Fragrant Hosta Varieties to Enjoy This Season
- John Plant
- Jul 4
- 3 min read
Hostas are a versatile leafy perennial that are known for their variety of fabulous leaf shapes, sizes and colours. A garden would not be a garden without them.
Grown for their wonderful foliage, that comes up every year, year after year. Like all plants they have flowers. Generally, between the end of May up to August. These are generally a lavender colour, but some are purple, some are white. They are a wonderful addition to the foliage. But did you know that some of these are fragrant?
Yes, there are a number of Hostas that give off a lovely soft fragrance. Yet another benefit of Hostas. I can’t imagine not having fragrance in the garden, and having Hostas that are fragrant gives another element to my planting.
Fragrant Hostas generally grow in reasonable sunshine. Early morning or afternoon sun is preferable, but they are generally tolerant of sunshine.
The fragrance can be described as a lighter or softer Honeysuckle like smell. They won’t fill your whole garden with fragrance but you will know they are here.
All fragrant Hostas can trace their lineage back to Hosta Plantaginea originated in China, most of the species that provide the modern plants were introduced from Japan to Europe by Philipp Franz von Siebold in the mid-19th century
Whether you are a ‘remove or leave’ the flowers on person, these fragrant blooms do make a lovely spray of fragrant Hostas in a vase. Not just their colour but their fragrance too.
Here are a few of my selected fragrant Hostas that are doing well this season.
Austin Dickinson …. This is a medium sized variegated green leaf with cream edges forming a good mound shape throwing up fragrant purple flowers well above the foliage. A very quick grower as well.
Crusader… A medium sized mound of grey-green leaves with narrow creamy white margins with tall, pale lavender, fragrant flowers held well above the crown. A great contrast with the foliage.
Diana Remembered… A lovely loose medium to large, variegated Hosta with green centres to the leaves and a wide cream margin. Wonderful white flowers held on tall 28” scapes with the wind waving their fragrance around the garden. She is also a fast grower and plenty of flower scapes once established. A great Hosta in memory of the late princess, Diana Spencer.
Enchiladas… A large variegated Hosta with a wide gold centre to the leaves and mid-green edges. A great Hosta just to look at the foliage colour and form, but enhance by tall scapes of fragrant flowers. What a stunner.
Fragrant Bouquet… One of the original fragrant Hostas. You just know by the name. It will form a large specimen of wide, rounded, pale green leaves with a cream edge and jettings of pale green to the leaf centre. Fabulous white flowers held on tall scapes of some 30”, and of course, very fragrant.
Invincible… A great Hosta with a loose medium to large mound of long, shiny olive-green leaves, slightly pointed. Then you get tall, pale lavender, sometimes almost white, fragrant flowers above the foliage offering a wonderful contrast between foliage & flowers.
Tortilla Chip… Finally, a yellow-leaved fragrant Hosta. It will form a large loose mound of golden yellow foliage above which will stand 36” scapes of white flowers. This is a stand out foliage plant with the added benefit of fragrant flowers.
If you are going to have lots of beautiful Hostas in your garden, then why not put in a few fragrant ones. You can’t see it, but you can smell it. Put them near a seat or a doorway so you can appreciate them more.
A garden or container in an area filled with the fragrance of Hostas, can turn any area into an aromatically colourful place to enjoy. There are many more Hostas with fragrant flowers than you would imagine, or that we have mentioned. Check out the Scented Hostas we currently have available on our website.
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John Plant
Rewela Hostas
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