Your FAVORITE upright (vase-shaped) hostas

[jgh]

Hi, all!

I'm working on an article on "vase-shaped" hostas. Surprisingly hard to decide, sometimes, if a plant is truly vase-shaped. I think I'll go with the description "upright" and decide on the details later.

In the meantime, I'd like to generate a list of the top favorites among hosta folks. So... please give me your TOP favorites.

I don't need a long list - Don already did the Large Upright list and keeps adding to to it. I'm looking for FAVORITES.

On the other hand, think creatively. Just because a hosta is upright, that doesn't mean it has to be large. I'd love to have your favorite upright hosta in each of three sizes - like large, medium, and small.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Chris_W]

This is tough for me, since I don't get a chance to grow so many things to maturity and have to go by the younger look of things. When I do get to grow some things until they are older or have a chance to see some of our plants much older in other gardens then I'm often shocked at how different they are at maturity!

One upright that is really growing on me and really impressed this year is American Sweetheart. We finally had a few older plants that were showing the great upright form and when people saw them I quickly sold out of them, so others were definitely impressed too.

Another that people often asked about was Kinbuchi Tachi. It is very upright and looks so different from other plants that again, I sold out of them.

I've always been partial to Regal Splendor but Hosta 'Tom Schmid' takes that a step further with its pure white edges and it is another I really like.

And then in the really monster sized plants, I love Lakeside Surfrider and Lakeside Ripples. Here is Lakeside Surfrider:

[pauhaus]

For me the ultimate medium vase shaped hosta is Praying Hands and is a fave of mine. In the large my faves are Sagae, Sails Ho, Regal Spledor, montana Aureomarginga and Tenryu. For small I really can't think of too many. Maybe The Razor's Edge, Lakeside Sparkle Plenty and Salute. Chris that's a great pic of Lakeside Surfrider, I'd have to say based on your photo to add it to my list of favorite large vase shaped hosta.

[Angel3K]

Krossa Regal is all I have, and it's standing up alright. Love it!

angie

[Marlys]

Jim - My favorite upright / vase shaped Lg - XLg plant in my garden is H 'Rascal'. It took several years for it to "get there" but it is awesome! Last year our gardens were on optional tour for the Midwest Regional Hosta Convention. ASH president, Tom Mitcheletti visited here. He was amazed at my Rascal & said it is the biggest Rascal he's ever seen. So it's parent plant H 'Gold Regal' is a very nice upright but H 'Regal Splendor' is so lovely & it is huge here too. Kossa Regal is an elegant plant too. And Tenyru was my favorite medium for quite a while & Nigrescens is probably the most upright plant in my garden but Tenyru is probably just as upright. I love H 'Ebb Tide' much nicer than montana 'Aureomarginata' & just as large here, not as brightly colored in the spring. Also H 'Red Dragon' is a wonderful Lg plant.

Millennium is an awesome giant upright plant in my garden too / awesome plant but I like Rascal better but I really like Millennium. It's so unruly.

And I love H 'Regalia' for medium. If I had to choose between all the Regal series and could only have one 'Regalia' would be it. She however is not as large as her cousins. Regalia is nearly as upright as 'Praying Hands'

H 'Praying Hands' is the most upright medium plant in my garden and I really enjoy it.

Teaspoon (small) very upright and a perfect plant specimen. Even Ron commented on perfect it is the other evening or was that Reldon? Tortifons is very, very upright and I like it allot but not as much as Teaspoon.

Purple Lady Fingers / Plumb Bob are very upright also and both fun with their flowers that supposedly never open. Purple Lady Fingers (small - md) / Plumb Bob (small - med / maybe)

mini - or very small hosta / H 'Blue Mouse Ears' & my favorite H 'Baby Bunting'. I don't think Blue Mouse Ears really belongs with the mini hostas. It is more just a small hosta but the entire hosta world got changed around so it could be considered a mini hosta.

Hope this helps.

MM

[ViolaAnn]

Vase or upright - are you SURE you have a Teaspoon? Upright is NOT a word I would use to describe mine - it's one of the flattest mounds I have.

