Right now it would have to be Paradise Power! It has grown huge in only a short time! Phil

Right now in my zone 5a garden, there is Liberty, and everything else is green, blue or green-white 'variegated'.

Hi LindaC. I loved reading your post & it really got me thinking. I'll try to stay on-topic, but I'm finding my thoughts trailing in different directions and staying broad. I used to call myself a collector and left many hosta on the brink of good size & years on them at my last house. I have just started an infant Garden With An Emphasis on Hostas. I have mixed thoughts & experienced. Bear with me.

As someone who started over with hostas last year & have only 19 which were planted then & have come up from my own soil, I'll comment on those...not the newest 2010 additions.

SIZE:
I have only 2 hostas which are nice & big, and those stand out because the remaining 17 are still toddlers. Maybe in several years when others grow up, they may fade from the spotlight. 1 is Blue Angel which grew in my brother's yard for about 7 years. He tore down his garage & didn't have a new spot. It grew under landscape fabric & rock mulch, and it's grown so much since it's been here. The other is Guacamole. I bought a large pot-bound clump last year and this year it's "freakin' huge". Bigger than any hosta I had at my last house.

GLOWEY COLOR:
You said no June, but I'll say June...and Liberty. The spring yellows are gorgeous and light up the yard. They are in different planting beds, and I'm investing more research time & money into the glowey ones and ensure they are strategically placed in different beds & focal points to keep the eyes moving. I'm a sucker for blues with heavy corrugation & cups, so "glowey" is something I could use more of.

At my last house, Birchwood Parky's Gold was always a glowey standout no matter what time of season.

SHAPE:
I really notice the vase-shapes no matter where I'm at, and I like to see the stems. I think a well-placed vase-shape will always add a little something-something. I get sad when a vase is underplanted & the architecture gets camouflaged.

Those are my general thoughts.
Gayle

Later, many are distinctive, but right now it's Sagae, Liberty, montana Aureomarginata and Orange Marmalade. Lakeside Dragonfly, Wolverine and Moonstruck are small, but distinctive now too. Of course, the golds like May, Golden Scepter and Dancing Queen are pretty spectacular.

the nicest in my garden is striptease for the second year straight. my two patriots are really eye catching as well from a distance.

Oh,I forgot Fried Bananas! It is threatening to swamp Olive Bailey Langdon,and Earth Angel,which are planted near it! Pretty soon,you won't even be able to see the hail damage. Phil

Right now, Satisfaction because it is quickly "leaping" this year! Also Summer Breeze which I have not noticed much in past years, but seems to glow at night with just the porch light on.

In a nutshell... we don't need all these varieties. It is crazy. On the other hand, while garden beauty is based on artistic principles... form, balance, color... collecting is something else. I've often observed that my gardens were more attractive gardens before I went from 100 varieties to in excess of 800. As long as people collect, there will be lots of new varieties each year. Like cup-holders in minivans --- we will never have enough.

Some years back I ran a survey on several forums, based on this same premise. The hosta producers make their living by generating interest and sales in the newest varieties, and all too often they hype is based on a good name rather than an improvement over previous varieties.

There is a wine shop that operates on the principal that you don't need to carry a few bottles each of a thousand wines... just lots of bottles of a few wines in each category that give the best bang for the buck. I imagined a list for gardeners and nursery folks that said "If you want to carry a yellow hosta, here are the favorite two yellow hostas in each of the sizes - mini, small, medium, large, very large.

We did the surveys in the winters of 2002 and 2004... can't believe it was that long. Everybody said we needed to do the survey in the summer when the hostas were showing... but I never had the time.

Just for kicks, here are the results of the last survey
====================
2005
Mother-of-All "Best of" Hosta Survey

The goal of the survey was to collect impressions of hosta lovers of the best hostas of particular color combinations and sizes. It is an attempt to answer questions like "What is the best small blue hosta?" or "I want to plant a medium sized hosta with a yellow center which one should I pick?"

Over 2250 votes were registered by hosta lovers on two popular hosta web forums. More than 500 hostas were selected at least once.

Voting was organized into ten categories:

1. Green
2. Blue
3. Yellow
4. White-margined
5. Yellow-margined
6. White-centered
7. Yellow-centered
8. Streakers
9. Unusual ones
10. Red

Each of the ten categories was then divided into sizes, based on the typical diameter of a well-grown garden plant. The size categories were defined as:

Dwarf/mini typical clump 15" or less in diameter
Small typical clump 15" to 30" in diameter
Medium typical clump 30" to 48" in diameter
Large typical clump 48" to 66" in diameter
Extra Large typical clump exceeds 66" in diameter

The top hostas in each category and size group are listed in the order of votes received. Occasionally, similar hostas were grouped together and votes combined  these are indicated by a "/". Example: ventricosa / Lakeside Black Satin. Sizes of hostas vary greatly depending on location, so the distinctions should be taken as advisory rather than fact.

