Gold Standard is a classic hosta with large, oval leaves edged in dark green. The centers emerge light green in spring and turn progressively gold toward early summer, and morning sun enhances the gold.
It grows quickly into a large mound about 20 inches tall and 3 feet wide. Pale lavender flowers appear on 30-inch stems in midsummer. It has earned many hosta society awards and makes a strong specimen or mass planting.
What it looks like
A large, mounded clump about 20 inches tall and 36 inches wide of big, oval leaves with dark green margins and centers that shift from light green in spring to gold by early summer. In midsummer, stems about 30 inches tall carry pale lavender bell flowers. At peak the plant is a bright gold mound outlined in dark green with lavender spires above.
Growing it with lavender
Hostas want shade and steady moisture, so grow this one in a shaded bed away from the lavender, alongside ferns, astilbe or coral bells.
Care
Grows in part to full shade; morning sun deepens the gold. 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. Watch for slugs in damp springs.
At a glance
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Botanical name: Hosta
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Flower color: Pale lavender
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Foliage: Gold center with dark green margin
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Growth habit: Large, mounded clump
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Mature size: 20 in tall × 36 in wide
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USDA hardiness zones: 3–9
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Light: part sun to part shade, full shade
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Bloom start: Early-July
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Peak bloom: Mid-July
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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.