Hosta propagation

Can I self-fertilize a single hosta, or will it not accept it's own pollen?

Yes, hostas are self-fertile, but you might have to figure out way to keep other hostas' pollen out or the offspring could be crosses. Even if you only have one kind of hosta in the area, the bees will probably pollinate them anyway.

Perhaps if I put a plastic bag over the flowerscape before the buds open?

avianut, you can emasculate the flower early in the morning, by stripping the petals off. then the pollen sacs, leaving only the stigma, which is always 1. the anthers are about 5 or 6, with the pollen. when you strip it the bees can't contaminate it. actually the bee will go for the nectar and not touch the stigma, after you strip it. I have been working on one flower and a bee would go to a stripped one and suck the nectar out of it. while not paying any attention to what I was doing. I tag the cross using a jewelers tag. with info like date, Pollen Parent or if I selfed it with it's own pollen. you can wake up some recessive genes selfing and maybe get some great seedlings. good luck, Jim

Thanks Jim! I'm really interested in propagating some hostas, but (obviously) wasn't sure how to ensure parentage. I grew some last year from seed, just to see how hard they were to germinate, etc., but was just using a solid green hosta w/ unknown pollen source for the initial experiment. This should be fun!
Thanks again- Jillann