Here's a few pictures from a walk around my neighborhood.

The green one.

The white one.

The lamp post.

The tree ring.

Don't get me wrong in the right situation these Hostas are fine. But there are so many better choices available than Lancifolia and Undulata. These two get divided over and over again and planted ad infinitum. This is trailer park landscaping.

Steve

I didn't know we lived in the same neighborhood Steve. The first one looks like the house next door.
lol

Les

My neighbors have a row of lancifolia growing along the north side of their house and look so pretty when they are in bloom. The color of the flowers compliment the blue-grey color of their house.

Karen

Guilty as charged, sir! Confessions of a hostaholic. .
My excuses are:

1. I'm a hostaholic

2. I have twenty acres so I have room for even the common ones.

3. I love them all except Color Glory who gets so ugly sometimes that even her mother would hide her behind the shed.

4. I have absolutely no sense of creativity or landscape ability in my whole body. I can barely match up my socks in the morning and they are all white. I'm hopeless. . sigh.. . so have pity on me all you tallented peoples and send in all your beautiful pictures to enjoy.. .much appreciated, too!

5. And last but not least, I really do like albomarginata and lancifolia and I'm older than dirt so probably won't change now.. . hehe

Lancifolia around a tree

albomarginata

Lancifolia straight ahead and stretches to the right also while albomarginata is ahead and stretches to the left

This is where the albomarginata stretches to. I also love cactus and made a cactus area where they could come out in the spring, summer, fall. The albomarginata and lancifolia can take lots of sun and still look good so I used them here.

I'm so bad I even kept the "weed hosta" when I made this path a few years ago. . oh yeah, I'm that bad.

Oh, one more. I filched this picture below from the hosta forum. SHE DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. I thought she was a pretty specimen of Undulata Univittata. So whoever she belongs too please do not be upset with me. I thought you did a very nice job with her.

Oh yeah. .one more confession . . I do have two Undulata Univittata under an oak tree next to my horse pasture gate. . My one redeeming quality is that I have no picture of them. . lol
Whew. . good to get all that off my chest. . .Hello, my name is Sidney and I'm a hostaholic. . .

Guilty! Lancifolia is one of t

One advantage of lancifolia is that they bloom late. When you have a row of lancifolia, then you have also space. You can exchange some in the row with other hostas you have to have. But then, you need green hostas to rest your eyes. Lancifolia is also a nice filler plant in between loud neighbor plants.
Bernd

Phew-I was worried that I am strange!(not really)

What is there not to love?

Plus almost every one I tell I have a hosta collection tells me they love hostas only know Lancifolia and U. Albo. What great ambassadeurs to our hobby. 5-stars!

Les

Les,

I couldn't disagree more. It's not that they are bad plants. On the contrary they have many positive attributes. Mainly that you can't kill them. On second thought I'm not sure that's positive. But what makes them terrible ambassadors is that most people who dislike Hostas only know these two. There are so many better choices than Lancifolia and Undulata. If people used those better choices more often then plant snobs wouldn't look down their noses at this wonderful Genus.

Steve

I see your point, Steve. Maybe that is why I am planning my "Front" with Empress Wu, Sagae, and Sum & Substance, and have my Lancifolia in my "difficult to grow hostas" areas, like around the 5' diameter trunk of my iconic Silver Maple. Better to have Lancifolia than no hostas at all. lol

Les

lol Les. . .I have lancifolia around the base of an ash. . grows like a weed where nothing else will.

I did until the wabbits ate it off at the ground. Lancifolia is definitely their favorite hosta.

Actually, I have several of them around. Potted one up that I was removing to make way for something else. It's sitting on the front porch, blooming nicely right now.

Sidney, that picture of Undulata Univittata is perfect, and if you had not "lifted" it I probably would have. I added one of them to my "collection" this summer because I thought it was pretty. Has a nice leaf pattern and looks good to me. What's not to like.

And I brought one of my DH's Undulata Albomarginatas which he bought originally about 30 or more years ago and he was responsible for dividing and multiplying them all up and down the streets of Chelmsford MA since then. I figured it only fit and proper to bring a piece with him down south so he'd feel right at home. Other than it looking a bit different as a specimen than in a spreading clump, it has a certain.....timelessness to it, shall we say. How can you have a hosta garden without paying homage to the plants which led us down the addiction path to our present day?

I think that is what Les is saying too.
Back in the day when I was filled with angst every September, I said, "Because there was a yesterday we are more poignantly appreciative of today." How wise I was as a sophomore.......
;)

Not to mention pollen donor to about 15 cultivars.

