My goal for the first 20 years of this website was to provide images of all of the cultivars and species by myself. I accumulated pictures of around 4,200 different cultivars or species...but then I looked at the list of ones that were still missing from my collection...then I looked at the years speeding by and finally came to the conclusion that I was fighting a losing battle. I need your help!

A couple of years ago, I began accepting hosta pictures from others. Since then, over 3,000 hosta images have been submitted by other hosta enthusiasts. To my surprise, they have come from such diverse locations as the U.S., Germany, Canada, Netherlands, Sweden, Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Some came from the people who originated or introduced the plant while others are from those who just share our enthusiasm for the genus, Hosta.

Please take a look at our criteria for sharing your photos. Our goal is to have a representative picture of every hosta for which we have a non-duplicate name in our database.

 
 

Our number one priority is to obtain pictures for cultivars that are currently without an image on the website. We want people to be able to see each plant in order to make good purchasing decisions or to learn about historical hostas.

If you have originated any hostas, we would like to have a picture of each one. There are thousands and thousands of hostas that someone put time and effort into and felt were worthy of naming. Send us a picture and information about the plant's background and we will give it a wider audience.

We have lists of hostas for which we have one or more pictures and lists of hostas currently lacking pictures.

We are especially interested in obtaining pictures of "classic" older cultivars that were developed in the early days. Many of these may have never left the garden of the originators but their names have become known to the hosta world.

They were produced in the 1960s, 70s and 80s or even earlier by the people listed below. Many of them are now deceased or have become inactive in hosta hybridizing. We would love to obtain pictures of their introductions for historical reasons. If the photos were taken on slide film, we can handle the conversion to digital too.

  1. Paul Aden
  2. Ken Anderson 
  3. Bob Balitewicz
  4. Pauline Banyai
  5. Dr. Ralph (Herb) Benedict
  6. Sandra Bond
  7. Roger Bowden
  8. Clyde Crockett
  9. Robyn Duback
  10. Dr. Ed Elslager
  11. Eunice V. Fisher
  12. Madelon Gilligan
  13. Hideko Gowen
  14. Jerry Hadrava
  15. Handy Hatfield
  16. Jim Hawes
  17. Jere Housworth
  18. Dr. Nils Hylander
  19. Bill Janssen
  20. Klaus Jentsch
  1. Greg Johnson
  2. Dr. Lloyd (Gil) Jones
  3. Herb King
  4. Heinz Klose
  5. Fritz Köhlein
  6. Gus Krossa
  7. Nancy Krul
  8. Bob Kuk
  9. Wm & Eleanor Lachman
  10. Ran Lydell
  11. Alex Malloy
  12. Ed McHugh
  13. Jeff Miller
  14. Eldren Minks
  15. Steve Moldovan
  16. Russ O'Harra
  17. Clarence Owens
  18. Loleta Powell
  19. Dr. Charles Purtymun
  20. Peter Ruh
  1. Dennis Savory
  2. Robert Savory
  3. Alttara Scheer
  4. W. George Schmid
  5. Tom Schmid
  6. Steve Schulte
  7. Jim Schwarz
  8. Mildred Seaver
  9. Viktoria Serafin
  10. Florence Shaw
  11. Bill Silvers
  12. Ron Simmering
  13. Lucille Simpers
  14. Brian & Virginia Skaggs
  15. Barry Sligh
  16. Eric Smith
  17. Ron Snyder
  18. Marjorie Soules
  19. Bev & Dave Stegeman
  20. David Stone
  1. Hajime Sugita
  2. Alex Summers
  3. Ursula Syre-Herz
  4. Kent Terpening
  5. Chet Tompkins
  6. Gary Trucks
  7. John Van Ostrand
  8. Dr. Kevin Vaughn
  9. Van Wade
  10. Dr. Dick & Jane Ward
  11. Kenji Watanabe
  12. Dr. Jim Wilkins
  13. Frances Williams
  14. Arthur Wrede
  15. Herbert A. Zager
  16. Steve & Sarah Zolock
  17. Wm Zumbar

 

We would love to display images of hostas that you have hybridized or discovered as sports and have named for introduction into the hosta world. Whether you have your own website or not, The Hosta Helper can be a place where you can "advertize" your prized hostas or to show them off to friends and other hostaphiles. You did the work of creating and naming the cultivar, this is a way of sharing it with others.

The following is a list of major hosta hybridizers who are still actively producing new cultivars (as far as we know). We have a lot of pictures of their introductions but are missing many, many more. Any images of their introductions would be welcome. Also, if you know any of these folks, please let them know that we would love to have a picture of each of their introductions. Thanks.

Although we would like to have at least one full mature size clump shot of every cultivar or species, we also like to display detail pictures. These may be of flowers, petioles, flower scapes or seed pods of the hosta. Any unique feature of the plant may be highlighted.

If you have an image of a hosta which you feel displays the plant "better" than the one currently on the page, please send it along. Don't worry about hurting my feelings. Some of the pictures I have had to use were taken on dark, dreary days at a public garden or during a hurried visit to a garden at one of the 17 National Conventions of The American Hosta Society which I have attended. If your image has better lighting or focus or composition, we will be glad to use it.

 
 
We need images in .jpg format that are 650 pixels or more wide. The larger, the better. You can send them right out of the camera or off your hard drive or from your iPhone.

We will do any editing or cropping necessary in Light Room or Photoshop. This includes adding a copyright watermark to hinder unauthorized use of the image by others.

Our goal is to show a particular hosta clump and/or its parts in the best way possible to help people who might like to use it in their garden. Therefore, we usually crop out surrounding plants and garden hardscape which may make for a good general purpose garden picture but may distract from the key subject...the hosta.

NOTE: As long as the picture is in focus, don't worry about the condition of the leaves. I am pretty adept at Photoshop and can remove blemishes, spots, holes and most other imperfections from the leaf or flower. We can also remove any extraneous objects that distract from the hosta. Click Here to see a Before and After example of an image received from a donor.

Keeping track of thousands of images on a website can be a challenge. Therefore, we have developed a naming protocol over the years to keep everything straight. So, we will put the file names in the proper format after you submit them. The only requirement is that the file name must include the accurate name of the cultivar or species depicted.

If you just have just a few images, you can send them as a simple attachment to an email. If you have large numbers of images, you can use a Zip file or similar compacting program and attach that to an email. Or, you can use a transfer website such as WeTransfer. If you have a very large number of images, put them on a thumb drive, DVD or CD and I will give you an address for mailing.

Use mrpgc@plantsgalore.com to submit digital images.

If you have a bunch of 35mm slides of hostas taken years ago, we can handle those too. As long as the name of the cultivar or species is on the slide or the garden label is readable in the picture, we have the technology to transfer slides into a digital format. Put them in a box and send them to us. We will pay for shipping costs and return them if you prefer or send you a copy of the digital images on a thumb drive.

If you have your own business or hobby website or have images posted on someone else's, we can download the pictures and post them to The Hosta Helper.  Of course, we must have your permission to do so in an email. We have had a couple of people choose this route and it has worked just fine. As mentioned below, we will link the "Thank You" graphic that we place under each photo to your website.
 

 
 

We will give you credit for providing each image used on The Hosta Helper. If you have a website, we will include a link. Of course, we will not use your photos anywhere except the specific page for that cultivar. Also, we will never share your images with anyone else.  Beneath every picture, we will include a graphic with your name as follows:

 

 

 

 
 

If you have any questions about submitting hosta images for display on The Hosta Helper, please Click Here to send us an email.

 

CopyrightŠ 2000 -