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funnthesun

Top 25ers that you really don't care for?

Jo posted the Top 25 Hosta list and that got me thinking, Is there any of the Top 25 that just don't do it for you? I have a couple on the list that are "Ehhhhh" for me, but wanted to hear from you guys. Here's the list, for reference:

AHS Hosta Ratings
#1 - June
#2 - Sagae
#3 - Liberty
#4 - Guacamole
#5 - Blue Angel
#6 - Striptease
#7 - Paul's Glory
#8 - Stained Glass
#9 - Gold Standard
#10 - Halcyon
#11 - Sum and Substance
#12 - montana Aureomarginata
#13 - Paradigm
#14 - Orange Marmalade
#15 - Regal Splendor
#16 - Whirlwind
#17 - Spilt Milk
#18 - Abiqua Drinking Gourd
#19 - Guardian Angel
#20 - Patriot
#21 - On Stage
#22 - Niagara Falls
#23 - Great Expectations
#24 - Praying Hands
#25 - First Frost

Comments (54)

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago

    Coll sold me on Praying Hands. This is her plant and her photo.

    bk

  • almosthooked zone5
    9 years ago

    My goodness the top 25 list are all of ones I really like and would find it hard to say which I really don't like . The only ones I can say I don't like are the ones with chew marks from nasty slugs and bugs

  • joebar
    9 years ago

    I don't care for patriot
    great expectations is an expensive joke.
    all the rest have been great. spilt milk has been really good considering some call it an "expert hosta"
    sage is slow and steady; liberty as well. striptease does just fine every year. paul's glory is off the hook.

    I think el nino should be on there

  • don_in_colorado
    9 years ago

    Personally, 'Praying Hands' does not do it for me. I don't think it's nice-looking. All the others on the list, I have to say, I either like or absolutely love. A great list, in my opinion. Except maybe one.

    The jury is still out on 'Great Expectations'. I have no idea what to make of this thing.

    Don B.

  • User
    9 years ago

    Hmmm, well,
    There are several on the list, near the bottom, beginning with Regal Splendor, that I don't have....so cannot say I actively do not like them.

    I LIKE Great Expectations, but won't attempt to grow it here. I am not delusional. One that I do not like because it does not look good here is Patriot. It has chewed white margins, and looks totally funky, so I hope it will go ahead and die off this summer. For some reason, Minuteman does better. Both are in the experimental driveway bed, one of my sacrificial lambs. It it dies it dies, no emotional concern for me. No intention of replacing it either.

    Good question. Glad to see this approach. For sure we are fans of hosta, and it is easier to ask which do you NOT LIKE.
    Much shorter list.

  • timhensley
    9 years ago

    Fried Green Tomatoes - blah
    Spilt Milk - ok but nothin special
    T-Rex - large but boring green.
    Great Expectations - poor grower
    Samurai, Abiqua Moonbeam, Mayan Moonbeam and Hearts Content. I like them but they all look alike.

  • zkathy z7a NC
    9 years ago

    Paradigm and Paul's Glory have never impressed me. Although I do remember seeing one of them in the alphabet that made me realize why it was popular. Can't remember which one.
    Kathy

  • Steve Massachusetts
    9 years ago

    Tim, Where did you get your list from? FGT isn't in the top 25 popularity list. It probably never will be.

    As for me, the only two I don't have in my garden are Whirlwind and Patriot. Patriot is OK, but I think Minuteman is better, so I grow that one.

    In one of the gardens I care for there are about a dozen Whirlwind. A lot of visitors like it and comment on it. But it just doesn't do anything for me. It's just meh.

    Steve

  • bragu_DSM 5
    9 years ago

    I like #1 a lot but would put it in the 2nd half of my top ten.

    #12 meh

    #20 should be like #25

    #23 should not be in the top 2,000 (sorry GE fans)

    s elegans should be on the list rather than GE

    #22 is the only one i don't have

    zkath ... I'll dig out a paradigm photo that will knock your sox off.

