Just for the fun of it, some hostaphiles create what are called "Designer Hostas". Dr Jim Wilkins, past AHS President and former Hosta Registrar, wrote an article in The Hosta Journal in 1992 where he described this fun concept. Creating a designer hosta is a lot easier than hybridizing a new cultivar from seed. It involves taking 4 or more division from each of 2 or more cultivars and mixing them together to form a new clump. This can be done in the garden or you can put the created plant in a container.

One nice combination that Jim created is shown in the illustration. He put divisions of H. 'Blue Edger' and H. 'Gold Drop' together to form a complementary color combination. Another suggestion is to combine for a flower effect. Two all-green plants such as H. 'Montreal' and H. 'Mount Royal' could be combined. One plant has purple and the other has white blooms.

Have some fun and think of other color or feature combinations that will result in an interesting, eye-catching clump. You can also use this to stump a plant snob who thinks he or she knows every hosta in existence.