Product Field NotesCompanion Plants
Dancing Queen Hosta: Yellow That Stays Yellow All Season
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Plenty of gold hostas start bright and fade to chartreuse by July. Dancing Queen hosta comes up bright yellow and stays yellow, softening only slightly in late summer. Its large, heart-shaped leaves have a crimped pie-crust edge, and pale lavender bells rise above the clump in mid to late summer. It was named Hosta of the Year for 2020.
Dancing Queen at a glance
| Trait | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Botanical name | Hosta 'Dancing Queen' |
| Foliage | Bright yellow, heart-shaped, pie-crust edges |
| Flowers | Pale lavender bells on 28-inch stems |
| Size | About 18 inches tall, 30 inches wide |
| Bloom | Starts mid-July, peaks early August |
| Hardiness | USDA zones 3 to 9 |
| Light | Part sun to full shade |
| Deer | Susceptible |
Bright color for the shady side
A lavender garden lives in the sun, but most homes also have a shady strip that gets ignored. Dancing Queen is a quick fix for it. Yellow foliage reads like a patch of sunlight under trees, which makes a dim bed feel bigger and brighter. It is also a good bridge plant in a garden plan: its pale lavender flowers in August tie back to the purple of the sunny beds, even though the two never share soil.
It pairs nicely with dark-leaved coral bells, lacy ferns and astilbe, and it looks striking beside blue hostas. Sketch both sides of the garden in the Companion Plant Planner.
Getting the best yellow
- Light: bright shade or gentle morning sun gives the strongest color. Hot afternoon sun can scorch the leaves.
- Moisture: evenly moist, rich soil that drains. Water during dry spells so the edges do not brown.
- Mulch: keep it thin near the crown so slugs have fewer hiding places.
- Cleanup: cut collapsed foliage after hard frost.
- Dividing: split crowded clumps in spring as new shoots appear.
Deer love hostas, so protect them in open, rural yards. It is fully hardy in Michigan and needs winter cold to rest.
As a specimen or in pots
One Dancing Queen in a large container on a shaded porch brings a lot of color with very little effort. In the ground, repeat it every few feet along a shaded border for a ribbon of gold, or mass it under a tree. It is offered as a 72-cell plug tray and a 20-cell plug tray. See each product page for current availability.
Frequently asked questions
Will it stay yellow in deep shade?
It holds its yellow better than many gold hostas, but very deep shade makes any gold leaf a little greener. Bright, open shade is ideal.
Is it a good container hosta?
Yes. Its size and bright color suit specimen pots. Use a pot with drainage holes and water more often than in the ground.
What does the pie-crust edge look like?
The leaf margins are crimped in small, regular ripples, like the edge of a pie crust, which adds texture to the bold yellow.
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