Site Map - from The Hosta Helper

At our last count we have over 59,000 individual pages in The Hosta Helper website. How did we get so many? Well, we have been building the site since 1998 and have accumulated nearly 15,000 hosta names in our database. This includes duplicate, outdated and "nonconforming" names representing around 10,000 different hostas.

Each of these names has two basic pages with one giving the description and originator details and a second page showing the genetic background of each name. For many topics that contain large amounts of data, we have split the information into an A to Z format with a Totals page which adds 27 pages on each of these topics.

We have about 9,200 hosta pictures for 4,232 different hostas including over 3,000 images donated by people from the U.S. and eight other countries. If you have hosta photos you would be willing to share, Click Here.

Listed below are links to all the pages in the website. Of course, there are not 59,341 links since many of them lead to the "A" page of an alphabetical grouping. Links to the Index pages of the topics and alpha bars are also included. If you are just getting started in hostas you might want to check out our FAQ page.

Note: Labeled pictures on this page with the exception of 'Tattoo' and the species H. plantaginea are all of Hosta of the Year award winners. Click on the picture for more details about that cultivar.

The primary homeland of hostas are the islands of Japan with a smaller number originating in Korea and China. For many decades (centuries?) there was a lot of confusion about the structure of the genus, Hosta. They were known by several names including Funkia and the origin of many of the plants identified as species was not clear.

W. George Schmid in his epic book, The Genus Hosta (1991), did a very detailed study of the history and biology of hostas. The major result was the reclassification of several major hostas from species to cultivar status. This was primarily because Schmid could find no evidence that these plants ever existed in the wild. Instead, they were probably hybrids or plants discovered in ancient nurseries or gardens in Asia.




			The Genus Hosta by W. George Schmid (1991)
Monocotyledon Tetraploid Hostas Flower Structure Rhizomatous Hostas Growing Environment	Plant Family Genus Species Species Map Cultivar vs Botanical Variety Species vs Cultivar Common Name	Japan World Latitude for Hostas Species Homelands	The Genus Hosta by W. George Schmid (1991)

In this section of The Hosta Helper, we have over 15,700 pages, one for each hosta name in our database. The vast majority of these pages are devoted to individual hosta cultivars, species and naturally occurring forms. They are all listed in alphabetical order and may be reached by the alpha link bar below.

In his book, The Genus Hosta (1991), W. George Schmid changed the status of several Hosta species to the level of cultivar. Lists of plants related to these changes are shown below. Also included are hostas used or recommended as breeding plants, patented hostas and those whose names conform or do not conform with the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants.

Often the first descriptive term used for hostas is their size. For our purposes, we have used the chart below for determining the size designation for the hostas in our database. These sizes are meant to describe a "mature" clump which is usually considered at least 5 years old. However, we have seen books and references say something like, "This plant grows larger than stated on the registration form. or Most plants are smaller than..." Also, site growing conditions may influence plant size.

Giant
Large
Medium
Small
Miniature

Fast
Slow

Texture Coarse
Texture Fine
Texture Medium

(Not available at this time)

Probably the single most important aesthetic trait on hostas is their leaves. For most gardeners, the leaf color and whether it is variegated are tops on the list when considering hostas. They come in blue-green, green and yellow for base color which cover 60% or more of the leaf surface. Variegation shows up on the leaf edge (marginal), middle (medial) or scattered around (streaked).

The shape of leaves, their topography, how they reflect light and the seasonal color changes some of them routinely display are also factors. Although not generally considered too serious, there are a few leaf problems that certain hostas experience such as spring desiccation, drawstring effect and variegation reversions.

Marginal
Medial
Streaked

Petiole (Color)
Petiole (Width)

Flat
Heart
Round
Tapered

Some people love hosta flowers, many are indifferent to them and a small percentage of gardeners do not like them. In nature, hosta flowers range from white to lavender to purple in several different shades. In recent years, hybridizers have been trying to develop blossoms with reddish or yellowish tepals (combination of petals and sepals).

In the temperate zones of the world, different hostas bloom starting in June and a few bloom into October. Probably the largest percentage of hostas bloom in July or August in home gardens. Flowers come in a variety of shapes with the most common being funnel shaped and they have two anther colors with most being yellow with some being purple. Other distinguishing traits are scape color, height, bracts and branching habit.

