Traditionally, hostas have been considered a "shade loving" plant but this is at the least a great over statement. Hostas are actually a shade tolerant plant which, like all plants needs a certain amount of light to complete photosynthesis. Some hostas may be grown in full sun if given moisture and a moisture retentive soil. Also, certain hostas are more "sun tolerant" than others by nature. Many hostas grow amongst grasses or in crevices on mountain sides in their native environments.

As shade tolerant plants, most hostas will do best with some shade especially in the afternoon when the sun is most intense. They will survive and grow in very heavy shade situations but will be slow to grow and form mature clumps. Of course, hostas do well under most trees, however, those with shallow roots such as most maples may compete with the hostas for water and nutrients causing them to struggle.

Again, traditionally, hostas were known as a "caste iron" plant with no problems. As the numbers of hostas being grown in more and more gardens has expanded greatly, a few common problems have started to show up. Tops on the list are deer. They seem to love to chew off the leaves of hostas leaving a celery looking stalk. Slugs will chew on the leaves if the environment is moist. Foliar nematodes may infest certain types of hostas and turn the tissue between the leaf veins brown by late summer. Finally, the most serious problem is infection by viral disease. Fortunately, none of these problems are super serious and none of them should prevent you from growing hostas with great results!

Most hosta species are from the islands of Japan, with a few originating in Korea and a smaller number from China. There are currently 42 species recognized "officially". The most recent discoveries were H. yingeri and H. jonesii which were identified in the 1980s in Korea.

Like all plants, hostas are reproduced sexually (by seed) and asexually (sports). Seeds are produced by pollen coming into contact with the ovaries of the plant. In hostas, this is most commonly done by bees but a group of people called hybridizers actively move the pollen from the stamen and onto the pistil of the same or a different hosta of their choice. They keep records of the parents and plant the seeds after harvest in the fall. Out of hundreds or even thousands of seedlings and after careful evaluation, they may choose one or two (or none) to name as a new cultivar.

Sports occur when a part of the mother plant spontaneously changes. So, that green hosta suddenly emerges in the spring with one division that has yellow leaf margins. Separate that division and, if it is unique enough, you have a new cultivar. In recent decades, a commercial micro-propagation technique called tissue culture (TC) is capable of creating hundreds or even thousands of clones of a single mother plant very quickly. These large numbers plus the use of certain chemicals in the process result in many sports in a batch of otherwise uniform clones. A high percentage of the variegated hostas introduced now come from TC.

As far as we can tell, there are around 10,000 named hostas. This sounds like a lot but consider that there are over 70,000 named daylilies. Anyway, anyone can pick a hosta seedling or sport from their garden and give it a name. Some of these plants never leave the originator's property but there names show up on a website or in a book. There are probably no more than 1,000 or 2,000 hosta cultivars or species available in nurseries scattered across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan or on the Web.

In addition to The Hosta Helper Site Map (had to get a plug in), there are several books and websites where you can start to make some sense of the hosta world. A few of these would include the annual Hosta Popularity Poll by The American Hosta Society. The Hosta of the Year award by the American Hosta Grower's Association.

Among the many fine books on hostas, The Hostapedia (2009) by renowned hosta expert, Mark Zilis is a great resource for both beginners and veterans. To go deeper into the historical aspects of hostas, The Genus Hosta by W. George Schmid (1991) is a great reference. Click on the books link above for a more inclusive list.

There are many thousands of hostas which have been used as parent plants for hybrids or sports. However, there are handful of species and cultivars which appear in the pedigree of large numbers of new cultivars. Tops on this list is H. 'Sieboldiana' and its most famous offspring H. 'Elegans' which are in the background of well over 3,000 hosta cultivars. If you see a large, blue-green hosta, odds are that one or both of these plants are in its genetic makeup.

Other cultivars you will frequently see in the genetic background of many hostas would include H. 'Beatrice', H. 'Dorothy Benedict', H. 'Flamboyant', H. 'Frances Williams', H. 'Tokudama' and H. 'Tardiflora'. Species in the background of many hostas would include H. longipes, H. montana, H. nakaiana,  H. nigrescens,   H. plantaginea, H. sieboldii and H. venusta. Each of these plants is in the genetic heritage of at least 250 named cultivars.

It is always helpful to have a group of people who share a common interest. They can share information, experiences and provide fellowship. The American Hosta Society (the "The" is capitalized and part of the official name) is the premiere organization for this plant species in the U.S. It holds a national convention each year featuring some of the top private and public hosta gardens along with educational programs. Even if you don't attend the conventions, it is worth joining in order to receive The Hosta Journal (again, the "The" is capitalized and part of the official name)

The Hosta Helper has nearly 60,000 pages of information on all aspects of the genus, Hosta. Useful links may be found on our large Site Map page. Information is organized in the following units: Have other questions you think should be included? Click Here

1. Genus Hosta
2. Cultivars & Species
3. Hosta Clump Traits
4. Hosta Leaves
5. Hosta Flowers
6. Design with Hostas
7. Selecting Hostas

8. Hosta Background
9. Hosta Originators
10. Registered Hostas
11. Hosta Organizations
12. Popularity Poll
13. Creating New Cultivars
14. Hostaphiles

15. Hosta Helper Database
16. Hosta Care
17. Photo Galleries
18. Other Info Sources
19. Words Used in Names