The Objective: to come up with a list of the best-of-the-best hostas by coloration and clump size. Blue Mouse Ears and Queen of the Seas are both fine hostas, but they don't serve the same functions in the garden, so we're going to generate a very useful list. Please encourage your friends to vote... the bigger the pool of voters, the better the results.

The Rules:
You can vote for ONE OR TWO hostas in each size category - don't agonize over the sizes - just give it your best shot... we can move things around a little as necessary. The goal is just to get at least one good vote from each person in any size category for which they have a favorite.

Size:
We all know sizes are tricky to nail down - we are basing our votes on the overall diameter of the hosta clump at maturity under typical gardening conditions. When a hosta is a contender but seems to straddle the categories, I will refer to Zilis and consult with folks - but ultimately I'm the decider! Just give me your favorites - we can sort things out later.

Here are your five categories... please list your votes by category:

Dwarf/Mini = equal to or smaller than 18" diameter
Small = larger than 18" and smaller than 28" diameter
Medium = larger than 28" and smaller than 48"
Large = larger than 48" and smaller than 66"
Extra Large = equal to or larger than 66"

If you frequent more than one hosta forum, please vote on only one of the sites.

YELLOW HOSTAS... YOUR FAVORITES!

S Curley Fries
S Designer Genes
S Dragon Tails
S Feather Boa
S Limey Lisa
S Marrakesh
M Alabama Gold
M Amber Tiara
M August Moon
M Fire Island
M Jaz
M Little Aurora
M Maui Buttercups
M Nancy
L Dancing Queen
L Daybreak
L Diva
L Piedmont Gold
XL Choo Choo Train
XL Krugerrand
XL Sun Power

Thanks Paul

here goes... I agree with almost all your sizes...

S Curly Fries (check spelling)
S Designer Genes
S Dragon Tails
S Feather Boa
S Limey Lisa [I'm making a judgement call based on growing this a long time. Most folks grow this as a Dwarf/Mini... the clump expands, but when it does it is "loose"... so we'll put this in the D/M category)
S Marrakech (check spelling)
M Alabama Gold
M Amber Tiara
M August Moon
M Fire Island (in 5-6 years, mine has never developed the full adult leaves and seems to want to stay in the small range... but MEDIUM is the common listing so we'll go with that)
M Jaz
M Little Aurora (I know it is supposed to be MEDIUM... but I had to wait an awful long time before mine get into even the small range... so slow, and seems so happy at 18", but officially MEDIUM.)
M Maui Buttercups (though this is small for most of us, with its heritage of Francis Williams and August Moon, we have to believe that this one will end up MEDIUM in our gardens...)
M Nancy (don't know enough about this one... people call it a small based on height, and the heritage is unknown, and all the pictures are of small plants... still, leaf size would suggest the possibility of staying in the SMALL or becoming MEDIUM. Call it either one if you want to vote for it...)
L Dancing Queen (its listed as LARGE, and we'll go with that... but I've never seen one bigger than medium... the registration and tc were done long before Kent ever grew it to a mature garden clump... so I think the size is a guess and we might change this to medium eventually...)
L Daybreak
L Diva
L Piedmont Gold
XL Choo Choo Train
L Krugerrand (this one gets large - but I can't find any record so far of it getting over about 5' in diameter, so we're keeping it in the LARGE category for now)
XL Sun Power (ironic name - mine burns up every year by midsummer due to a few hours of midday sun... much prefer Paradise Power - SP with a greeen margin - and given time, it does get into the XL category...

S = Designer Genes
M = Nancy, Little Aurora
L = Sea Gulf Stream, Piedmont Gold
XL = Sun Power, Great Lakes Gold

Steve

med. Birchwood Parky's Gold
XL Sum and Substance

bkay

Dwarf/Mini:.....Bitsy Gold, Lemon Lime

Small:..........Curly Fries, Bibb Lettuce or Munchkin

Medium:........Rosedale Golden Goose, The Shining

Large:.........Zounds, Faith, Fried Bananas

V Large:.......Sun Power, Sum & Substance

Note: They did not have Tobacco Road in Hosta Library, could not tell what its size would be, so left it off.

mini: Sunlight Child, Coconut Custard
small: Heart Broken, Cheatin Heart
medium: August Moon, Nancy
large: Grand Canyon, Zounds
XL: Sun Power

Dwarf/Mini = Limey Lisa,
Small = Curly Fries, Marrakech
Medium = Maui Buttercups, Nancy
Large = Krugerrand, Diva
Extra Large = Choo Choo Train, Sun Power

Btw Jim - Maui Buttercups is about 33" in my garden and Nancy is 25" in 2nd year. Thanks for looking those up.

Paul

Somehow the yellows seem to get a lot of good entries ever year... so I know I'll have a hard time when it comes around time for me to vote... I sure like a lot of those mentioned so far!

and mocassin - don't think you got by with it - I caught that attempt to get an extra one in!

I am surprised that the hosta I consider the finest yellow addition in the past decade - maybe the best yellow large hosta ever - has not gotten one vote on this thread!

hh

Other very good ones are Daybreak (the brightest in my yard), Stardust, Key West, Sutter's Mill, Solar Flare. I tend to go for the large ones.

Golden Sculpture is very large and has a beautiful shape and leaf, but the color isn't gold enough to please me.

Yellow Boa (S)
Curly Fries (S)

May (M)

Krugerrand (L)
Dancing Queen (L)

Choo Choo Train (XL)
Sun Power (XL)

fwiw,

hh

In doing this I'm thinking it might be interesting to hear why we left some out. For instance, I'm generally fond of Fire Island and have three in my garden where I have very few duplicates. But this year they're all slug eaten, so I can't bring myself to vote for it.

Also realizing that I generally have a lot more competition in the medium and large categories (for yellows, greens and blues) than the others. I won't vote for something I don't like in the other categories, but I may not like it as much as something in the more competitive categories.