Some people create a "Collector's" garden with hundreds or even thousands of different hostas without many other companion plants. However, most gardeners use hostas as part of a landscape design including many other plants in some sort of plant.

We have tried a different approach to design by assigning an acting role to different types of hostas as if they were performers in a play or movie. We hope this will help people visualize how an individual hosta will interact with other hostas or other plants in a grouping in the garden.

Finally, whether you use this design devise or another or none, you will probably want to use section 7. Selecting Hostas for the Garden during your decision making process.

Super Star
Guest Star
Bitplayer
Extras
Scenery

Coming Soon

Whether you have a landscape design garden, a collector's garden or some combination of both, there are certain traits of hosta plants that you will need to consider. There are 4 major traits that seem to always be tops on the list for choosing a new hosta for the garden.

For the "average" gardener, clump size, leaf color, type of variegation and variegation color receive highest consideration as they shop for a hosta. As you become more of a "Hostaphile" the list might expand to include flower color, fragrance, leaf surface traits, upright forms and, perhaps, red color in the petioles and leaves.

Giant
Large
Medium
Small
Miniature

* Size Dimensions Chart

Blue-Green
Green
Yellow

Marginal
Medial
Streaked

Blue-Green
Green
White
Yellow
Streaked

Genealogists can trace our ancestry, in some cases, back many generations. This information might help us understand our eye color, height or other characteristics. As with people, there is a wide range of information available on the background of individual hostas. For many, we know absolutely nothing about their parentage or genetic background. However, we do the parents, grand-parents, great grand-parents and further for quite a few hosta cultivars.

We have also collected information concerning other factors in the background of these plants including such things as: incorrect names used for a cultivar; hostas considered the "same as" another hosta; two or more hostas with the same name; hostas noted as similar looking; those with similar names; hostas described as being a certain "type"; cultivars or species used together multiple times in hybridizing. Explaining Hosta linneage

Parent Index - All hostas with one or more offspring
Hosta Pairs used in Multiple Crosses

An "Originator" is a person or persons who discover, hybridize, select, register or in some way contribute to the introduction of a new named hosta cultivar. This ranges from major plant nurseries who find a new plant in a huge batch of tissue cultured hostas and turns it into a best-seller to a person who gives a name to a hosta in their backyard and it never moves from that spot.

Currently in our database, we have 13,823 individual cultivars which are credited to at least one of the 1,116 identified originators. There are 1,464 named cultivars that do not have an originator cited out of the 15,027 hosta names in the database.

Alphabetical Index

1 Origination
2-4 Originations
5-9
10-19
20-39
40-59
60-79

No State/Country/Full Name Listed Index
Top Hybridizers
Unknown State/Country
Totals
Originator Unknown

U.S. State Index
States Index Map

Country Index
Countries Index Map

One of the best ways to minimize the confusion when identifying hosta cultivars is to register them with the Registrar for the Genus, Hosta. Registration is meant to identify the measurements and traits of individual cultivars to avoid confusion with similar plants. Recently, the process has started requiring photographs of the registered plants. Once the process has been completed for a plant, it is considered the "official" name to be used by that plant alone.

Hostas have been called the "Friendship Plant" probably because they are easy to share with other gardeners. Also, there are many clubs and organizations where enthusiasts come together to share their love of the plant. The largest of these groups is The American Hosta Society which holds a national convention each year and produces a wonderful publication, The Hosta Journal several times a year.

The AHS Lifetime Achievement Award
Alex J. Summers Distinguished Service Award
Alex J. Summers Award Hosta
Eunice Fisher Distinguished Hybridizer Merit Award
Benedict Garden Performance Awards
The AHS Service Pin
The President's Wall of Honor
National Convention Garden Awards
Hosta Show Awards at the National Convention
Hosta Auction Awards
Local Society Activity Awards
Photography Contest Awards

Hosta Registrar
Hosta Registration

Local Hosta Groups
Growers Assoc.
British Hosta and Hemerocallis Society
Dutch Hosta Society

A few hosta popularity polls were undertaken in the early years of The American Hosta Society. Then, starting in 1991, the poll became an annual event. For most years, all size hostas were included but it became apparent that the smaller cultivars were not being represented properly. So, in 2003, a second poll for "small" hostas was initiated along with the regular poll. For most of this period, the poll was under the direction of the late Dr Bob Olson, former AHS President.