    _~

    dave

    This post was edited by bragu on Sun, Apr 20, 14 at 0:12

  • newhostalady Z6 ON, Canada
    9 years ago

    I am not that fond of Praying Hands or Whirlwind.

    I do like Abiqua Drinking Gourd, but wouldn't get it because of its cupping. I don't like the dirt and debris that the cups can accumulate.

    Even though Montana Aureomarginata is a beautiful hosta, I hesitate to purchase it. It emerges very early and needs covering to protect it from frost. I grow a lot of my hostas in pots, and they emerge earlier than those in the ground. That is challenging enough for me.

  • squirejohn zone4 VT
    9 years ago

    I have them all but don't care for Praying Hands and Patriot. I would also include Orange Marmalade and Great Expectations because they don't grow well for me.

    John

  • santamiller
    9 years ago

    Is this list based on what the list maker considered nicest looking, does well, some sort of overall combination, or something else?

  • timhensley
    9 years ago

    Yeah I just got off topic a little. I already had FGT on the brain and trying to figure out who I was going to pawn it off on. Then I got to thinking about who else I would be digging up this spring.

    Stained Glass has been a very slow grower for me. I'm just not impressed with it at all. It'll probably be leaving this spring.

  • funnthsun z7A - Southern VA
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Tim, Stained Glass????? Say it ain't so!!!!! Good grief, that is a top 10 for me.

    There does seem to be some consensus on some of these. Doesn't seem like Praying Hands is as popular as one would think, given all the hype.

    Now, I'll weigh in and everyone will want to lynch me, I'm sure. I really don't care for:

    Sagae - yeah, I know, I know, but it has just never really done it for me, despite the huge specimins that I have seen. I don't really like the color and thinness of margin. Liberty is so much better.

    Sum and Substance - this totally should be in the Top 25 for obvious reasons, but it has never appealed to me. Love the size, but wish it had something else going for it other than single color and that color being yellow(ish).

    Regal Splendor - for the same reason as Sagae.

    Spilt Milk - the pics that I have seen, it hasn't ever appealed to me, although I would say that if I were to see a large specimen in person, my mind could potentially be changed on this one.

    Patriot - just boring

    OK, let the lynching begin!

    As a side note, I wonder if some of these would have ever been so popular if they had of been named something not so majestic??? What's in a name??? I do think the right or wrong name can make or break a hosta, but don't think it's based solely on that, of course. Just a thought...

  • MadPlanter1 zone 5
    9 years ago

    They might not be my 25 personal favorites, but I like all of them well enough to have them ( except On Stage, which on on my want list). I'll never love Praying Hands, but it is kind of interesting, and is upright enough to fill a small spot. I'll bet it never would have been popular with another name, though.

    Regal Splendor is a bit plain, but years ago I thought it was fabulous. We've just been spoiled by first Sagae and then Liberty. All three are beautiful when mature - RS just is quieter about it. A garden needs plainer hostas to set off those flashy splashy ones.

  • User
    9 years ago

    Montana Aureomarginata is on order for me. It was included in Tony Avent's llist of hosta recommended for southern (deep southern) gardens because of its early rising. I also like the looks of it.

    I really do not care for Praying Hands. I have little Hands Up, its progeny, which is about all of the contortion I can take in one plant. For my likes, Wheee! looks a bunch better. I think it will become a classic before too long. It just keeps getting better as it gets more mature.

    Now, Bragu, by listing numbers I had to go back to the list...this thread is getting rather LONG to keep scrolling up and down for older arthritic hands. Names or initials work fine.

    Funn, when you see a Sagae with fresh eyes in the morning it absolutely vibrates with ENERGY. Perhaps it impresses me so much because I saw it after a great rainstorm and something happens in the hosta garden when lightning is streaking through the sky. It make ME feel energized too, and I'm not a pink bunny! Your comment about Patriot, one word or less, boring, I totally agree with that. I have the clump of good ole Undulata Albomarginata that looks so much better. .....

