Some that come to my mind are:
Sagae
Sum and Substance
Patriot
montana-Aureomarginata
Shade Fanfare
Any of the Sieboldiana big blues
Golden Tiara
Halcyon
Paul's Glory
Revolution
Krossa Regal
Royal Standard
Ventricosa
I know there are a lot more,but others may chime in now!
Phil

June, Regal Splendor, Paradigm, Minuteman grows better than Patriot, plantagenia, Christmas Tree, Moonlight Sonata, Sun Power, Striptease, Golden Sculpture.....these are all good growing, dependable Hostas here.

June
Striptease
Bridegroom
Guardian Angel

hostarox, there are so many in my garden but, here are some of my favorites, Atom Smasher, Maya Swingtime, Red Dragon, Stained Glass, Rufus Rider, Hyuga Urajiro, Hacksaw, Pycnophyla, Terpsichore. Fireworks. Jim King

Add Quacamole and Abigua Drinking Gourd to the list!

Lynxe,

Welcome to the hosta world!
Are you just starting out with hostas? If so my suggestion is to find the list of the hostas of the year since they have been putting one out. I think they started doing that in 1996 or 1997. Then, get one of each!

Choose other hosta that you like, not just what is new and different as there are a lot of older kinds that are wonderful as well as reasonable in price.

It used to make me happy when I saw what was the new hosta of the year and I found out I all ready had it! I have all but the one for 2007 which I will be looking for. Once you find the list you will see that a lot of the prier suggestions included those special hosta.

Connie

try the search function up near the banner [next to the GO button] .... and type in ... ten foot rule .... ken

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Keep 'em comin'!

No, I'm not brand-new to hostas, but new enough to be considered a newbie. I've posted here from time to time, but lately, I've been focusing on adding to my daylily collection. I don't know which the "good" hostas are, and I've no idea what a good price is. And, when a seller lists many, many hostas, I don't know how to narrow down the list.

The 10-foot rule. I know what it is, of course. But I'm embarrassed to say that I can't figure out how to interpret the FAQ page here about it....are all of those hostas on that page "10 footers"?

I have about 40 hostas, many of which you guys have named here: Sagae, Sum and Substance, Patriot, Paul's Glory, Krossa Regal, Royal Standard, June, Striptease, Guacamole.

Others: off the top of my head, I have Inniswood, Blue Mouse Ears, Dorset Blue, Twilight, Alex Summers, Lucy Vitols. Lakeside Cha Cha. This summer, at the daylily convention, I bought three hostas from Bob Solberg, who had a table set up. I have some big blue ones, some big green ones, Kryptonite, Love Pat, Zounds, El Capitan....can't recall the rest offhand.

Nothing at all that Jim listed though....must get shopping!

I'm just looking for ideas. I can usually be found maniacally shopping for daylilies, but I want to add to my small hosta collection. After all, you can't have too many plant addictions!

If I were to post my complete list, do you think you could suggest additions? Or maybe posting it isn't necessary....

Are you a compulsive type collector, if not then I offer this for appearance? Plant in odd numbers of 3 min per variety.

Welcome Ester Opal,

It is nice to have a new forum member.

Because of the $ facter I am not able to get 3 or 5 of one kind. I have to wait till one matures, then divide it!!!
Life can be cruel!!! That's why I like the small to medium hosta as they grow so much faster than the large.

Keep posting!

Connie

I would highly recommend the Hosta Finder book put out by Steven Greene if you plan on seriously buying hostas. A new one will be published in February of this year. I ordered it and at first thought it was just a bunch of hosta names bound together with a plastic comb, but now I carry it with me everywhere. It is a list of the different hostas available, their average prices, and where you can buy them. No pictures, but you can always use hostalibrary.org to look up the pictures.
Jen

The hosta finder book can be order through www.hosta.net

If you want divisions quickly look up Rossing or Zumberizing, easy but scary. You can have several divisions even in the summer to divide.

There is usually a survey of favorite hostas each year. This is a few results:
{{gwi:1105280}}
If you click on the link below, it will bring you to 150 top favorite that I would recommend to a newbie.

Papou

Here is a link that might be useful: Top 150 hostas

The above link did not connect....

Try my personal website and get the top 150 hostas from there.

Papou

Here is a link that might be useful: Papou's Hosta Collection

Thanks! Great suggestions, everybody. And Papou, now I recall that discussion. I'm bookmarking your web site BTW. It's a font of info, and I plan to spend a very pleasant evening going through it.

I actually have a lot of the ones in the 2005 popularity poll. Happily, there are many more I don't have yet....enough to keep me busy buying for at least a little while. :)

Here is a question I asked myself after buying different varieties, does more variety make my garden look better. Then I started trying to site them in more pleasing ways, from my point of view of course.

I found the latest surveys that were conducted here on Garden Web for 2004, 2005 and 2006.
If a newbie chooses any of the varieties listed on those surveys, you cannot go wrong because they are the most popular . As far as I'm concerned they are all winners. Here they are:
{{gwi:1105281}}

Enjoy....Happy Holidays to all.

Papou

no ... the papou list under FAQ's is not a ten foot rule list .... IMHO ..... great list though.. don't get me wrong ....

tell you the truth .. i don't even like the other FAQ post about what a ten foot hosta is ... go figure ....

THE RULE: a hosta that any basic collector can name from ten feet away .. no matter whose garden in what region of the country or what ever country ..... e.g sum and substance.... its a giant... that grows like a weed, with a unique color ... and frankly ... anyone who owns it can ID it anywhere in the world ... no ask the owner.. no vein count.. no concern over flower color ... period... YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS from at least ten feet away ... now there is a definition of the ten foot rule .... IN THEORY .... there can NOT be a 'look alike' for a ten foot hosta .... that would be contrary to the whole point .....

look for the new post ... i will start with guardian angel .... trust me.. its unique.. and there is no look alike ....

ken

i will start a new post for pix of ten footers ....

I agree with the contents of Ken's post above. If you are a newbie, you should not worry at this time about the 10-foot rule. I would like to add that in order for a person to qualify to practice the 10-foot rule, that person must have a lot of hosta experience...perhaps 10, 15...20 years experience. Experienced hostalovers usually have a decent collection...200...300...500...perhaps more different hosta varieties, so they have acquired much knowledge over the years based on their observations...or they have studied and seen a lot of hosta types; so they now have something to base themselves on...these experienced hostalovers have seen hundreds of hostas grow...how they have behaved...the texture...the leaf shape...their color and variegation...etc...and therefore it will be much easier for these persons to identify...distinguish a particular hosta variety and apply the 10-foot rule.

Papou

guardian angel..for sure
jade cascade...*swoon*
thunderbolt (there are others that look like it but it is stunning)
blue mouse ears
abiqua drinking gourd
cutting edge
fire opal
guacamole
geisha (ani machi)
golden meadows
independence
revolution
king tut
krossa regal
lady isobel barnett
montana macrophylla
flower power
high kicker (for the flowers)
september sun
tokudama - any

andrea

This was a helpful question for me too. I read thru the suggestions and thank all! One hosta that I did not see is called "Golden Tiara" which I was gifted from sis in CT. It's a smaller hosta, but very neat and tidy. Good amount of divisions from it too. I'd have to recommend this one along with all the other greats mentioned above. Cheers!

Papou,

I spent 2 hours this morning going thru your amazing gardens! Wow! I love hostas, and have 3 varieties: Guacamole, Elegance, and some other small one.
Have learned a lot from your site: I did know some hostas like sun - it gives me more choices and hope to decorate my garden with these magnificent plants.
Thank you!!!
~Natalie