Hosta 'Gold Standard' Plantain Lily

Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit

A sport of 'Diana Remembered', Hosta 'Gold Standard' Plantain Lily is an herbaceous perennial offering summer interest. Grown for its ornamental variegated foliage, 'Gold Standard' has wide, seersuckered, slightly cupped leaves. They emerge a beautiful chartreuse color and have irregular painterly dark green margins. The leaves turn golden yellow as they mature and may fade to white at season's end. Midsummer, funnel-shaped, pinkish lavender flowers bloom on 42-inch-tall scapes, attracting hummingbirds.

A Hosta hybrid, commonly called plantain lily, 'Gold Standard' is a highly versatile medium to large hosta with a dense, mounding habit of overlapping leaves and a vigorous growth rate. A rhizomatous plant, it also multiplies rapidly. 'Gold Standard' is most at home in woodland settings but is tolerant of air pollution and grows well in city environments. It is an excellent specimen and container plant but is shown to best effect when grouped or massed in beds and borders, and it makes nice edging too.

Easy to grow and low maintenance, Hosta 'Gold Standard' Plantain Lily grows best in shady to shade-dappled locations with rich, highly organic, moist, well-draining soil, having an acidic pH of 5.8 to 6.5. Some morning or dappled sun may be beneficial, especially for leaf color; however, too much sun could be deadly. In the growing season, hosta needs consistent moisture and should never be allowed to dry out fully; however, 'Gold Standard' is more dry soil tolerant than most. Later in the season, allow the plants to dry slightly between waterings. Adding a layer of mulch around the base will help retain moisture and keep the roots cool.