Five Beautiful Hosta to Add to Your Garden

It’s safe to say that I am completely in love with Hosta. I planted my first five almost ten years ago and have been adding ever since.  Today, my guacamole Hosta are still my favorites and the ones that I still get the most comments and complements about every year.

What I’ve come to realize is that there are lots of different Hosta to choose from in a variety of sizes and colors. I’ve added some Blue Angel and Blue Hawaii under my oak tree (see some of those here) along with some with ruffled leaves whose name I can’t remember.

Chris and I have been working on our Back 40 (check out more about that here) for a few years now and have stuck to our commitment of “finish the hardscape before we landscape.” I have to tell you though, it’s been tough! I want to plant!

The Hosta Room

With the party shed done (check out the finished party shed here), we finally decided that there was one small section that we could plant. It was to the left of the party shed — out of the way and not impacted by any future hardscape projects. The area gets plenty of shade so I decided that it was the perfect spot for a Hosta room!

Imagine this. A stepping-stone pathway that winds through smaller Hosta, then larger Hosta. The pathway leads to a very small clearing just large enough for an Adirondack chair and footstool. When sitting in the chair, all you see is a room of Hosta. Sounds amazing right?

Facebook started showing me ads for a Daylily and Hosta Nursery close to me and Chris decided it would be a great birthday present for me to go on a field trip and buy some Hosta! I spent lots of time on their website (www.daylilyandhostagardens.com) so I could plan my “room” with small, medium and large hosta. What fun!

This year is the second year for my Hosta room. It looks like we lost only three (out of 21) and they are starting to fill in nicely! The different shades of green, leaf shapes, and sizes are going to be beautiful when they get to full size. Here are five of my favorites.

Blue Mouse Ears

The round leaves on this one make it so cute and the blue-green color of the leaves is beautiful. The Blue Mouse Ears only gets to be about eight inches tall and eighteen inches wide. The leaves form a dense mound. Mine hasn’t bloomed yet, but they say the blooms are a deeper purple that most Hosta.

Mini Skirt

Mini Skirt Hosta comes from the Mouse Ears lineage and gets to be about the same size. The leaves are wavy with blue green centers and white-green edges giving it a flirty (think mini skirt) feel. Like mouse ears, the leaves are dense making it an attractive stand-alone plant.

Twist of Lime

The Twist of Lime Hosta get to be about twice the size of the first two Hosta we’ve talked about. The leaves have a bright green center with darker edges and are longer and thinner than some Hosta. They have a very slight ruffle that helps give them their name. Twist of Lime can take morning sun.

June

We planted June Hosta closest to the clearing in the center of the Hosta room because of its beautiful foliage. It’s just a little bigger than Twist of Lime. The leaves are more rounded and, this year, are the size of lunch plates on our plant. Because of the rounded leaves, the bright green centers really show off against the dark green edges. They are said to have a good growth rate (year two for us seems to show that to be true) and can also take morning sun.

Empress Wu

The Empress Wu Hosta is said to be one of the biggest Hosta out there.  We paired this one with the Humpback Whale Hosta to provide a tall backdrop (think wall) for the room. Empress Wu grows more upright that most Hosta and can get to be as tall as four feet and eight feet wide. In poor soil it might be more in the range of 3 feet by four feet.  Either way – it’s a giant! The leaves are “corrugated” and blue-green in color. This year ours is only about 2 feet tall, but we were told to be patient with this one.  It could take 5-8 years to reach mature size. Looking back at my Guacamole Hosta, which took 3-4 years to get to their current size, I’m willing to wait.

Unknown Hosta

I thought I was being so smart in making sure we kept the sticks with the Hosta names with the plants when we planted them. You can see the sticks in some of the pictures. Unfortunately, sun apparently will fade permanent marker and now I have a couple of Hosta that I can’t name. I’ve included pictures below. If you have some ideas of what they might be, please let me know!