With one being in the front yard and part sun, and the other in the back yard in full shade, it's hard to compare apples to apples. I was hoping someone with more experience with hostas might look at them and be like, "oh, that one's a jibberjabber, but that one's a whoseitwhatsit" :-D

Try posting this on the Hosta forum. They are the experts when it comes to identification.

I did :-D I started out posting it to Hostas, and the site recommended cross posting it to Landscape Design. I wasn't sure how active the Hostas forum would be, so I went ahead and cross posted it.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is my last big day to do any yard work for a week, so I'll probably move it over and just hope for the best. Worst case scenario, I move it again next year :-/

no host5a nut would suggest you cross post to the landscape design forum...

it is not the same.. not size.. not color.. not form.. not habit ...

not even close ...

and i dont have to see it in person ... nor more pix ..

ken .. head hosta nut ...

btw: there are about a thousand named green hosta.. that are impossible to put a name on.. if you lose the tag ... and the location of your blue makes it look like a rogue seedling to me ...

If the plants are in different places pick a leaf from one and place it next to the other one.

I agree with Ken that it is not the same hosta….in the first pic the leaf looks soft green with a soft blue edge which makes me think “Ambrosia.” I don’t see a border on the hosta you are comparing it to. As ken said there are about a 1,000 green varieties. But it’s interesting to me that this one has a blue tinge to it as well. Any idea when and where you purchased them?

BTW, the hosta forum is pretty active! Many of us check daily or every couple of days. Post to us first next time. 👍🏽

Also, Ambrosia is a sun tolerant hosta, so if it’s getting sun and doing well, your other hosta may not do as well in that location.

debra

First plant looks like Fortunei hyacinthina

The story behind the one in the first pic...

I bought my house close to 20 years ago, and on the Western side (all shade) there was a hosta. I knew nothing about it and wasn't in to gardening at all at the time. An animal of some sort ate it down, though, and I forgot about it.

Several years later, I saw it peeking through the English ivy that had taken over that area, so I dug it up and moved it beside of my pond. At the time, that was a part shade area. It did well, and had a beautiful blue tint to it!

Last year I had a guy cut trees that were close to my house, and in doing so it turned my part shade garden into full sun! By the end of the year my pretty blue hosta was completely cooked :-O So I moved it to a shadier area, between my tulip magnolia and my house.

It came back this year and looks healthy, but the leaves look a lot more green than they used to.

So! Based on that, I don't think it's the sun-tolerant Ambrosia. I looked up the pics for Hyacinthina and I think that @ademink is right on that one:

https://www.hostalibrary.org/f/fort.html

I hope the blue color comes back!

Here it is in the new location; I don't know if you can really tell a difference in the picture, though:

The green hosta that was in that location also came with the house. I don't remember where it was originally planted, but over the years I've divided it probably 15 times! It seems to do just fine in the sun, which is why I wanted to move them; I have sunnier areas that needed a border plant :-)

ademink has a good eye…. I would agree on Hyacinthina based on one of the photos in the HL. Also, check the underside of the leaves, hyacinthina are that dove gray color.

debra

I had a similar situation. Had several small blue hostas in various places; when I started a new bed I divided each of them. But once I had them near each other, I realized they were all the same variety. I probably divided the plant when I first purchased it.

Hahahaha, @Ben D (zone 7b), that's so true!!!! I make notes of everything now, but there was about 12-15 years where I just stuck things where I thought it might look good and hoped for the best. Now, I have no clue what about half of my plants are! LOL

@djacob Z6a SE WI, it's cold and rainy here now, but I'll look at the underside either Saturday or Monday. Thanks for the tip!

Betting that blue by the sidewalk is a Blue Angel. The newer leaves coming up have the right shape. :)

@ademink, are you referring to this one?

A couple of years ago I bought a baggy from Lowes that said "blue hostas" and had 6 bulbs in it. When they came up, 4 of them were variegated, one never came up, and this was the 6th one. Now I know that there are a ton of "blue" hostas! LOL

I read that the Blue Angel gets pretty huge, though :-O If that's what it is then I'll probably have to find it a new home, too.

Yes, that one. :) I would say either Elegans or Blue Angel...we should be able to tell for sure in a month or so! Both get really big lol

I'll update when they flower, maybe it'll be easier to identify them. That last one next to the sidewalk, the leaves are MUCH bigger than any of my others!

the ones they sell bareroot in baggies in big box stores tend to be the rejects. they sort them in huge piles after they have dug them out of the fields and wash them in big piles together.

what could go wrong?

Hahaha, right! I've learned that one the hard way. My original thought was "I have shady areas that could use a touch of color, blue sounds great!" I guess they prey on the ignorant.

Lowes has a 1-year guarantee, but I can't tell you how many times I've planted something from a bag, it didn't come up, and it was immediately forgotten. NOW I know to mark and note everything, and save the bag! But they've gotten probably $10,000 from me over the years in plants that never came up and I just let it go.

I tried to return a hosta to a big box store years ago. The manager grilled me like I was a murderer!!! “Did you this, did you do that, did you make sure of this, that and the other?” So even though I had the warranty, it was clear there was no way to prove my case, so to speak. Haven’t had that problem with online vendors.

debra