check the info on the HL you will see two very distinct forms being depicted, a very narrow one as seen in the Patty Woodbury and Shauna Cannon pictures -and that's what I was hoping to receive- with the other pix having a much wider leaf. I ended up with the latter, but as it started to grow this year the plant showed a form and elegance I just couldn't see last year. It's proving to be a good grower and would appear to possibly be somewhat stoloniferous in its growth -one of the new offsets is nudging the edge of the 1 gallon pot it's in- something I hope to confirm one way or the other when I transplant it. I would expect the mostly upright growth to continue with a stoloniferous habit.

The registration information in terms of leaf size is certainly at odds with the pictures showing the very narrow leaves, so it is likely those are either very immature specimens or simply incorrectly labeled.

And indeed, 'Red October' would be another good candidate.

P: maybe you should regis under a new name more fitting its beauty - you do a great job of describing it ("the arching of the leaves . . . the red blush of the petioles") - you could write copy for fashion mags - teehee

~ freshair

P: maybe you should regis under a new name more fitting its beauty - you do a great job of describing it ("the arching of the leaves . . . the red blush of the petioles")

freshair, I don't think so, I'm quite confident that what I have is properly identified and while I might feel the name itself is not quite a propos to the plant's appearance, I wouldn't dream of calling it something else. Mildred Seaver did a marvelous job developing this cultivar and it is quite likely that to her the plant had this octopus look to it, looking down upon it. Part of my fascination with this plant undoubtedly comes from the perspective I have on it when I look at it: it's at roughly a 5 ft height in my growing area this year, not quite at eye level, but not far off either.

Pieter

only joking ~ freshair