Hostas are normally grown for their foliage, and cultivars have been produced with an astonishing variety of leaf shape, colour and size. Most of broad, rounded leaves with a pointed tip, and these may be blue-grey, green, yellow or cream, and striped in any number of ways with any of the other colours. Most have leaves 20 to30 cm long, but there are lovely miniatures, and a few bigger ones. Relatively tall stems carry the tubular flowers, which are almost invariably white or pale purply blue, and rarely add much to the attractiveness of the plants. In autumn they die down, so the leaves are easily cleared away, ready to emerge in spring.

Hosta 'Painted Lady' is distinguished by its foliage, which is rather longer than wide, pointed at the tip, and green, with a hint of blue, and lined along each edge with a narrow strip of white.