Eola Salad Bowl Plantain Lily

Follow a regular watering schedule during the first growing season to establish a deep, extensive root system. For a neat appearance, remove old foliage before new leaves emerge. Divide clumps every 2 to 3 years in early spring.

This bright little fellow looks best planted in the foreground of deeply shaded gardens. It will contrast with Hosta and other plants with emerald green or bronze foliage. Plant as a groundcover to block weeds among the acid-loving flowering shrubs. Excellent in shaded rock gardens, on slopes, embankments and low, moist pockets. Later in the season, enjoy the bright flower spikes that add interest and variety to the foliage.

This yellow-tinged Hosta works wonders with bronze plants such as Burgundy Lace Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum 'Burgundy Lace') and, on a smaller scale, Palace Purple Coral Bells (Heuchera micrantha 'Palace Purple'). Combines well with the hardy Alaskan Fern (Polystichum setiferum) and Buttons 'N BowsTM Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla 'Monrey').

For the early 19th century this group of plants was known under the genus Funkia, as classified by German botanist, Kurt Sprengel. It has since been named Hosta by the Austrian Leopold Trattinick who honored his fellow countryman, Dr. Host. The genus contains over 40 species mostly native to China and Japan. These plants reached Europe in the 1780s with introduction of H. plantaginea from which most of our modern hybrds descend.

Hostas appeared little in gardens until about the 1960s when tissue culture allowed the expansion of cultivars to the astonishing numbers there are today.