The Greater Ozarks Hosta Society is dedicated to the promotion of the genus HOSTA. We serve hosta enthusiast in the Southwest Missouri-Northwest Arkansas Region but accept memberships from gardeners anywhere. We offer Hosta lovers a chance to be included in a wide variety of club functions, fun, and the opportunity to share your hosta knowledge with like minded people.

Hostas are the number one selling shade perennial because they are easy to grow and offer a wide variety of texture and color to the shade garden. Please wander through our website and see what we do as a group and in our individual gardens.

The Greater Ozarks Hosta Society has constructed and maintains a hosta garden at Close Memorial Park on 2400 S. Scenic in Springfield, Missouri. The garden contains several hundred hostas and companion plants. It is open to the public during daylight hours year round. We encourage you to visit and enjoy the fruits of our labors. More pictures of the garden are available on the Gallery page.

Several of our members are also members of the Friends of the Garden an organization dedicated to establish and facilitate a Botanical Center, gardens, and an arboretum at Close Botanical Gardens and Lake Drummond to inspire the discovery, understanding, and appreciation of nature.

About 24 years ago, shortly after I arrived in the Ozarks I met Bill Roston, a physician and Renaissance man, one of whose hobbies was gardening. He owned Garden of Dreams, a 60 acre garden and event facility near Ava, where he raised hostas and other shade plants in several acres of land surrounding an event pavilion. Doc Roston was particularly fond of hostas and organized the Greater Ozarks Society which I had joined. He wanted to create a hosta display garden and selected the Dickerson Park Zoo for the location. A group of volunteers from GOHS, including myself, created a hosta display with plants donated from Oscar and Amy Cross from Hilltop Gardens near Ash Grove. After a lot of effort the project was completed and we left anticipating a dramatic hosta display at the entrance to the zoo. Much to our disappointment, the resident geese ate all the hostas back to the ground. Following that Doc worked with Major Close and Stan Horsch two of the original founders of Close Memorial Park, to create a new hosta garden at that location. Doctor Bill was the first president of GOHS and I succeeded him as the second president in 1998. GOHS members created the original hosta display garden during my term as president.

Today, some 25 years later I am again resuming the office of president of GOHS. Our mission now is to maintain and improve the Hosta Display Garden at Springfield Botanical Gardens. In a way it’s deja vou for me, and the intent is the same: to maintain and enhance the Garden, expand our membership and improve our participation in this effort. I look forward to a rewarding and exciting term pursuing this mission and rely on you, the current members to join with me in this effort.