I would suggest 'Liberty', 'Regal Splendor', Salute, 'Praying Hands' and maybe 'Lakeside Cranberry Relish' as well as 'Sun Power'.

Ann

[thy]

I agree all the old ones mentioned above are great hostas.
New this year is Proud Sentry, it is lovely and I expect a lot from it
Hands Up a small Praying Hands
Ringtail starts to grow long legs here, very elegant
Stargate ... just orderd it, but I have wanted it badly, very tall streaker
Pia

[MaryW]

My favourite vase-shaped hosta is Sea Lotus Leaf. I'd say it's medium-sized and loves mostly shade but can tolerate some late-afternoon sun. Makes a nice centre-piece for the north side of my rock table garden. Love it! Tried to add a pic, but my file size is too big and I'm not sure how to make it smaller. Cheers! Mary

[jgh]

I'm working on the article, so I'm bringing this back up to the top. The first thing I've run into is the curious registrations on one of the popular - and excellent - upright groups.

Gold Regal was registered by Aden in 1974 as 24x16. Alex Summers (spt. of GR) was registered in 1989 as 24 x 20. Rascal was registerd by Solberg in 1991 as 20 x 18.

I don't know how big these will get eventually, but mine tend to be around 40 x 24 - and I know there are bigger ones. Seems odd that the error in size was continued all those years later in the sports - by that time somebody should have noticed that the parent was, indeed, a large hosta...

I'm still open to more nominations!

[Chris_W]

Hi Jim,

Those sizes were likely the size of the plants at registration. That has sort of confused me at times... When registering should you list the actual size when you submit the registration, or should you extrapolate and make a guess at the ultimate size. Clearly some people register based on what they expect while the majority, at least of those who grow them for a period of time, submit the actual size so far.

I was of the understanding that you should submit the actual size but then I heard from someone else that you are supposed to submit the expected, mature size. I still really don't know which is correct...

[jgh]

too much to hope that people would grow them to maturity to decide if they were worthy of registration, I guess... but back in '74 was there already that much pressure that Aden had to register an immature plant? Ah, well...

[rosemarie]

OH crap, there go all you enablers again.Just when I think I am getting near the end of my list, you guys come up with a bunch more "must haves". Of course I should know that a true hosta lover never gets to the end of the list. So now I will have to rely on catalogues to get me through the winter. And then all the new catalogues will be out and I am off again. Oh well, I guess there are worse addictions.

[viktoria]

'Glen Fetish' has also gotten larger since registered at 5-6 years of age.

Viktoria

[jgh]

that is one very pretty hosta, Viktoria!

I see you registered in 3 years ago at 36" x 30" - was that an estimate of mature size, or the size of the 6-yr-old seedling when you registered it?

[viktoria]

Thanks for checking, Jim. Looks like I anticipated further increase in size. Which dimension is the height? I am sure it was larger this year...but so were the slugs and voles (slugs do not seem to like GF much) as well as everything else: we had the rainiest summer in the 150 years that records have been kept.

For relative size, on the left behind GF is 'Borwick Beauty' and on the right 'Lakeside Maestro'. These were all planted two years ago so they are still settling in.

Viktoria

[jgh]

36" diameter x 32" height

and I like it better every time I look at it!

[pauhaus]

Great looking hosta Viktoria, congrats!

[eastwood2007]

While mine is still young, the photos of a mature "Frank Lloyd Wright" from Rick Goodenough makes my little heart go 'pitter patter.'

[GrannyNanny]

Jim -- I guess I should include my own "Louis XIV", which I registered in 2010. It is a seedling of Sun Power, and multiplies like crazy, becoming a big clump in a couple of years. I can't give you the size now, because my two pieces of it have just been in pots all summer, and have just recently been planted out. Think the size of Sun Power or maybe bigger, and that's what you'll get with ol' Louis. Phyllis

[Don Rawson]

One very nice large upright hosta is 'Osiris Obscur'. This Osiris Jardins introduction has heavily puckered, contorted, heart-shaped green leaves.

Osiris Obscur:
http://www.lesjardinsosiris.com/photos/ ... ur1600.jpg

Here it is in the background: http://www.lesjardinsosiris.com/photos/ ... ha1600.jpg