Praying Hands loves sun, and will grow very well in full sun if kept well watered. It will also get 24 inches tall or more, and form quite a large clump. More sun will also help promote flowering.

Praying Hands bought last year. She build only one eye but now she is reducing my dsiappointment by showing a flower :-) She has shadow until 2pm, then sun for the rest of the day.

As you say, there are not so much pictures with flowering PH.

My PH is 4 yrs old and has not spread out much but it does flower. I wish it would get full. It is in a large fairy garden (the bottom of a broken chiminea that I found on the side of the road waiting on trash p/u.) and the other hosta with it is huge.

yes, it blooms … purple flowers

Mine didn't set pod or pollen

Mine is in lots of sun and I've had it for 3 years now and it never flowered yet. We'll see what happens this year.

pretty sure its sterile.. we all wanted to hybridize with it.. when it first came out ...

perhaps it knows its sterile.. so it figures whats the point of flowering.. lol ...

now.. that said ... all hosta are unstable [like many of us here... or we wouldnt be here] ... mostly crazy ... and never say never.. so i would not be surprised if once in a blue moon is possible.. and it can do it all ...

too much DEEP shade.. can make any plant forgo flowers to make more green leaves to try to suck up more sun to make energy to survive ... but boy.. with a hosta.. that would have to be one dark grotto ... move it if you want ... but with this one.. i dont know if the effort is worthwhile ...

ken

To build on what Ken said, I do have a Praying Hands that has a lutescent streaked sport. The sport produced seed pods last year. There were very tiny seeds in the pods - they were not empty wings. Although none germinated that could simply be user error...if I get pods this year I will try to germinate them as soon as they are ripe.

ConnieMay, that would be very exciting to follow - I hope you get pods this year too! How is the sport growing? I think you left the sport alone to see how it does this year? Is that right?

Hi Jo - this sport is a strong grower. I separated it last fall before planting it in the ground and it hasn't skipped a beat. I will start a separate thread sometime soon where I will share new pics of this sport and my other streaked PH (that one is not lutescent)...both are special to me.

Perfect! :-)

we need a geneticist ... can a sterile sport sport to a fertile one ... boy that makes my head hurt.. lol ... the corollary would be there is some regressive fertility in PH ....

the alternative.. is something regressed to allow a higher fertility ... hmmm... head still hurts.. lol ...

ken

PH flowers grow quickly, that's a fact:

Only two days after first pic...

Dhaven, that was a very interesting explanation written to be easily understood, thank you! The possibilities are exciting re ConnieMay's sport.

Question for you re sunlight and PH. Do you know to what degree the dark green leaves get bleached out in lots of sun?

My praying hands is just getting it's flower buds now and not quite open. I'm in in zone 5 Canada. It is in my mini bed but now has covered all my mouse ears and mini s so someone needs to move out soon. It is in quite a bit of sun and gets lots of water

Looking good, Faye and it's colour looks great - in sun. Thank you.

Gorgeous Faye! I need to move mine into more sun.

dhaven, thank you for the very good explanation of hosta sterility and fertilization intricacies. I like to leave it to the hostas to figure it out on their own and wait to see what develops. :-)

Josephine--the Praying Hands that I've seen in full sun are only slightly less dark than those grown in shade. No edge burn either, which you will sometimes see in a hosta with a light edge that's in lots of sun.

Thank you, dhaven, that is what I needed to know as I'm thinking of planting it in a permanent spot. Much appreciated. :D

(Ken-did that help your head ache?)

==>>> no ... but todays headache is not related to PH ... lol ...

ken

I have one and it is just now sending up the brach. It's a second year plant.

from yesterday

Praying Hands just beginning to flower in my zone 6 Pittsburgh PA garden. Photo taken today, 7/16/16 This gets a lot of sun in this end of the garden.

Very nice, thanks for posting. What is the corrugated gold above PH?

dhaven, that is Maui Buttercups.

Thought it might be, thanks. Very nice clump of MB, too!

Two years ago, I planted this praying hands. When I read this thread, it made me think that my plant, too, did not bloom last year. A couple of day went by, I looked over, and wow! Full of blooms!

I started this thread, asking for suggestions on getting my PH Hosta to flower. And most that I got in return is people with pictures of their PH Hosta in blossom, and saying that they do actually flower. Not very helpful.

To be accurate, you said, "I was beginning to wonder if it is supposed to flower." So now you know. Yes it is. Is that helpful?

Duh, now I know not to be sarcastic. Of course it flowers. I need to know what to do differently so it does flower.

water it well … give it plenty of afternoon sun, and i find i put mine only slightly deeper in the ground than a normal hosta. but that is just me. YMMV. it looks great in pots, especially those old clay tile cylinders … but they need to go back in the ground for winter ...

Jeff, what you "need to do differently" is to provide it with more sun. Is it possible to move it more forward where the sun will hit it or to a sunnier location altogether?

DH and I agreed in the first few months of our relationship that sarcasm is a relationship killer and we never use it on each other. 29th anniversary this year.

Mine gets sun from 1 pm to 6 pm, maybe that helps build flowers...Easy to put one in a pot and test it...

I never really paid much attention to the flowers on the praying hands but mine has finally open and flowers are quite nice. Now to see if they make seed. For the life of me I don;t recall any from years before but will keep out an open eye now

JeffInPa... a request, please... is it convenient for you to post a photo of your Praying Hands hostas? Having more than one growing in the same area, and some already mature, must be something else as they are such a stand-out in any garden. Mine is only a year old. Would love to see your hostas. :-)

Edited to add:. observed today a few flowers scapes on PH - about 4" high so far. Have you checked yours lately, Jeff?

I just cut all the flowers off the praying hands as there was not one flower stalk that made seed so I got my answer. Anyone else's make seeds?

Mine is a few years old but hasn't multiplied. It does flower but no seeds.

Just bought yesterday, 3 flower buds ( $4 at Menards).

JeffInPA, I had two adjacent hosta that did not flower last year. I had fertilized with compost in the past but I using Flowertone on those two this year. I am not a chemist, but I have read that lack of certain nutrients can discourage flowering. Have you had a soil test?