Hosta ‘Thunderbolt’
Photo: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, Commons
Encyclopedia of Hosta
The Hosta Farm
Registry data for 5,538 registered Hosta cultivars, with care guides and shade-garden design.
- 5,538 cultivars with AHS registry data
- 147 credited Wikimedia Commons photos
- 4,441 labelled AI illustrations
- 32 Hosta of the Year picks, 1996–2027
Featured varieties
Cultivar pages checked against the AHS registry. Photo credits are under each picture.
Hosta ‘Empress Wu’
Hosta ‘Rainbow's End’
Hosta ‘June Fever’
Photo: Rob Duval, CC BY-SA 4.0, Commons
Hosta ‘El Niño’
Photo: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, Commons
Hosta ‘First Frost’
Photo: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, Commons
Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’
Photo: Andy Mabbett, CC BY-SA 3.0, Commons
Hosta ‘Liberty’
Photo: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, Commons
Hosta ‘Robin Hood’
Photo: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, Commons
Hosta ‘Fire and Ice’
Photo: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, Commons
Hosta ‘Stained Glass’
Photo: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, Commons
Hosta ‘Guacamole’
Photo: David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0, Commons
Explore by topic
Care & Planting
Watering, fertilizing, dividing — practical hosta care.
Shade Garden Design
Companion plants, layouts, and design ideas for shaded borders.
Problems & Pests
Diseases, slugs, deer, and what those transparent leaves mean.
What we are building
- Registry data for 5,538 cultivars. Year, originator, size class, leaf and scape measurements and parentage from the AHS Hosta Registry. The pages we have checked and written up are listed in the A–Z index.
- Long-form care guides. Original articles on planting, watering, dividing, diseases, shade-garden design and seasonal tasks.
- Hosta of the Year archive. Every winner from 1996 to 2027 with color, size and parentage from the American Hosta Society list.
- In-depth cultivar profiles. Popular hostas such as ‘Sagae’, ‘June’ and ‘Halcyon’ compared with their look-alikes, registered vs grown size, awards and sources.
- Buying guides. Selection criteria and specifications from labels and extension sources for deer and slug control, fertilizer, tools and bare-root plants. We have not tested the products ourselves and say so on every guide that names them.
- How we work. Sources, checks, image credits and AI use are described in our editorial policy.