I am a hostaholic and began my interest in hostas last year. When I discovered the unbelievable choice in variety of hosta, I was thrilled. I was one of those with approximately 10 different hosta. First thing I said was that the Undulata and Albomarginata have to go! Well I don't usually do anything too hasty, and decided to think about it over the winter season. I've come to the conclusion that there will be a place in my garden for these two hosta. How can I get rid of these hosta which have performed for me year after year and didn't ask much in return? Last year I put a division of Albomarginata in a pot for my front door. It really looked great. I will be keeping mine.

"There are so many better choices than Lancifolia and Undulata. If people used those better choices more often then plant snobs wouldn't look down their noses at this wonderful Genus."

There certainly are better choices than Lancifolia and Undulata, but I don't agree that most people would take notice. My husband and son have been talking cars for over a decade. I hear about them, I see pictures of them, and read car brochures---almost on a daily basis. It doesn't make me more interested. As long as the car drives well, that's all that is important to me. I think a lot of people just aren't into gardening and wouldn't take notice of a few different varieties of hosta. That's the beauty of life. We all get to make our own choices as to what interests us and gives us pleasure.

Newhostalady, so glad to hear of another hostaholic who caught the bug in 2011. That means you and I are classmates, I suppose.

In our family, they never liked hosta because all they saw was the undulata albomarginatas, until I started obsessing about hosta of infinite variety. One daughter is not a real gardener, so I did not gift her with hosta. However, the daughter-in-law is a great gardener, and I sent them a varied selection of hosta, which have done fairly well in New Hampshire this year. But otherwise, I do not try to foist on others my own addictions.

I worked for years around young men, who were interested in cars, stereos, and ....women....not necessarily in that order. No way were they interested in talking for even a minute about gardening. You said it very well.

Don't knock the common ones! There are a lot of named varieties which are not better than the common ones. The common ones have another quality, they grow easily, that's why they are still around.

While I have lots of Undulatas,I have never even seen a Lancifolia in person,just in pictures. I have no Lancifolia in my garden,even though it's a very common hosta! Phil

Moc - your were, as usual regarding me, right on with what I am saying. I have a lemon-yellow Hemerocalis in my garden. I wouldn't have a garden without it. Why? I can trace it's existence all the way back to my grandmothers gardens in the 1940's. It is one of the continuations of divisions of her daylilly we simply call "Lemon Lily". I view it as a living piece of her original Lemon Lily. Unlike myself, it has never had it's lineage diluted by cross-pollenation My "Gramma" is why I garden and my first hosta was her Lancifolia. It took me decades to smell the hostas, so to speak.

A good Daylily, or a good hosta, never grows old. If we can care for them they simply shed some "dry skin" periodically, but they maintain their beauty for us to behold. Theresa wishes to add how nice it would be if that could be said about her. :-)

Newhostalady - I am so glad you have posted. You articulated very well and with great meaning. I welcome you and hope to hear more from you.

sidney-I do not have a single hosta in my gardens that looks like your 'Univitatta'. If I saw one at Vilts without a tag on it I would have bought it and worried later about an ID.

Hostafreak, send me an email if you want me to send you one of my Lancifolia. :-)

Les

Lancifolia is definitely in my woods garden, as a ground cover under a native hydrangea. I love the purple blooms in the late summer!

As for albo marginata, I have a path lined on one side with it, love that too especially when it blooms. It looks good all summer, fresh and graceful, even when other hostas begin to look ratty. Nothing seems to bother it. I know it's common and cliche, but it suits my half-century rock house and garden. I'll always keep it.

Sandy

And here's another bonus of lancifolia - 5 weeks ago when packing to go to the cottage I cut a bucket of flowers from my garden including some hosta leaves. Today while packing to go back home I tossed the lancifolia leaves, still looking as good as they did 5 weeks ago! Sum and Substance was also a contender for longest lasting in a vase. Does Don have a list for that?
Jan

Les, it was my Grandma who taught me about gardening too. It's something to know my bare feet were absorbing gardening along with all the dirt around those plants.

My picture of H. undulata univittata is not on my Flickr photostream, but I found McTavish's gorgeous version of it.
The link is given below. Worth looking believe me.

Here is a link that might be useful: McTavish's H. undulata univittata

Lancifolia are not as vivid as clausa var. normalis. But for profusion of blooms neither Albo or Lancifolia can be beaten when planted in drifts. I have seen a photo of large drifts of El Nino that were outstanding in this way. Maybe a seperate thread of hostas for planting in massive drifts might be justified.

