Struggling to brighten up those shadowy garden corners or even indoors? Here are the Best Variegated Hosta Varieties to add cheer where the sun doesn’t shine!
The best part about Hosta is not just its easy-to-maintain and shade-tolerant persona but also the sheer dynamism and versatile varieties it comes in! Regardless of your garden type, there is a hosta waiting for you. We present our selection of the best variegated Hosta varieties out there!
Why Do People Love Hostas?
Most hosta varieties are a big hit among gardeners because they grow exceptionally well in the shade. They also come in various sizes, shapes, and patterns, ranging from six inches to four feet in height and spread.
The amount of light directly influences the color of their foliage, and some varieties thrive even in complete shade. So, if your garden lacks sunny blooms, hostas can perfectly fill that void!
Hosta foliage colors indicate the variety’s light needs. While darker hostas retain colors better in the shade, lighter ones need more sunlight to maintain their vibrancy, so consider this when growing these cultivars.
Hardy to USDA Zones 3-9, hostas need rich, moist, well-draining soil mix to grow and cold climate to thrive. Let’s dive into our guide to variegated Hosta varieties to pick the best for your home!
Best Variegated Hosta Varieties
1. Liberty
Botanical Name: Hosta x ‘Liberty’
Have a lot of space to fill? This giant hosta variety, growing to about two feet in height and three feet wide, with blue-green leaves, is the perfect candidate! The main variegations are the wide, irregular yellow margins on its foliage.
It has a slow and upright growth habit, and the edges turn creamier as the plant matures, providing a lovely backdrop for its lavender-colored blooms.
2. Francee
Botanical Name: Hosta x ‘Francee’
Quite a popular cultivar, Francee showcases borders of white against dark green leaves. If you are an impatient gardener, this quick-growing variety with a dense, mounding appearance would be the ideal choice.
It tolerates some sun and grows to two feet in height and double that in width.
3. Frances Williams
Botanical Name: Hosta sieboldiana ‘Frances Williams’
The puckered heart-shaped leaves of this variety with a central blue-green tint are sure to steal your heart! The leaves also showcase irregular chartreuse margins that become creamy white as the plant grows.
Remember to give this Hosta a lot of space as they spread quite a bit, up to five feet!
4. June
Botanical Name: Hosta x ‘June’
This hosta variety has thick spade-shaped blue-green leaves that darken and variegate along their borders. The foliage is a work of art, with cores that turn golden with more sunlight and chartreuse in the shade.
Ideal for garden beds, borders, and underplanting flowering shrubs, this variety thrives in partial shade and prefers some morning, dappled sunshine. However, it is prone to attacks from snails and slugs!
5. Magic Island
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Magic Island’
Speaking of slugs brings us to this slug-resistant variety! Also, if you are crunched for space, Magic Island is a small to medium-sized Hosta with a compact, mound-forming growth habit that “fits” right in!
It features thick yellow leaves and stands out with its irregular blue-green borders. In summer, the borders widen as the center changes to lime green.
6. Rainbow’s End
Botanical Name: Hosta x ‘Rainbow’s End’
Next on our list of the best-variegated hosta varieties is the Rainbow’s End! If the name of this Hosta variety doesn’t already intrigue you, just give it a few hours of bright, indirect sunlight and watch the colors unfold!
Glossy, lemony leaves with dark green edges and sweeping brushstroke patterns of creamy white emerge as the plant basks in sunlight during the warmer months.
7. Patriot
Botanical Name: Hosta x ‘Patriot’
Stemming from the popular Francee cultivar we mentioned above, Patriot can tolerate some sun and has a compact growth habit. But what makes it exceptional is its glossy, corrugated, deep green foliage with irregular white borders!
Growing up to two feet tall and double that width, there’s no way the dark corners in your garden won’t light up with the contrast this variety brings to its surroundings!
8. Captain’s Adventure
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Captain’s Adventure’
Also known as Captain Kirk, this plant changes foliage color quite dramatically as it matures—that too, every season! The young plant starts a neon green and matures into a “watercolor” pattern with dark green streaks surrounded by sunny borders.
This one thrives in moderate sunlight as long as it is filtered and grows to a medium height of about a foot.
9. Revolution
Botanical Name: Hosta x ‘Revolution’
Due to its mounding habit and medium-sized growth, Revolution is perfect for indoor settings. It features creamy-white foliage that really offsets dark green speckles and borders.
The colors really come to life in mild summers as you start seeing pale lavender flowers adorn the plant!
10. Hosta ‘Remember Me’
Botanical Name: Hosta x ‘Remember Me’
This striking Hosta variety changes colors as the seasons change! Starting with bright yellow centers and irregular greenish-blue borders, Remember Me showcases a lighter yellow and sometimes a creamy white center.
This variety is more suited for hosta connoisseurs as it is slow-growing and can be quite challenging for newbies.
11. Wide Brim
Botanical Name: Hosta x ‘Wide Brim’
The ‘Wide Brim’ has always been a popular variegated Hosta variety. It has a clumping growth habit and grows moderately fast. Its large, puckered dark-green foliage has wide, irregular yellow borders.
It grows up to a foot tall and fairly wide, around three feet, and thrives in full shade. Check out these hosta container ideas for shade for ideas.
12. Frozen Margarita
Botanical Name: Hosta x ‘Frozen Margarita’
Frozen Margarita is a great addition to our selection of the best variegated hosta varieties! With fragrant pastel blooms and rippled wavy leaves with white to cream margins around a shiny golden green, this one is also a rapid grower.
Filling out your empty, dull corners quickly, its foliage turns lemony and light when grown in the shade. If you’re looking to expand your shade garden, don’t forget to check out these foliage plants like hosta.
