The real colors of hostas span a much wider range than most people expect. You can find hosta leaves in green, gold, yellow, chartreuse, blue-toned, white-edged, and dozens of variegated patterns. This one plant genus gives you more foliage color choices than almost any other shade perennial you could plant.
When I first walked into a hosta specialty nursery about five years ago, I expected walls of green plants. What I found stopped me cold. Bright gold hostas glowed like spotlights on the shade tables. Steel-blue types looked almost metallic under the grow lights. Leaves striped with white and green came in patterns I had never imagined on any plant. That visit changed how I think about shade gardens for good. Hosta foliage colors go far beyond what you see at the average garden center. I left that day with six new varieties in my cart.
Each color in the hosta color range comes from a different source inside the leaf. Green is the base color from chlorophyll. This pigment turns sunlight into energy for the plant. Gold and yellow hostas have less chlorophyll. The green fades back and lets yellow pigments show through instead. Blue hostas are not blue at all. They are green leaves with a waxy coating on top that scatters light to look blue. Variegated hostas have genetic changes that block chlorophyll in some cells. Those cells show up as white or cream stripes and edges across the leaf.
Breeders have named over 7,200 hosta cultivars so far. That huge number shows you how much work has gone into expanding the hosta color range. Growers have pushed each color group further than the wild species ever showed. You can now find hostas in every shade from near-white to deep navy blue. The palette keeps growing as new crosses hit the market each year. More color options show up at nurseries every spring.
In my experience, the best shade gardens use at least three hosta foliage colors together. A grouping of blue Halcyon next to gold Sum and Substance next to white-edged Patriot creates a display that rivals any flower border. You get contrast without needing a single bloom. The leaves do all the work for you from spring through fall. I have a bed with just these three and it gets more comments from visitors than anything else in my yard.
Some hostas even change color through the season. That adds another layer of interest to your garden beds. Gold varieties like Stained Glass emerge yellow-green in spring and deepen to a rich gold by summer. Blue types start their darkest and fade to green as the wax wears down over time. Variegated hostas with a center splash shift from cream to white to gold as weeks pass. Your garden looks different each month without you lifting a finger or planting anything new at all.
Start building your multi-color hosta garden with one plant from each major group. Pick a blue like Halcyon, a gold like Sum and Substance, and a variegated type like Patriot or Minuteman. Plant them in a shaded bed with 3 feet (91 centimeters) of space between each one. As they grow, the colors will play off each other and fill the bed with rich contrast. You will end up with a shade garden that has as much visual punch as any sunny flower border in the neighborhood. Add a chartreuse type like Guacamole to round out the collection.
Read the full article: Blue Hosta Varieties and Growing Guide
