It's my experience that it stays the same all season. Of course, I'm in Texas so your mileage may vary.

bk

i will retry pix.. later ...

Mine stays green. Just looked at my pictures and this needs updated this year. The picture is about 10 years old (actually 3 plants). Bought S&S in 1995.

its one of the few... that can take full sun ... though i dont know how that works.. the further south you go ... im sure in the PNW ... it would take full sun ...

and im pretty sure.. it gets more yellow as the season goes on ...

lets try this for coloration variation ..love that famous van wade pic:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Sum+and+Substance&t=ffcm&ia=images&iax=images

what i dont recall.. sitting in the basement ... is spring color.. i will report back.. when i drive down the driveway.. later today ...

ken

Mine is very yellow in afternoon sun. It's too yellow for my taste but the neighbor loves it so it stays.

I'm sure it depends on USA location and sun conditions on your property. I have very limited full sun areas on my property and hostas are not there.

This about the color mine stays.

IME, this will be a very limey-chartreuse color in dappled or partial shade and become increasingly gold colored in more sun. Can easily take full sun here in the PNW.

Mine get yellower the more sun they get.

Hmmm, in the PNW the general consensus is for the gold look it should probably be in one of my rose’s spots?

Hmmm, I’m wondering of the growing zone makes a difference in the sun for S and S. Mine gets maybe half day of direct sun and the color stays the same all season, Limey/light green. I do get an occasional fried leaf. This is last season

Sherry that is beautiful. The color looks like it matches the flowers on your lady’s mantle

Mine gets considerably more gold. So does Titanic, which is gradually turning to Sum and Substance. And I'm too lazy to try to stop it. I'd say most gold hostas come up darker than their later color.

Mine stays chartreuse green in bright light with no direct sun.

I believe I have these (3) in the far back in the shade. I will have to compare and see. I know mine get huge and also stay a chartreuse color..

Here are mine, much further behind. Do you think mine are S&S or is it too early to tell?

Photo from last June 18th and still unfurling at the time. When it was growing in a shaded area with dappled light it remained chartreuse. I moved it to more sun (it got too big) and it turned golden for the rest of the summer. Around Aug./Sept. it took on a green hue. This is my favourite colour... i am in zone 5.

Hi Jo! It is so good to see you back!! Talk to you soon.

So glad you're back Josephine! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your pics and posts.

Here is a few shots of my Sum and Substance from the same location (morning sun)

May, comes up looking pretty green

August, a nice yellowish green.

This one was grown in a very shady spot. Looking greener and "wilder". Photo also taken in August.

I just took these pics..

I don’t think they’re ugly but the mice are particularly cute!

Dang it, I really wanted the gold color but I’m not sure I’m willing to give up a rose spot to get it-those are in short supply around here!

I realized that I didn't answer your question in my comment..my S&S don't seem to get more yellow as they age..mine are a basic lime green..but I have a shady lot..

S&S is on Don's Lutescent list. I haven't had an S&S since 2011 when I sold the one I had in a local plantclub sale, a very sizable 40 pointer for $75, someone was looking for instant gratification and I was happy to oblige...Mine was very much lutescent but don't expect it to yellow up much before July!

Pieter

Beth, love your hosta real estate! Your colour-progression pics almost mirror what happens in my yard - although a few of my leaves get sun scorched in the hot afternoon sun. Your location seems perfect as your S&S appears flawless and beautiful at a time when many already look tired out.

Thank you, Laurie and Beth. I fell off the planet for awhile. Apologies, Laurie....we will catch up when I return from Dubai. I'm here till June 10th.

My hostas will have a surprise awaiting me when I return. I did a pip count before I left and S&S had an increase of eyes that made me grin from ear to ear. As did Liberty!

Oursteelers, give this boy lots of room! :-)

Mine is lutescent, it gets a good amount sun during the day. The leaves are huge. I have had mine now for about 4 years.

2018

Oh, good! You all are giving me hope he will turn more golden in his current locations. I say locations because when I got him last year I divided him into three. Doesn’t appear to have slowed him down much and I love stretching my dollars!

So glad to “see” you again, Jo!

jo oooooooooo .. what up ????

mine .... on the driveway are dull green right now.. they will yellow up later in the season ...

ken

Oursteeler, I'm so glad you made 3! You can experiment all you like with 2 of 'em ! I moved mine whole, fell on my butt dragging it on a shovel and it didn't react adversely at all. Two years after, it grew more pips and I'm thrilled. Yours is behaving same way. It's a beauty but a toughie in its own right.

Windy, thank you! Hey, Ken! :-) 'What up' with your potted hosta? Hope they are all healthy and strong!

I will start a thread very soon....hostas in Dubai may not be a reality :-(.

This one gets virtually no sun and like Ken said, does turn a bit more yellow but not lots.

Such a pretty grouping though! Very lush and so many different textures.

See this is why it’s a struggle for my hostas to get big....I can’t stop dividing and moving! It’s an addiction!

My Sum and Substance sits to the east of our house (Columbia County, Oregon) and receives direct morning sun and filtered midday sun. In previous years, it received much more sun in the midday, but now our overachiieving rambling rose and cotinus Grace are blocking more sun from due south, and so S&S is much less gold and more lime green. It is robust and healthy, so I'm not complaining. I'll likely divide it this year and put the division in a sunnier spot. (Further down (north) along the front porch I have Empress Wu, who has declared this site worthy of her regal glory. She is making Sun and Substance look just a bit plebeian...

"I can’t stop dividing and moving! It’s an addiction! "

Dividing hostas is a beautiful thing. Sometimes hostas can get too big, especially on a city lot! If one hosta is good why not have 3? I just gave one my 7 good sized Paul's Glory away that all came from one PG. Giving hostas is a wonderful gift - people appreciate and remember the giver every time they see that hosta. And it is great to see how a hosta does in different environments. Wide Brim is looking spectacular in all shade.

S&S is the only hosta division I have ever sold - twice, and I have a 3rd one ready to go away.

I feel the same way about dividing! The bonus for me is that the divided hosta in my garden usually just takes a growth spurt after division and its divisions likewise. I liken it to a hurt - if you cut yourself, your skin starts it's healing process immediately ... a hosta reacts by sending out new buds. I think 'survival mode'.

Gardencool, can you recall the recovery growth on the mama S&S after its first division? You've got me thinking that maybe I should halve mine. It had more than 22 pips at last count and was still emerging mid-May.

josephine, maybe division isn't the right word for my S&S; maybe fraction is better. I got complaints from my better half that my S&S is too big as it is always trying to consume our garden path! Moving the path (see how the hostaphile mind works!) in this case isn't an option so to appease my better half I just remove the offending pip or two. A temporary solution as it does grow back in a few years. Dividing a S&S in half sounds like real work!

Side note: S&S was my first hosta purchase - bare root mail order - didn't survive, a real disappointment as it was my first. Soured me on bare root purchases - especially given big box stores are selling potted S&S relatively cheap compared to mail order with shipping and handling charges. So S&S was probably my first big box store purchase too.

Side side note: I did buy a box of bare root of 6 L. Dragonfly from Costco. Talk about delusions of grandeur, that is exactly how the marketeers get me with their spectacular photos. In early April as I jones for anything green and growing I might be tempted to buy a weed if photoed properly! I now have 5 beautiful L. Dragonfly. That is another thing - bare root takes years to develop into the ones like in the photo.