Hi Henryk,
I missed hostas, too, but did not even try in TV.
My rule of thumb for hostas back back home has always been — the deeper the color, the deeper the shade needed. (I do not know if that is an official rule but that is how it worked for me.)
In TV, even if you could find the shade, I think the heat would do them in pretty fast.
In Ohio, I had good success with the
Patriot hosta — on the east side of the house with very little shade. As you probably know that is a pretty tough one, pure green with white edges — a knockout, especially when planted near something pink. It also stays a rather polite size. Watering from the bottom helped
Patriot to look good through the summer, but by late August, we would lose interest in each other and decide to face reality, give up, and meet same time next year for our glorious showing off season.
(I guess I am not helping by regaling you with tales of Midwest hostas, but you are in my wheelhouse now, and I am not sleepy tonight.)
Anyway, I understand how you feel about hostas and I hope you hear from somebody who has been successful with them in TV, but I would not put any money on that possibility.
There is a plant you might try for its beautiful foliage — Stromanthe sanguinea, aka, Tricolor. I tried this one in TV, but it did not work for me. Not only was my shade marginal, at best, but I planted Tricolor in a year when we touched on freezing. Tricolor is actually a tropical plant so it did not like that cold winter.
Tricolor will not give you back your hosta happiness because nothing beats hostas for variety and ease of growing, but Tricolor does have beautiful foliage.
Maybe try one and see what you think. I had no luck but maybe you will. The winter that did them in for me was really cold so I never tried again. (And — I should have known that Queen palms would not provide enough shade, even though those things can give a surprising amount from way up high. Besides, I eventually evicted those Queen palms — not worth the aggravation.)
Anyway, if you got through this ode to hostas, thanks for reading — but don’t even think about getting me started on hydrangeas — I love them, too.
PS: I posted and then saw kenswing’s link above about hostas in Florida. Maybe there is hope.