The results are not a scientifically valid poll. Those voting were not a random sampling of gardeners and the differences in vote counts were sometimes small. One cannot draw the conclusion that these are the best or most popular hostas in every category and size. One can, however, draw the conclusion that every hosta on this list is an excellent choice in its particular niche.

RESULTS

Category 1 Â Green

Dwarf/mini Tiny Tears; venusta
Small Baby Bunting
Medium Bridegroom; Invincible; ventricosa / Lakeside Black Satin;
Lakeside Lollipop; Leather Sheen
Large Niagara Falls; Potomac Pride; Fried Green Tomatoes
Extra Large Komodo Dragon; nigrescens Elatior

Category 2 Â Blue

Dwarf/mini Blue Mouse Ears; Blue Ice
Small Blue Cadet
Medium Halcyon; Love Pat; Fragrant Blue; Abiqua Drinking Gourd
Large sieboldiana Elegans; Big Daddy
Extra Large Blue Angel; Krossa Regal

Category 3 Â Yellow

Dwarf/mini Lemon Lime; Shiny Penny; Chartreuse Wiggles
Small Maui Buttercups; Fire Island
Medium August Moon; Sea Fire
Large Golden Sculpture; Daybreak; Zounds
Extra Large Sum and Substance; Sun Power

Category 4 Â White-margined

Dwarf/mini Cameo; Cookie Crumbs; Kifukurin Ko Mame
Small Lakeside Kaleidoscope; Stiletto; Lakeside Dragonfly
Medium Fair Maiden; Dark Star; Francee; Minuteman / Patriot;
El Nino / First Frost
Large Northern Exposure / American Halo / Northern Halo;
Christmas Tree / Christmas Pageant
Extra Large Regal Splendor; Parhelion / Winter Snow

Category 5 Â Yellow-margined

Dwarf/mini Hope
Small Golden Tiara / Grand Tiara; Sultana
Medium Wolverine; Queen Josephine; Summer Breeze; Radiant Edger
Large montana Aureomarginata; fortunei Aureomarginata;
Tokudama Flavocircinalis
Extra Large Sagae; Sum of All / Bottom Line / Lady Isobel Barnett / Titanic;
Abba Dabba Do
Category 6 Â White-centered

Dwarf/mini PandoraÂs Box;
Small Revolution; Remember Me; Lakeside Cupcake
Medium Fire and Ice / Loyalist / Pathfinder; Whirlwind; Summer Music; Cascades
Large Night Before Christmas; Guardian Angel
Extra Large (no winner)

Category 7 Â Yellow-centered

Dwarf/mini Hidden Cove; Cherish
Small Little Sunspot; Rainforest Sunrise; Kabitan
Medium June; PaulÂs Glory; Choko Nishiki / On Stage; September Sun / Lunar Magic / Lunar Orbit; Stained Glass
Large Paradigm; Great Expectations; Striptease; Guacamole;
Gold Standard
Extra Large (no winner)

Category 8 Â Streakers

Dwarf/mini (no winner)
Small Korean Snow
Medium Galaxy
Large Savannah Supreme
Extra Large Blizzard

Category 9 Â Unusual Ones

Dwarf/mini Uzo No Mai
Small Korean Snow; Allegan Fog; Tattoo; Bridegroom
Medium Revolution; Praying Hands; Embroidery
Large Spilt Milk; Guardian Angel; Striptease
Extra Large (no winner)

Category 10 Â Reds

Dwarf/mini (no winner)
Small Red October; Cinnamon Sticks
Medium Cherry Berry; One ManÂs Treasure; Fire Island
Large (no winner)
Extra Large (no winner)

My Heatwave is a stand out but that's only because it's the only thing leaved out. But I have to say it looks a lot like my June. I actually had to look the two of them up because I was starting to think it was one of my Junes that wasn't labeled(but it's not)

As I've said several times, I'm a hosta lover, not a hosta collector. I have no idea how many hostas I have or how many different varieties I have. I just like a beautiful scene of hostas.

I'd much rather have several duplicates of great hostas than hosta No. 340 - 350 in my yard.

At the moment before the variegation shows up in many, certainly Liberty is a showoff as is montana Aureomarginata. At a slightly closer distance, Sally and Bob is a stark raving beauty.

In three more weeks, there will be a lot of beauties out there.