Time Frame

• Hosta leaves emerge throughout the spring, growing from the center of the crown and unfurling to gather sunlight for photosynthesis. Depending on the variety, scapes rise and flower from June through August. Successfully pollinated ovaries swell as flowers fade throughout autumn.
  
  

Features

• The receptacle -- the terminal point of the flower stem, or pedicel -- swells, pulling the petals and sepals around the ovary as it closes around the ovary and its ripening seed. The petals fade and fall as the three-part pedicel closes over the ovary. The fruit begins developing as an elongated, green pod.
  
  

Maturity

• The fruit of the hosta forms only at the base of a successfully fertilized flower. As fruit ripens, it swells and turns darker green. As viable seed develops a hard, black skin, the protective fruit begins to dry and turn brown. Finally, the three segments of the dry pod break open, dropping the seed.