Les

I have a undulata univittita too! Got it from my in-laws. My in-laws had a few of them at their cottage for as long as I can remember. They couldn't go up every weekend and no matter what the weather brought every year these hosta came back up. Now my in-laws are deceased and the cottage sold, but I still have a few undulata univittita that remind me of them and those cottage days.

Glad to be classmates with you moccasinlanding and all other hosta lovers.

Les, thank you for the warm welcome. I would love to post more, but I think I need more experience and more hostas!

Love your picture, NewHostaLady!
Quite understand about memory plants....have a bunch of them in my garden too.

One comment about "more experience and more hosta."
If you get MORE HOSTA, the MORE EXPERIENCE will come. It seems to justify having more hosta, and nothing wrong with that!

Hope my UU ends up looking as good as yours.

This is a very nice plant, looks almost like H.'Night before Christmas' or better. Bernd

JanOn says: "a contender for longest lasting in a vase. Does Don have a list for that?
Jan"

I wonder if that could be given a list status....something like "Cut Flowers/Leaves" ..... you might want to ask Don how it would fit into his scheme of things.

In many of the home decorating magazines, I see tropical leaves which are big and beautiful as specimen in a plain vase. It would be no stretch of the imagination--nor a big expense either--to make that leaf one of the huge hosta varieties.

Wish my removeable hard drive was accessible now, I'd include a picture of such tropical leaves used as decorative items in a minimalist layout.

I think Lancifolia is quite nice and although I don't have any , if anyone wants to give me one oe two, I would not say no.... I have a tree it\they could go around!

I love lancifolia - look forward to the flowers every year. It's one of the few that still looks good after the horrible summer we had. My list of hostas that still look good right now is very short - lancifolia, Dark Shadows, Aphrodite, and Halcyon.

Deanna

Steve-I go back to the first two postings in this thread and mean no disrespect in doing so. The picture of the two rows of Lancifolia does not do the cultivar justice. It is a common mistake made by people who have to many and no garden disciplines. I see it all the time heroe in Wilmington.

The hardiness of Lancifolia, U. Albo or U. Un should not be a detriment to their status as hostas, in my opiinion. When viewed as specimens they are truly very nice hostas and the views expressed here show my opinion is well shared.

I have tried with little success to grow Great Expectations and some of its progeny. I am not thrilled with my Cherry Berry! But I agree when grown they are beautiful hostas. Just because the common ones which are the topic in this thread are so darned tough that anyone can and do grow them should not be held against them - in my opinion.

Then when I add to this the memories of how I became a hostaholic I simply melt. In my eyes these three hostas should be at the top of every hostaholics list of favored hostas.

It's a weakness of mine. I also go back to all of the species hostas and feel the same way. Before we collect the many cultivars we should be striving to collect all of the species and preserve the heritage. If it were not for them, we wouldn't be where we are today.

I only have clausa, plantaginea and ventricosa and all three have outstanding flowers - truly outstanding! None have outstanding foliage. Yet in this year of drought I am thankful for my plantaginea family of hostas. I would not be without them in my gardens any more than Lancifollia and the Undulatas.

I thank everyone for coming forward. It only shows what makes our hobby so great. I, for one, never wants to forget my roots. I will have at least one Lancifolia, U. Albomarginata and U. Univitatta in my gardens in a place of honor. When displayed as an honored cultivar they all show their merit for being there - in my opinion.

I hope we never forget this!

Les

Moved from the obscure north side of my house soon after I moved in in '86. Now they are in an obscure part of my back yard. ;-)

tj

They look very nice tsuga! I am going to try ringing my huge maple like that and I love the idea of the hanging baskets. Right now all that is there is a rusting 55gal BBQ grill and some weeds. I am amazed that a small patch of Northern Sea Oats are surviving on the west side. It should look nice with Lancifolia mixed in with them.

Les

Nicely said, Les. As you are pointing out, having some gardening background in hosta should include the species or old timers from years ago. Most folks, even those who never grew hosta firsthand, were aware of them in neighboring gardens, along the streets, and so on, or at least they were part of the environment in which the people lived.

In my case, that depth of experience does not exist. My first hosta look, knowing I was seeing a hosta, was not until we married in 2006, and DH had this u. albo looking pretty ragged in his garden spaces.

