Wow, you must live pretty far north not to have hostas growing in your area. Or are you in Canada? Hostas are one of the few categories of plants that do well in the shade. That explains some of their popularity.

Yes, and they transplant easily. They are a primary feature of shade gardens and highlighted on garden tours in my area.

Many are blooming now in my zone (5b).

My gardens have half a dozen Hostas, which grow great in central Ontario, Canada.

As my dad always told me "that's why they make chocolate and vanilla."

Hostas grow beautifully in Canada, too! Hop on over to the hosta forum and you may discover they aren't boring at all!

make that -- too far south. Too hot and no shade.

I LOVE hostas for their many varieties and they really brighten up shady garden corners. Alas, the deer REALLY LOVE hostas and so I can't grow them in my north facing, shady front yard. I have a few in the fenced back, but not as shady there and too hot in the sun in NC.
Judy

There are loads of varieties and anything from tiny leaves to giant leaves. The variegated ones add so much light to a shade garden. They are also beautiful to add in mixed containers. They are deer candy though. Sadly I have to be careful where I use them.

I have hostas all over the place. Two of them are huge. There are so many varieties. I just love them, and yes, the deer love them, too. Although we have lots of woods behind my development, my house is far enough away that the deer rarely make it up here.

I have noticed how many comments on the list at the right of the screen are from the hosta forum. Guess they have lots of fans.

We just started gardening in earnest this year, and the first thing we did was plant a bunch of hostas on the shady portion of our property. Nothing much but weeds had survived there before. They are doing so well there, look nice and they are low maintenance. I had never paid much attention to hostas before, but now I'm a hosta convert.

I am in love with them too. I planted a side bed with hostas and hydrangeas about 2 years ago. I am so annoyed at myself that I planted them in that side bed. I got the plants at an auction and thought what the heck, I will just shove them over there. UGH. I dont go over there much and hardly see them. I even forget to cut the blooms for inside. It is my favorite bed!

Something ate the leaves off three of the same kind of hosta. :( Maybe a groundhog? Looks so silly now. I dont think the dear have been jumping the fence, but maybe they have.

I wonder why they liked just that one kind.

Yes, deer really love hostas. I have found that Milorganite works well to repel them and doesn't have to be re-applied too often.

You're tickled because so many people enjoy a plant you find boring? Well, we're all different. I look at how my cousin used hostas in her garden, and think, What's not to love?

My cousin Terry's garden with hostas (and assorted other plants)

You mentioned peppers as well. I have several varieties and they provide lots of peppers and they are fun to grow and delicious.
I remember the hosts in my Grandfather's garden in Connecticut, they were beautiful. Alisande is right, what's not to love?

I never even heard of "hostas" before coming to GW but boy people are sure gaga over them here.

I think it's great they found their tribe.

Alisande - wow that is a beautiful garden, thanks for sharing it.

"Posted by alisande (My Page) on
Thu, Jul 24, 14 at 17:26

You're tickled because so many people enjoy a plant you find boring?"

No. I'm tickled because I never heard of them before and here I find there are a lot of people love them, and I'm always tickled when I find out new things.

Can you grow them as houseplants?