You don't get the name "mammoth" by being small and retiring. This mounding Hosta with moxie grows to 3ft tall and 5ft wide, and the heavily puckered, powder-blue leaves have a span of 12in. Flower stalks rise to 4ft and are topped with many pale lavender flowers. A giant worth making room for.

This genus of shade lovers has 70 species, all of them from China and Japan, and hybridizers have produced hundreds of exciting crosses. Hostas have many handsome leaf colorations and lavender or white Lily-like flowers on graceful stalks. Plants prefer a moist location, but we've had a mass planting thrive for more than 30 years under a row of Sugar Maples. (In the South and West, evenly moist soil is required.) Because Hostas are grown primarily for their foliage, we give the height of the leaves, not the flowers.