13. Whirlwind
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Whirlwind’
Rightly named the ‘Whirlwind’ thanks to its twirly leaves, this variety also stands out for its white-centered foliage surrounded by dark green margins. If you want the white to be more pronounced, just give this plant more sunlight than usual. And if you want more of its green margins, move it to a shadier spot.
With thick, broad leaves, this one grows quite rapidly to over a foot in height and three feet wide.
14. Paul’s Glory
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Paul’s glory’
This is more of a part-sun variety wherein you will enjoy the large golden, corrugated leaves with turquoise green margins. Pair Paul’s Glory with the Liberty variety for a heaven-made match!
Their alternate color variegations make them the perfect companion plants to each other. Its thick green leaves make them quite slug-resistant as well.
15. Brother Stefan
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Brother Stefan’
The thick, puckered leaves of Brother Stefan feature fan-like strokes of light lemon-yellow center with edges in bluish-green. If you like what you see, pair it with the Blue Angel variety, which perfectly complements these hues.
This large-sized hosta grows moderately and has a waxy texture in spring, giving it a bluish tinge overall.
16. Stained Glass
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Stained Glass’
If you live in an area with a lot of sunlight, go with Stained Glass. Its foliage features vibrant golden-yellow centers with a prominent green edge. Though one of the most sun-tolerant Hosta varieties, it can also thrive in partial shade.
Remember to keep the soil moist! And consider adding Epsom salt to keep your hostas big and bushy!
17. Reversed Patriot
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Reversed Patriot’
Evident from the name, Reverse Patriot’s foliage colors are the opposite of the Patriot variety. Pair the two together, and you’ll have a jumble of deep green and creamy white patterns exploding from your previously dull, shaded corner!
This variety is excellent for edging plants. It thrives in a few hours of dappled morning sun that helps intensify its hues, but it needs afternoon shade to thrive.
18. Guacamole
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Guacamole’
The name reflects its hues—a delectable guacamole green bounces off its huge, glossy leaves! This fast-growing hosta also has dark green margins, similar to an avocado’s. When exposed to more sunlight in summer, the leaf centers turn to vibrant gold.
Quite a uniform and soothing sight, this variety grows up to 1.5 feet tall and almost four feet wide!
19. Curly Fries
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Curly Fries’
While this hosta won’t satisfy your carb cravings, its eye-candy for sure! A smaller hosta variety like a calathea, it has extremely narrow, rippled leaves with chartreuse foliage that brightens in the morning sun.
It has a clumping growth habit and in summer, you will see pretty lavender flowers adorning the top of the clump.
20. Great Expectations 
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Great Expectations’
This slow-growing hosta will surely live up to all your great expectations! With patience, you can enjoy its thick, puckered, ovate leaves that start with a chartreuse center in the spring and change color with the seasons.
Though the broad, irregular blue-green margins remain the same, the center changes to a creamy yellow and even white!
21. Minuteman
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Minuteman’
Also known as Funkia, this hosta features wavy, slightly cupped dark green leaves with clean white margins. One look at this variety, and it would be unsurprising why it is one of the most popular white-margined hostas!
Growing up to two feet tall and four feet wide, this fast-grower is also slug-resistant.
22. White Feather
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘White Feather’
One of the most distinctive Hosta varieties, White Feather, is named so after its prominently veined, thin leaves that emerge white in the spring. As the season changes, they gradually grow mottled and streaked with green.
Perfect for adding drama to garden beds or containers, the foliage’s texture is matt above and glossy on the undersides.
23. Pandora’s Box
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Pandora’s Box’
When they say good things come in small packages, they must have been talking about this pocket-sized hosta—a collector’s gem! The two-inch leaves sport white centers and blue-green borders.
However, the most unique feature is the green streaks between the white centers and blue-green margins, highlighted even more by the bell-shaped lavender flowers that bloom in early summer.
24. Striptease
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Striptease’
With a white streak “teasing” the golden center and green edges, this name deserves an award! It grows vigorously and is a perfect ornamental, thanks to its mounding growth habit. To experience the full-color contrast of this variety, provide it with dappled sunlight.
25. Deja Blu
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Deja Blu’
A medium-sized variegated hosta that grows to just about a foot in height, Deja Blu features blue-green leaves with irregular chartreuse margins. A creamy edge emerges between its grey-green center and yellow margins with the dappled morning sun.
26. Sagae
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Fluctuans Variegata’
The best way to describe the large Sagae variety would be as a “vase-shaped” cultivar. It has a mounding growth habit featuring oval leaves with wavy edges. The leaves are a cool shade of blue-green, and the margins are creamy white.
It has a spread of more than three feet and blooms with bell-shaped white flowers that have a hint of lavender in summer.
27. Pathfinder
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Pathfinder’
One of the best-growing white-centered hostas with dark green borders, Pathfinder grows to about a foot tall and three feet wide. With speckled green spots on its foliage, this variety complements and provides an alluring backdrop as underplants for white flowering shrubs.
28. Tokudama Flavocircinalis
Botanical Name: Hosta tokudama ‘Flavocircinalis’
One of the most elegant variegated hosta varieties, this Japanese cultivar showcases heart-shaped, corrugated frosty blue leaves with neon-green margins! Combine these with hosta varieties with smooth, plain foliage to create a dynamic hosta showcase.
It grows to about a foot tall, and its leaves are thick and quite slug-resistant.
29. Paradigm
Botanical Name: Hosta ‘Paradigm’
Last but not least, the Paradigm hosta really shifts the paradigm in foliage colors! With substantial cup-shaped ridged leaves in gold with streaked bluish-green fringes, this variety fares well in the sun.
Unlike other varieties, you will see your plant cheer up with brightness in summer. Most importantly, this one grows abundantly with a four-foot spread.
Let us know in the comments below which Hosta variety or “varieties” you picked for your collection!