Popularity Poll Index
Polls Comparisons Year by Year
Popularity Poll Plants in Alphabetical Order
Small Hostas - Total

Average Rank for All Hostas
Average Rank over 10 yrs in the Poll
Average Rank over 20 yrs in the Poll
Small Hostas by Avg Rank

By Leaf Color
By Originator
By Size
- Giant
- Large
- Medium
- Small
- Miniature
Variegated Hostas

New hosta cultivars are created in one of two ways. Sexual reproduction occurs when pollen comes into contact with the ovaries in the flower of the pod parent creating a hybrid plant. In hostas, this transfer is accomplished by bees in a random fashion as the visit flowers. Humans called hybridizers can physically move the pollen from one plant to another or to the ovaries of the same flower to create a hybrid.

The asexual way that new hosta cultivars appear is through what are called sports. These are spontaneous changes in the tissue in parts of the plant. For instance, one spring you might go into the garden and find that one division on a green leaf hosta has emerged with yellow variegation around the leaf margin. Separate this division from the clump and grow it on it own and you potentially have a new cultivar.

Tissue culture is a modern propagation technique which produces large numbers of new plants from a small piece of the mother plant. Since this process uses certain plant hormones, the appearance of sports is higher than in nature. A large percentage of newly introduced variegated hostas come from tissue culture.

* TC = Tissue Culture

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7
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9
10's

20's
30's
40's
50's
60's

70's
80's
90's
100's

Plant people and gardeners who are deeply committed to working with hostas are often dubbed "Hostaphiles". They range from world authorities on the subject to a hobbyist with a large collection in his or her backyard. Hosta hybridizers, plant explorers, nursery owners, writers, lecturers, collectors and people heavily involved in national, regional or local hosta groups would also fall into this category. We have included a small biography for several hundred such people so you can get to know them better.

If you know of someone who should be included, please let us know.

Currently, we have over 15,000 hosta names in our database. This includes individual cultivars and species along with duplicate, out-dated and incorrect names. For each entry, we have accumulated as much information as we could from books, The Hosta Journal, websites and personal experience over the past 3 decades or so.

We have created hundreds and hundreds of pages for retrieval of all this data by physical traits, originators, registration, uses, names, etc. The pages listed below are index pages which include even more topics than are covered on this site-map.





Hosta Physical Traits Hosta Trait Percentages Database Terminology Key Hosta Background Info Breeder Plants Hosta Flowers	Hosta Images Leaf Traits Database Sort by Names Miscellaneous Topics Name Words Hybridizers & Originators	Hosta Parent Plants Hosta Clump Traits Hosta Problems Propagation of Hostas Registered Hostas Hosta Seeds	Selection for the Garden Hosta Species "Type" Hostas

Although often called a "cast iron" plant, hostas do have a few problems like any other species. They seem to be a favorite food for deer and may be infected by viral infections but, compared to other landscape perennials, they generally require less routine care.

We have over 9,300 pictures of 4,257 different hostas on The Hosta Helper. In addition, we have developed a gallery of photos to show newcomers to the genus examples of the various leaf colors, flower colors and variegation options available.




Blue-Green Green Yellow/Gold	Lavender Medium Lavender Pale Lavender Near White Pure White Purple Pale Purple	Marginal Medial Streaked


	5-Star Quality Images	Hostas with NO pictures Hostas with 1 or More Pictures

Listed below are just a few of the resources we have found valuable in creating The Hosta Helper website. Of course, The Hosta Journal, hosta nurseries and their websites, attendance at National Conventions of The American Hosta Society, visits to public and private hosta gardens and communications with other Hostaphiles have all contributed to the information on this website.

Just for the fun of it, we have pulled together some lists from the database referring to the words used in the names of hosta cultivars. We have a bunch of categories for names that are associated with a particular topic such a geography, literature, movies, politics, sci-fi, etc. The last group is for individual words which appear in several hosta names themselves.


Anatomy Animals Arts Awards Children Clothing Colors Countries Dances Descriptive Terms Drinks Education Entertainment Fictional Characters First Names Food Fruit	Geography History Holidays Hostaphiles Hostas Household Japanese Jewels Language Latin Legal System Literature Meals Medical Metals Military Miscellaneous	Money Movies Music Nationality Native America Nautical Non-English Numbers Outerspace People Plants Politics Relatives Religion Romance Royalty Science	Sci Fi Series Sports States Technology Television Theater Time Transportation Unique Odd Water Water Bodies Weather Western US Words