However, I recognized after discovering Hosta Forum and the unimagined variety of hosta available, that you have to know where all these new varieties came from to really understand the hosta world. Sort of a personal thing with me to know the history of anything, be it animal-vegetable-mineral.

I do not have a lancifolia YET, but am trying to remedy that before it gets too cold for the northern nurseries to ship. I think it was at the Mickfield Hosta website that I read the pluses for autumn planting over spring planting.
And down here, we still have about 2 months more of growing season. Our first frost won't be until December normally.

Right now, we are having some blessed rain, and the sky is totally overcast, the sound of rain is so soothing, some distant thunder, a few flashes of lightening through the gray skies. And a young OSPREY landed on my bird feeder....now THAT is a first! We are a bird and wildlife sanctuary certified by National Wildlife Federation. Very proud to be one.

Thanks. The hanging baskets are there due to a contorted Austrian Pine that begged for something. Not sure what happened, but it lived a tortured (perhaps contorted) life. A horse evener serves as my hanging basket holder. The lancifolia (3 of them) are on the lower left.

tj

Hey there MoccasinLanding. I'm using the National Wildlife Federation list of plants and shrubs as a design plan for my new garden. Golly, this thread has been fun to follow! You Hosta people are so cute! I'm late to the whole Hosta thing, though I've been a plant collector for years. But, last year I finally found other Hosta varieties at my local weed dump. So, the blue and chartreuse ones seem to have become 'common' enough. So my two cents...there's a reason something becomes a 'classic'.

Petpal, you wise to pay attention to the NWF. I get a lot of mail from them, and I also frequent the Cornell Ornithology website.

My special interest are the fragrant hosta. Whether or not that is what is making the difference, or the native plants hosting butterflies and such, I've sure had a lot--and I mean a LOT--of different bird and butterfly species coming to the garden this summer. I looked up from my computer the other day and there on a bird feeder was either a young Cooper's hawk or a peregrine falcon youngster. So THAT is what has reduced the bird population in the last couple of weeks, and the squirrels too! It was HUGE. I see them up in the big oak and sweet gum trees around the neighborhood here, but not down at the feeders ever. I did not know I was creating a raptor fast food deli with the bird feeders and bird baths....at least my dogs are safe....I hope.

But you might want to check out Don Rawson's Fragrant-flowered Hosta List. I give the link below. Many of those are old timers around for many years, and are inexpensive.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fragrant-flowered Hosta...Don Rawson's Lists

This has been a really depressing summer for me. Many dependable perennials had shut down early due to heat and drought. Rebloomers didn't rebloom, fall bloomers bloomed in June(wimpy) and now barely are better if at all.

Riding about town looking at gardens is among my favorite summer activities. It wasn't worth the price of gasolene this year. But now I find my head snapping to the side when large splashes of purple catch the corner of my vision. It is nerve-racking when I am driving - "keep your eyes on the road Theresa!". Life seems to be regaining some excitement.

Then I see what the purple flowers are. They are carpets of flowers of Lancifolia' like proverbial "waves of grain" that the sun and heat seem to have not damaged. I had forgotten how these old hostas flower so profusely.

Everything else is done except some late plantaginea and the store bought autumn baskets of Mums. Even our hardy Geranium that usually rebloom in fall have few flowers. The trees are beginning to turn and it got down to 34 last night. Coneflower are ugly blackened stalks in need of cutting. Down by the river where hundreds of Mallard Ducks spent the summergrowing up when ponds and marshes dried up is, becoming crowded with the start of the Canada Geese migration. Usually the Great Blue Herons outnumber White Egrets about 8 to 1. This summer they are about equal. But they will soon be going. Then comes the long wait for spring when life seems to start over. Hopefully next spring will not come with Les's leg in a cast and he can get some work done (crack goes the whip of the wicked witch - "tee hee").

"Viva la Lancifolia!"
Theresa

Theresa, beautifully said. Seems I have company with the feelings of angst from this season change.

What you've given me with your description of the "waves of purple" lancifolia, is more than enough to rev up my wish to have similar waves of purple in my garden. I may be placing them in a row in the shade, peeking out far behind the palms and elephant ears and bananas scattered along that wide bed at streetside. Such a plain green place, with only azaleas to bloom early in the spring from the neighbor's side. They grow them unattended, but I get the benefit of the blooms. It's a long time from May to December, as the song goes, and when September comes around, how nice to have a line of purple backed by the layered leaves and limbs of big azaleas.

Too cool a description, T. Keep all the water hoses put away, don't want a repeat of this year's broken leg!