    Now about the golds/yellows. You get one which stays gold, and you combine it with others to create a stream of molten gold through a garden of green and blues and varied variegations, you will be leading the eye of the beholder on a trip down a lazy river. It is an exquisite presentation. Someone had a picture on the forum of such an arrangement. It is easier to accomplish with pots, of course, but to get that effect in the ground requires a lot more skill than I have. I probably use more golds than a lot of folks, since they can generally deal with the longer daylight we have.

    MadPlanter, I haven't tried Regal Splendor, but if it is on the Top25 list from the beginning, there is some reason for it. Performance? I am willing to give it a chance. After all, I have a lot of greens to surround it, which could give it a better presentation...or maybe golds?

    .

  • mschris32
    9 years ago

    I hardly ever post, but I am a hosta lover and found this topic interesting. I only have eight of these top 25, but that won't stop me from voicing a biased opinion. :) Sum and Substance and I have a love-hate relationship. That is, I love it, and it hates me. I've had three plants that got smaller with each passing year until they finally gave up their chartreuse ghost. Sagae seems to like me more, but doesn't show it by growing very much. Guacamole is one of my favorites and grows well for me. Patriot? Just kind of bleh, as is Praying Hands here.
    But if I may vote for a candidate not on the ballot, I'd vote for the tag team of Abba Dabba Doo and Empress Wu. Big old strong-growing plants that can take up as much space in my garden as they would like.
    Now, back to lurking in the hosta bed with me!

  • don_in_colorado
    9 years ago

    Santamiller, the list of the top 25 hostas above is actually made up of votes cast by members of the American Hosta Society. The AHS has an annual list of top 25 favorites. I do believe the list up top is the latest one.

    Don B.

  • don_in_colorado
    9 years ago

    'Guacamole' is just 'meh' for me.

    Don B.

    'MEH' stands for 'Most Excellent Hosta', right?

  • santamiller
    9 years ago

    Thanks, Don.

  • User
    9 years ago

    Nonono, Ms.Chris, it doesn't happen that way. You may lurk to your heart's content, but now we know your name, and we know you love hosta. You are no longer invisible. You are one of US.

    I must say that my Empress Wu, in its 2nd year in my garden, took its sweet time emerging. But now there is one eye about an inch in diameter and about a foot tall, still furled and poised to burst upon the unsuspecting non-hosta world of Mobile AL. I cannot wait for my two elderly (as if I was not elderly, but who sees things that way) gardening neighbors to stroll by and catch a glimpse of it. They each have ONE plain green hosta from WalMart. Neither one has a computer, so unlikely to discover this forum and the exotic world of hostamania.

    Welcome and don't be a stranger!

  • Tim
    9 years ago

    I agree with you on the Blue Angel and the Abiqua Drinking Gourd. Those two along with the rest of the blue colored hostas tend to burn up in my climate (SC Kansas), even in full shade. I think it's the combinaton of intense heat and drying wind that gets them.
    However, I have to disagree with you on Guacamole and Stained Glass. I love those two cultivars of hostas. They are among my best performers, especially Stained Glass.

  • bragu_DSM 5
    9 years ago

    mocc:

    why do you think i listed it by #?

    gotta make you work for it, since MY garden isn't up yet.


    pbbbt *bill the cat imitation*

    dave

  • ilovetogrow z9 Jax Florida
    9 years ago

    Out of this list I can do without any of these returning to my garden:

    #1 - June
    #7 - Paul's Glory
    #8 - Stained Glass
    #11 - Sum and Substance
    #14 - Orange Marmalade
    #18 - Abiqua Drinking Gourd

    They have not made any great growth in like ever and just get smaller and smaller. Not going to replace if they disappear. Paula

  • paul_in_mn
    9 years ago

    For Tim

    Spilt Milk - I was pretty neutral on this one till I saw one in a tour garden in 2008 - here's mine in 2012 (planted in 2008) and still coming up with nice spilt look and getting some rugosity.

    Paul

  • Tim
    9 years ago

    Paul, your photos make me feel like I'm in a hall of mirrors. Whooooaaa... :-) They look great on flicker. Very nice hostas.

