August Moon is a classic gold hosta with large, heart-shaped leaves that shift from chartreuse to bright gold depending on how much sun they get. The leaves are corrugated, wavy and thick, which helps them resist slugs.
It forms a clump about 20 inches tall and 3½ feet wide and tolerates full sun, which deepens the gold. Pale lavender, open bell flowers appear in good numbers on 24-inch stems in mid to late summer.
What it looks like
A mounded clump about 20 inches tall and 42 inches wide of large, heart-shaped, thick leaves with a corrugated, wavy surface. Leaf color ranges from chartreuse in shade to bright gold in sun. In mid to late summer, stems about 24 inches tall carry many pale lavender, open bell-shaped flowers. At peak the plant is a glowing gold mound with lavender flowers just above.
Growing it with lavender
This belongs in the shade garden rather than the sunny, dry lavender bed; try it under trees with ferns and woodland perennials.
Care
Grows in full sun to full shade; more sun deepens the gold color. Give it evenly moist, humus-rich soil that drains well, and water during dry spells; hardy in zones 3-9. Cut the foliage down after hard frost, and divide crowded clumps in spring as new shoots appear. Its thick leaves resist slug damage.
At a glance
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Botanical name: Hosta
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Flower color: Pale lavender
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Foliage: Bright gold to chartreuse
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Growth habit: Mounded clump
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Mature size: 20 in tall × 42 in wide
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USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
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Light: full sun, part sun to part shade, full shade
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Bloom start: Mid-July
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Peak bloom: Early-August
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Bloom pattern: Single Flush
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Deer resistance: Susceptible
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Pollinator value: Good
Sizes and shipping
Dormant bare-root plant, sold in boxes of 25 per variety (order in multiples of 25). Bare-root plants ship or are picked up March 1–May 31 only. They are soil-free, so they may ship to every state in that window. Dormant plants often show little or no top growth on arrival; plant or heel them in promptly.