Although the colors of hosta flowers can be quite fetching, they are generally not high on the list of design considerations when selecting a plant for the garden. In fact, a fair number of gardeners do not like the flowers on hostas. They cut the flower scapes off as soon as they appear. Wow!

Anyway, host flowers come in a range of colors from white to dark purple. The AHS has designated several official colors including:

Pure White Near White Pale Lavender

Medium Lavender Pale Purple Deep Purple

These colors appear on flowers of several different shapes including:

Tubular-shaped Bell-shaped Spider-shaped

Closed Double

 Purple flowers generally have more red pigment than lavender flowers. Purple flowers can vary from pale to medium to very deep or bright. There are a number of hostas with attractive purple flowers including , 'Peedee Elfin Bells', 'Temple Bells',  Over the years I have heard of red-flowered and pink-flowered hostas, but none have ever turned out to be so.

Other than pure white, hosta flowers are rarely a single, solid color. Many hosta flowers are striped, streaked or mot- tled. Some have translucent margins (which appear white), while others have a white center. Due to their relatively small size and narrow shape, such patterns are usually noticeable only from a close distance. They are, however, good diagnostic features.

1. Pure White - Hosta plantaginea is probably the best example of a host with pure white flowers. Pure white flowers appear on only a few hosta cultivars or species.

2. Near White - Although many hostas seem to have white flowers, upon close up inspection, they almost always have a bit of pale lavender mixed in. Flowers of this color are called near white. Plants with H. sieboldiana or H. 'Tokudama' in their background will have this type of flower color.

3. Pale Lavender - By far, most hostas have some shade of lavender flowers ranging from the very pale H. montana types to the pale lavender of H. 'Undulata Erromena'.

4. Medium Lavender - This is deeper, richer shade of lavender which is found in such hostas as H. 'Antioch', H. 'Crusader', and H. 'Tall Boy' among others. Hostas from the H. 'Tardiana' group of plants have a distinctive shade of medium lavender in their flowers that appears to have a hint of blue in them.

5. Pale Purple - Owing to the presence of some reddish pigment, a few species of hosta have purple flowers which range from pale to deep, dark purple.

6. Deep Purple - H. sieboldii, H. ventricosa, H. capitata, and H. venusta are species that have purple flowers in varying shades.

7. Striped Flowers - Almost all hosta flowers (except the pure whites) have a couple of colors in them. In some cases, the second color will form a distinctive stripe or shading that is especially noticeable when viewed up close. Others may have translucent tepal margins that give the effect of a bi-color bloom.