  • jadie88
    9 years ago

    Beautiful photo, as usual, Paul. What are the two blues behind Spilt Milk? Chesapeake Bay and Blue Hawaii? Beautiful grouping.

  • tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
    9 years ago

    Thank you, sir. May I have another...

    My Spilt Milk as well. It really is nicer than I thought it would be.

    tj

  • paul_in_mn
    9 years ago

    jadie88 - the two blues are Wedgwood Blue (above to the left) and Blue Hawaii.....thanks for the comments.

    tj - with so many symmetrical specimens, Spilt Milk gives you variety.

    Paul

  • santamiller
    9 years ago

    Holy glass of spilt milk, Batman! That's drop dead gorgeous! Beautifully framed shot, also.

  • josephines167 z5 ON Canada
    9 years ago

    ...and THAT pic is what sold me last year. This pic resides in my progress album for Spilt Milk. .... along with a photo of my newly acquired (2013) SM.
    Aspirations are as important as inspirations, right?

    Thanks, Paul!

  • mikgag Z5b NS Canada
    9 years ago

    On that list...

    Sum and Substance

    *hides*

  • kathrynann776
    9 years ago

    Hi there, must delurk to comment on this great topic. I have all the top 25 hostas listed, along with another 500 + hostas.
    Top 3, as far as I am concerned, belong right where they are. I have a lot of people come in my yard, and those are the 3 people most often want.
    I would move RS higher. Love that hosta for the colours. It also still looks great late in the year, which is one of my criteria. SG on the other hand, has fed half the slugs in my yard. As pretty as it is, I would move it closer to the bottom of the list.
    PH - I like it, but I use it more as a planter plant. I put most of my new small and mini hostas in pots, and if I need something tall for the middle, I like to use PH.
    Pauls' Glory is the one hosta I have a hard time with. It always gets spring burn, and I am not sure if I got a bum one or not. I may order a new hosta just to see, but if I had to replace one on the list, I would replace PG with his progeny (?) St Paul.
    Thanks - love to read here, but I find too many hostas I have to have next!
    Kathy

  • MadPlanter1 zone 5
    9 years ago

    I think a lot of why you might hate one of the top 25 depends on your zone. We're lucky here in zone 5; we wait for spring, but have happy hostas. For example, Sum and Substance has grown to be a monster, and even Great Expectations does pretty well. No problems with Paul's Glory or Stained Glass, either.

    Mocc, The first Regal Splendor I ever saw was many years ago. It was a magnificent mature specimen, Krossa Regal but with a white edge! Back then it was pretty exciting, and I still love mine.

    Hi, mschris, welcome aboard!

  • mschris32
    9 years ago

    Thanks for the welcome, folks. I knew I shouldn't have come here, though. Now that I've seen "Spilt Milk" I have added it to my worn-out notebook of "plants I must have." Moccasin, I have spent a little time in your stomping grounds of Mobile, and I have great memories of gigantic azaleas and crabbing off a pier in Mobile Bay. My Empress Wu is going on its third year, and I am hoping it will prove the old adage of "First year it sleeps, second year it creeps, third year it leaps." We shall see!
    Oh, and I'm glad to know I'm not the only gardener with the "disappearing hosta" syndrome. It has always bothered me when a plant gets smaller every year until it's down to a pitiful single leaf. Great Expectations certainly didn't match mine!

  • Tim
    9 years ago

    I think all hostas are beautiful when they grow the way they were bred to. But like MadPlanter said, a lot of it has to do with the climate in which you are planting the hostas in. Like I said before, blue hostas don't perform well in my area. They will grow fine and have no diseases but the mid-summer climate here burns them up. I have much more success with the fragrant hostas, since they endure heat better than the blue hostas.

    Here are my Guacamole and Stained Glass. They look pretty good.

    And here is my American Sweetheart and Blue Angel. Notice the burn on the B. Angel.

    And here are the Stained Glass and Earth Angel.

  • paul_in_mn
    9 years ago

    For Kathy - Paradigm looks good all year and grows even better.

