New hostas come about as the result of asexual changes in the genetics of a plant called sports or through sexual reproduction (seeds) involving human manipulation (hyrbridizing) or through random action of bees in the garden. Either way, the resulting plants share the DNA and physical traits of the parent plants which can be of interest to Hostaphiles. These plants are the ancestors or "Background" hostas for each cultivar.

Listed on these index pages are the over 15,000 hosta names in the Hosta Helper Database. For each of the names, we have tried to gather information on 10 categories related to a particular cultivar or species. These include its use as a pod parent, pollen parent or sport parent. The genetic background of the plant is included where known. Plants that are considered the "Same As" or are similar looking or which have similar sounding names have been added. Siblings which came from the same hybridizing cross or from a single batch of tissue culture sports are noted.

Also included may be certain "type" plants. For instance, many hostas are said to be Tardiana-like or a H. 'Sieboldiana' -type although their precise genetic background is not known.