Also be aware that the zone 8 sun in the PNW is quite different than the zone 8 sun in Texas.

tj

Thank you for the responses. I do know that zone 8 PNW is a lot different than in the south, which is why I added that fact. It's hard to compare my growing conditions with most others, as I know it's different here.

I'd love to hear from anyone growing hostas in conditions similar to mine. If you're out there and have had success with sun tolerance, let me know!

Here's 3 recent links that you might appreciate. Sorry you'll have to cut and paste to view.

Seattle Garden
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hosta/msg0623135816489.html?

BC Canada Garden
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hosta/msg062329516257.html?11

2nd BC Canada Garden (also person who did writeups of these 3 gardens)
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hosta/msg062346297783.html?25

Paul

Sun tolerance has more to do with the angle of the sun than the zone. Here in the PNW, depending on exactly where you are - I'm in Richmond, B.C.- we live essentially in a rainforest. That's our saving grace, PLUS the fact because of our sun angle we get far less intensity and we can get away with having most of our hostas in a great deal of direct sun.

Pieter

Naylor Creek Nursery is on Bainbridge Island WA. They do not have an open nursery I'm told, but they have a great online catalog of hosta they sell. If you are not familiar with them, and might need some hosta to add to the lovely list of holdings shown above, then call and speak with Gary. He'll have some ideas, and is always courteous, friendly, and knowledgeable.

Pieter, I had no idea that you were BC! Learn something new every day.

How hot does it get in the summer? The longest day of the year is coming up, but by far our hottest times come much later in the summer. I was in the Seattle area many years ago now, and loved the huge ferns and rainforest quality of the area.

Paul, thank you for the links...I'll check them out.

Pieter, I didn't realize that about sun angle. I know the rain saves us here as far as keeping the hostas happy....but how did you learn about the sun angle? Thanks for the input. I seem to learn something new about gardening every day!

Moccasin, I have ordered from Naylor in the past. You're right, they're great. I tried to ask about visiting their garden a couple years ago, but was politely told that they don't allow visitors. I never thought to ask about sun tolerance. They get quite a bit more rain up that way than I do here, but it's similar enough that I might get some good ideas.

Barbara, it's a hot day here when it's 80! Mind you, I'm about a 5 minute walk from the Fraser river and as you know large bodies of water will temper the air. It gets a little warmer farther in the valley, by about 10 degrees, but here on the We(s)t Coast we don't get the hot and cold they get further inland in the Interior out Myrle's and Faye's way. To each his own, and while you can dress for the cold, society does not allow us to undress for the hotter days, so, my wife and I prefer this temperate rainforest we live in.

FF, the sun's angle is just basic science, the lower the angle the less intense it is. Sun tolerance basically comes from the plant staying turgid enough to continue to support itself provided it stays hydrated. The sun's intensity at our latitude is seldom able to evaporate enough water from within the plant's tissue to cause sunburn. It can and does happen, and it happens in July/August when the precipitation falls off and we're unable to provide enough additional hydration to the plant. Some Hosta species and cultivars are better able to cope with lower levels of hydration than others. For example, most fragrant-flowered hostas are very sun tolerant, whereas certainly for me any members of the Hyacinthina family can begin to look quite desiccated by mid-august if I don't supplement their water needs. As a broad rule, variegated hostas with a lot of white are less sun-tolerant. Hostas with more substance to their leaves tend to fare better, but be aware that blue hostas will go green if in too much sun because their waxy coating -which gives them their blue appearance- melts in too much sun.

Pieter

This post was edited by pietertje on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 13:47

So, I live in the Twin Cities.... just a bit south of the 45 degree latitude line.

You live in WA, where the entire state is north of the 45th.

I've venture to say that most hostas could tolerate lots of sun that far north.

Also consider that our days are longer than those who live in the south. For instance, my sis lives in Dallas.... their days are about 90 minutes shorter than ours in MN.

So, sun from dawn to 12:30 in our are is about an hour longer than if we were in TX.

I'm in zone 8 in Texas. Today, it's 110 in the sun, and 102 in the shade (according to my thermometers). It's 2:30 in the afternoon. The heat will continue to go up until about 6:30 PM, when it will start to decrease. No hosta can stand up to that kind of heat and sun.

Your USDA zone is determined by how cold it gets in the winter. It doesn't matter what your summer temperatures or what the sun angles might be. We occasionally get down to 15 or 20 degrees in the winter, so tender plants can be damaged by our cold. We're on the 32nd parallel, so tender plants are sometimes damaged by our heat and sun.

We value our trees and our shade here. Hosta grow well under our trees, fortunately.

bk

Yes, bk, I doubt any hosta (maybe not even plantaginea) could hold up under Texas full sun! I was there last summer and I couldn't believe how hot it was. Brutal... but then I'm kind of of a "sun wimp". Lol.

We are a very heavily forested city. We need all that shade in the summer. We're kind of where East Texas ends. Fort Worth is where West Texas starts (FW is well shaded, too). East Texas is wet and green. West Texas is dry and brownish green. Unfortunately, it's hot all over Texas in the summer.

bk

great source of info

Flower_frenzy is right. The Dallas Arboretum planted plantaginea in full sun one year. It was ugly, to say the least.

bkay

longitude is reality ....

geo schmid used to have maps of the native range of species .... and if you compared them to TX ... or any of the south US... you might be amazed at the difference from the north pole.. or conversely..... the equator ...

needless to say.. hosta are not equatorial plants ...

if i can find a link to the maps.. i will add it ... ken

http://www.hostalibrary.org/speciestop.htm ....

5c .. up to you if you want to load a pdf file ... unfortunately ... there is no world map ....

i suppose this is the opposite of winter zone pushing in northern climes ....

ken