    Paul

  • User
    9 years ago

    kathrynAnn, it is great to have you delurk and join the party. I say, those 25 and another 500 to boot? How long did it take you to amass that glorious a garden? It would be a lovely thing to take a walk through your garden. If you have an online photo album of garden pictures, please consider sharing a link to it.

    Hope you will keep reading. Chime in and know we welcome your contributions.

  • User
    9 years ago

    MsChris, how great that you have experienced a part of Mobile Bay life. Crabbing off a pier is a part of my youth, the happy days.....

    Paul, in that picture of Paradigm, is that a ship's wheel reproduction in the background? I'd like to have one to locate with Smiling Sailor, Captain's Adventure, and Smooth Sailing. It looks great in your garden.

  • tepelus
    9 years ago

    Actually, the photo of Praying Hands in the pot near the top of the thread is mine. Which, I'm hoping, isn't dead since I found the pot this winter full of ice and water on top, even though I had it protected beneath a tarp. :( Hoping it comes back. Hostas surviving the winter in pots have not been good for me since I moved back to Michigan. It's like I've been cursed or something. I never had one die when I lived in Ohio. Sigh.

    Karen

  • paul_in_mn
    9 years ago

    moccasinlanding - that 'wheel' is from a tilling device and was purchased from a crafter......who made it into a flower.

    Paul

  • User
    9 years ago

    Thanks, Paul. Quite creative with spare parts, these crafters.
    Very effective.

  • don_in_colorado
    9 years ago

    Plantingman, I understand what you're saying about dessicating winds in your area. We get a lot of high winds here, too, that often last many, many hours, and that's certainly something to be taken into consideration with hostas.

    Don B.

  • ci_lantro
    9 years ago

    Paul's Glory, Gold Standard, June, Blue Angel don't do anything for me. I actually dislike PG & GS. Striptease is one that I'm just tired of--I like Kiwi Full Monty much more.

  • bkay2000
    9 years ago

    I'm totally surprised that Paul's Glory is not at the top of everyone's list. Of course, I just got mine last spring, but it has done so well. It was nice even into the fall last year. Half of my hosta were banged up by the spring weather. Paul's Glory shows no uglies at all (so far). It's just a magnificent hosta. I hope it stays that way.

    bk

  • ctopher_mi
    9 years ago

    I've had such bad results with Orange Marmalade that I keep wondering if someone stuffed the ballot box for that one to end up on the list. Great Expectations is great in some gardens, but its another that hates the alkaline soil here.

  • User
    9 years ago

    Chris, when a pro such as yourself has that kind of results, it is after intense exposure to growing the plant. So I will take it to heart as I grow it. My soil is also alkaline, surprisingly enough, because generally every yard I've had before was super acid.

    Now Orange Marmalade shows some rather nice stitching on the leaf margins, but it is still not the calibre of some I've seen. However, I keep hoping. It will show its impressive leaf....lots easier to grow than Stitch In Time!

    This post was edited by moccasinlanding on Sun, Apr 20, 14 at 12:17

  • tepelus
    9 years ago

    Here's my Praying Hands last year. Can't see the pot beneath the Golden Creeping Jenny and behind the pots of homeless hostas surrounding it. Hoping it comes back.

    Karen

  • almosthooked zone5
    9 years ago

    What nice pictures of the ones some don't like lol.

    Moc here is one of Regal Splendor that may tempt you to buy , just in case you have to have one more to not hate . From my tiny ugly duckling and in the second year

  • User
    9 years ago

    Thanks, Faye, you are all heart! HAHA.
    Something about Regal Splendor reminds me of Sagae, perhaps its that energetic flip of the margin area, but it has a lot of energy IMHO.

    I like the look, that is certain. Okay, I feel my arm twisted, it goes on the list for maybe a short order that needs beefing out.
    I still have one to place, with Van Wade. And a make-up order to replace the Sugar Snap that my doxie Dolly ate (and then threw up), from the Solberg new arrivals.

    And Tepelus, your Praying Hands looks great in that pot with Creeping Jenny and surrounded by orphans. Sure hope it comes back for you.

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