Hostas do well in Colorado if you can dodge the May snow and summer hail storms. I have about 50 in Aurora, but water, water , especially if they get much sun. Good luck!

Hey! Where's Don-in-Colorado?

paging Don to the red hosta phone......

Yes of course you can grow hosta in Colorado. Your conditions sound ideal for hostas. I'm growing about 24 varieties of hosta in Arvada. In fact, I have 5 varieties on the North side of my house that never get any supplemental water. They do fine.

I recommend amending the soil when you plant but that's about it. You'll probably never see the scale that they grow in Iowa, but they will be beautiful nonetheless!

If you want to come see my garden, send me a private message. Also, when you get going, let me know and maybe we can trade some starts. I don't find a lot of hosta enthusiasts around here.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice! I'm not sure I'm an enthusiast yet - but there's always time, right? I'm in Boulder - do any of you have a local source for your hostas, or do you mail order them? Our local hardware store has a few, but not much selection.

O'Toole's in Westminster has a decent selection. I have purchased them at Lowe's as well. Maybe Paulino Gardens although I haven't been there yet. But they are a nice garden center so I'm sure they must. I mail order any special ones I want that are not in the garden centers here.

As I remember the Denver Botanical Garden has a nice collection of hostas.

I picked up some nice hostas at Lowe's this summer.

Well, after a long day of ripping out bishop's weed and violets and lemon balm, digging out a bushel of rocks, and digging in my soil amendments, I finally got to the fun part - plant shopping! Our local store had two hosta varieties, so I got both, naturally. Elegans and Great Expectations. I will post a picture when they look a bit less sad than they do now, right after planting.

Those are both fantastic. The Elegans gets huge so give it lots of space. And Great Expectations is my very favorite hosta.

Welcome to Colorado. Hostas typically do very well here, I'm in the same general area as Sunnywood and Popmama, as you are. I typically get my hostas through the mail from a few trusted sources, although if I were to buy them locally, I occasionally get them from O'Tooles and Lowes. Have fun and, as Sunnywood mentioned, water, water, water! : )

A few pics of my gardens at their best...

Thought I'd share photos of my hostas. The only name I can remember is Francee...it's the green and white one, my fave. Purchased them all from an online source about 20 years ago. I'm in snow country and in winter the barrels are under 2 to 8 feet of snow (and eventually ice), as they are in the drip line. We have replaced the barrels, and amended the soil, once over the years and the plants seemed unfazed the next summer.

You are all so fortunate to live where there are numerous Hosta vendors. Thanks for sharing your gardens...so many hostas so little room!

Susanb, I am so impressed that you can keep them alive in barrels! I'd love to try that. It sounds like your climate gets more snow than mine.

I went to Paulino Gardens today. They had a nice selection of hostas, some I haven't seen elsewhere. Some of theirs had hail damage but they will be fine. I left with First Frost for only $11 but as soon as I assess my situation, I will probably go back for some others.