Most fragrants bloom end of July into August. None are as fragrant as plantiginea. My favs include cathedral windows, Irish luck, stained glass, guacamole, there are many others. I'm sure you will have a full list of them in a few days here. Royal standard is pretty pedestrian imo, there are many nicer.

Cathedral Windows.

Thank you so much Jim!!!Your CW does look beautiful indeed. I read in the other thread of your misfortune with the weather. I am so sorry. It seems they do recover so all is not lost.

I hope I hear about a few other fragrant hostas...

Here's a list of fragrant hostas.

As far as bloom time, they pretty much all bloom at the same time. it doesn't vary much more than a week or so.

bk

The last too commenters said what I was going to say. BTW, that list of fragrant hostas comes from the”Rawsons Lists” on the home page of the library, middle column, second line down. There are other lists that you might find helpful. The fragrant ones I have are Royal Standard, Stained Glass, Avocado, So Sweet, and H. Plantiginea which I will plant soon. They all seem to bloom about the same time as bkay said. But I have two So Sweets and they bloomed in early September. Go figure.

Thanks everyone!

I have found several good articles and lists such as the above that give me the names of fragrant hostas and their history on the WWW. I guess when asking the question I was looking more for a personal experience with the various fragrant hostas. Which ones are strongly fragrant and which ones are faint, for you. Or which smell *nice* or not so much. Fragrance can be tricky and subjective, but the existence of it can be undeniable in some cases

djacob: how does your Royal Standard smell? Quite similar to the others you mention?

The only one I've heard of being noticeably different (besides H. plantaginea) is Fragrant Blue being not as fragrant (or barely at all). I think Holy Mole and Avocado look alike (but I grow them both). Guacamole and Stained Glass will be the most available and well worth growing. I do like their sports a lot (which you can look up here). Etched Glass may not be as good of a grower, but its too soon to tell. I am especially fond of the color on Frozen Margarita and I'd love to get Ambrosia (a good one, mine is a dud, but not the cultivar's fault) and Twice As Nice.

Thank you Steve, those suggestions are certainly ones I will be looking into.

Ken: Thank you! very illustrative picture. Now this is really important. These hostas that bear fragrant flowers, such as H.p. and RS and their sports, they may tolerate a good deal of direct sun but do they need that much direct sun in order to bloom? Or do they bloom well enough with dappled light or wide open shade?

WELL YOU ALL ENABLED ME TO BUY ONE NOW. I can't wait until I get it.ha

Meyermike: which ones will you be getting?

So far I decided to try holy mole, moonlight sonata, doubled up, fragrant bouquet, royal standard. maybe guacamole too. Not done yet!

deep shade.. can effect flower production ... but in such.. the usual reason is that you cant grow anything else in that grotto.. and peeps think.. eww..eww... i throw a hosta in there .. since its bone dry and dark as a cave.. and then complaining they dont thrive.. let alone not flower proeprly ...

but.. most hosta dont mind full sun at all .. more sun.. more power/energy created..more energy stored.. bigger the plant is next year ...

the usual downside is.. they can get really ugly in summer the hotter the latitude ... they burn .. etc .. or even go summer dormant ...

deep shade.. can effect flower production ... but in such.. the usual reason is that you cant grow anything else in that grotto.. and peeps think.. eww..eww... i throw a hosta in there .. since its bone dry and dark as a cave.. and then complaning they dont thrive.. let alone not flower proeprly ...

and who knows .. other than just trying .. anything between full sun and deep shade .. words really fail.. when talking about shade ... i used to have glasses that darkened in sun ... and some of the best hosta gardens i was in.. the glasses never lightened.. because it was very bright shade ...

and in more sun ... you have the added complication of white tissue melting or burning out ...

bottom line.. if you can ID the 3 hottest hours of the day ... usually 1 to 4 or so ... that is the only time you need shade.. and its more about water loss during those hours.. than it is about the sun ...

now chew on that for a while .. lol .. too bad it buried in this post ...

ken

gw did it again... screwed up the post... hit send.. then see if i can fix it

whatever.. im pissed ... and in a caffeine buzz... ill look at it later.. see what it removed.. and hopefully what it duplicated is worth reading twice ...

pretty sure my first paragraph was ...

in MY MI ... plataginea can be full sun .. i dont know how that changes the further south you go ... obviously it aint TX ...

plus... last thought.. hosta sweat .. transpire .. give off water.. and that is why.. in the heat of the day.. in sun ... tissue damage can occur if severe ... and why the shade helps ..

Ken_adrian, thanks for that information about why hostas don't like afternoon sun. I have parked individual plants in full 6 hour sun for a season in order to get them to produce more buds. Yes, it work, and yes they need more water than I am willing to stand and give them in August, and their leaves may burn, but good stuff is happening down under, out of sight.

I don't have much full-sun terrain in my garden, though, to do this regularly. I am surrounded by too many tall oaks on all sides, and then there's the house as well, casting shadows.

My Plantagenias call the deer into the garden in August with their fragrance. I have them situated at the back of my biggest hosta bed, up near the woods. I call this Plantagenia area the "lettuce field." I've got maybe 20 mature plants back there - nope, I just went out and counted and found I have 40 - and they make lots of soft, thinnish leaves that are all bunched up together filling this huge area. In August they send up tall scapes with big fragrant white flowers. But I don't get to enjoy those flowers for long. Usually on the first or second night the flowers are out the deer come and eat all the flowers and some of the leaves.

At that point in the summer I am burned out on gardening, so in recent years I haven't bothered to go out and spray Liquid Fence on the blooming lettuce field to protect them. I It's a long walk to get to them up a hill, and I haven't made it easy to walk that portion of the garden. Too many hosta leaves; no space for legs.

But that's OK because at the end of last summer I acquired two large potted Guacamoles. I kept them near the deck so I could enjoy looking at them up close. I was surprised that their flowers had fragrance. Guacamole is a winner in all ways. They grow fast, have interesting looking leaves with subtle variegation, and produce fragrant flowers in August. Now I need to clear a space where I can enjoy them fully, a spot where I can put them in the ground. It seems a shame to keep them in pots. All my hostas do better once seated in Mother Earth. But I have no idea where I will put them since my garden is full. I may wait another season and keep them near in those pots again.

Thank you Ken!

Hello. Yes. I got myself two frozen margaritas at Lowe’s and the one that said is most fragrant above. Still waiting on that one. I can’t wait. They say the sunnier the spot the more flowers. Now I just have to find a special spot ! Thanks

Guacamole is one of those hostas that some people love and others are nonplussed with. So many people rave about them that I have wondered if there isn't something wrong with mine! So I split mine last year and planted the other one in an area with more shade. Still meh. I'll give it a full season to fully assess. If I want flagrant fragrant I will stick with my plantagenias 100%.

For visual Stained Glass is a stunner. My Stained Glass is closest to luminous as any hosta I have ever seen. Put it in a dark shady spot and it is like it glows. Oh, and best bonus, it is a fast grower so I have gotten many out of one!

My Frozen Margarita and Fragrant Bouquet are nearly identical.

Some cold damage and maybe rabbit.

I have royal standard,love it becuz it blooms late and smells wonderful and my friend has fragrant dream and it has a white flower with a hint of lavender streaked thru it and is still blooming in Niagara,💕