This plant, a species of hosta, has unusual foliage and quite attractive lily-like flowers. It vanishes completely during the winter and the new shoots are a delicious snack for slugs, so mark where the plants are and put down slug pellets in April when the young leaves are beginning to come through.

The leaves vary in size and colour and some are variegated with ivory. In summer they send up spikes of lily-like trumpet-shaped flowers, usually about 5cm long. And ... this plant thrives in dense or partial shade.