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Hostas for Autumn Beauty

Find out which types of Hosta varieties hold up the best all summer long and still look great in the Fall. Learn which are the most drought and slug resistant.

About 5 years ago I was on a Garden Club Tour on a very hot August evening to a local nursery to view all their beautiful Hosta. I found it was the very best time to view them!

Hostas That Still Look Good After A Long Hot Summer

If Hostas have made it through weeks of hot, hot weather and summer storms and still look good, those are the varieties I wanted to have for my perennial beds! (I have also written about some other sun tolerant hostas that you may want to read about.)

In fact, it was the first time I had ever seen ‘Paradigm’ as a mature plant and it was a must have for me!

I have made a check of my beds in the past week or two and the ones that don’t have any burning, or few holes are more than I had originally thought, and they are some super varieties!

Below are some Hosta varieties that are great looking shade plants and can hold up and still look good at the end of the summer, as well as some that can handle more sun than most. Some also have the added bonus of being slug resistant.

‘Paradigm’ Hosta is just splendid in early September.

‘Halcyon’ is super and in a lot of sun where I have it. It is one of the few I would recommend for sun. (Not hot sun against a cement block house wall, next to a cement sidewalk, or southern exposure, but will take a lot more sun than other varieties.)

‘June’ is also superb, and is a sport of ‘Halcyon’.

‘Touch of Class’ is just that, a Classy Hosta that is a tetraploid form of June.

‘Inniswood’ is another one that  has surprised me. Just gorgeous. (this plant is about 6 years old and never did a thing in it’s old spot and so in the spring of 2009 I moved it to where it is now on the north east corner of the house, and in the two seasons it has doubled in size and did not burn this year).

‘Sun Power’ where it is in more shade does not burn or have insect damage. Sun Power by the Gazebo does burn some. I just cut those leaves off when they start to look too awful.

‘Krossa Regal’ is always a trooper. In more sun it will not be as blue, but if it still looks good in September, then so much the better!

Montana ‘Auero Marginiata’ is still looking very well. It has a few holes from some insects but the tall mound is breathtaking. The color of this one fades by mid August, but I see on the Eastern exposure, that it is still bright. (So, more light but not hot sun.)

‘Sum and Substance’ is a very large golden specimen that is still just beautiful in mid-September. A bit of burning from the sun, but nothing to be concerned about.  Notice how the leaves look like they were purposely layered on top of each other?  It looks like a flower on top of a decorated cake.
 
There are other varieties that still look very good too, way into the fall months. Some of them shown below are Aoki, Blue Mouse Ears (a miniature), Bressingham Blue, a very large one, Crusader, Strip Tease, Regal Splendor, and Blue Wedgewood and Brother Ronald. Francee is looking good and Fringe Benefit also where they are in more shade.

As I buy new varieties this fall I am looking first at whether the Hosta is Slug Resistant and then Sun Resistant to make purchasing choices.

Remember, with perennial beds……we expect them to be perfect all summer and even into the fall months. (We have been reading too many garden magazines!)  This just isn’t going to happen.

Anything growing outdoors from April to October is not going to look very special even by the mid-summer time. But in the chance that it does, plant some more of that variety! Especially if it is a slug resistant Hosta!

Sometimes we expect way too much perfection with our perennials, especially with Hosta.

Just think if we were standing outside in all that heat and rain and storms………many days with no water to drink when it was really needed……what would we look like?