Several suggestions mention Hosta 'Blue Angel'. Yes, it's fantastic and a big one and fast grower, waaaay faster than Hosta 'Halcyon'. This pictured one, in later years, has all but smothered the Hosta 'Thunder Bolt' seen by it here: hh

For good examples of well balanced hostas, look at just about any of the Mildred Seaver hostas--she had a wonderful eye for balance. You're so right... I received a Sea Octopus in a trade last year and initially was somewhat disappointed with it, primarily because it really didn't look like what I was expecting -go look at the pix of it in the HL and notice how there would appear to be two very different forms shown as being the same variety, I was hoping it would be like the ones shown in Patty Woodbury and Shauna Cannon's pix- and it wasn't until it came back up this spring that I began appreciate its beauty. If there is such a thing, I'd call it a very elegant cultivar and while I can see how the name might have come about based upon the appearance of a mature clump of it, for me it deserves a name that better reflects the elegance it projects. Like Don, I'm a sucker for substance, but it's not my primary focus. I have blues, medio and edge variegated ones, yellows, greens in all shades, golds, mine cover the gamut, like they do for most of us I suspect. I'd have to say I tend to go for the ones that 'speak to me' and when they do it is invariably for differing reasons. Talk to me baby, talk to me. Pieter

Paul, I like the ventricosa qualities too. I've become aware of it more this year. Does Minnesota Nice bloom at the regular ventricosa family time? Mine have mostly gone into bloom all at once. Now I can figure out which might have a family connection from the bloom period. I like the yellow leafed bleeding heart. Must look for it locally.

That's interesting, Don. I got mine last year in trade and having seen 2 rather distinct and quite different looking forms of it on the HL, I was hoping that what I'd be getting would be what Mark describes as the juvenile form, I simply preferred the looks of that one. Turns out it wasn't and I was rather disappointed, but I'd agreed to take a division on trade and stuck by my end of the deal. When I received it was a 2 shoot division and was rather floppy looking for the remainder of the year, which didn't help matters. The plant however completely redeemed itself this spring. It very quickly worked its way into my top ten. Armed with this new background information -thanks again, Don- I'll set about trying to 'induce' the juvenile form. It has grown this year from a 2 shoot division to a 6 shoot one. Originally I had planned to upsize its container before season's end, but I'll hold off until spring at this point. Once I see evidence next year of the 2nd flush of growth I'll divide it, with the majority into single shoot divisions and we'll see how it behaves. There was not shortage this year of pods and seeds. I wasn't concerned about how they got pollinated, so they're OP and time will tell what I get out of them. Out of the four scapes I took pods from the early one only, matter of fact, the other 3 scapes with pods are still pointing skyward. I'll sow the seeds in spring -have to do them outdoors, ain't got no space indoors- and if something interesting becomes of them I'll post pics. Connie, we should do a picture update on what we're seeing next season. We both may get our respective wishes. Pieter