So, in my new bed I've 3 Hostas (of which I forgot the name atm), but I don't think they're doing very well. They've been in the ground for more than two weeks now and I'm not seeing any signs of new growth (and they weren't too big to start with, just teeny tiny things...). They get the full load of the sun from around midday until dusk, so that's the problem perhaps.

I'm thinking of replacing them with either a sun loving hosta (if there exists one, let me know please) or another bold leaved plant/lookalike for full sun. Anyone know for a good replacement?

I'm not sure any hosta can take late day sun, but Great Expectation and Squash Casserole can take quite a bit of Sun in my gardens. Check out Don Rawson's list on www.hostalibrary.org for more suggestions.

I am currently growing a SunHosta in almost full sun, but it does get some shade. Still it is starting to show some distress in the 90 degree heat.
Edited to add photo:

Arico, you say they have been in the ground for two weeks? or do you mean two years? If indeed it is two weeks, don't get worried, they are just getting settled in. Make sure they have plenty of water. Plants tend to sleep the first year you plant them, creep the second year and finally leap the third year you have them in the ground. Now it's it's two years, that's a different matter. Some hostas are just super slow growing and will take several years to start looking like much...

Good luck!!

No it's really two weeks. I also planted ferns and solomon's seal and they're off like a rocket :s

i agree with the comments above give them time to settle in a bit. new starts will be small anyway so new growth will be slow going the first few years. we usually don't buy starts because we don't like waiting- hostas can take ten years to reach full size. we fertilize our younger hostas with diluted organic 5-1-1fish emulsion-every two weeks until june. it works wonders for kick starting young hostas. its immediately available to the plant and you can literally see the difference in a few weeks. deep, rich color, lots of fast, new growth. the 2nd flush of leaves in mid summer is the most impressive. almost as many new shoots as first growth!

Absolutely! Mature hostas are a sight to behold, but they take awhile to get there. But I would try to move them to a location where the sun isn't as strong. They can take more sun than many people think, but they prefer it to be morning sun, particularly in higher zone numbers.

did they have any leaves at all when you planted them? Were they potted or something you bought bare root?

They had 2 or 3 leaves and were potted up

I wouldn't worry about them, sometimes hostas can take a couple of years to take off. If you are wanting something faster or something to take more sun, just move them to pots for a while and plant something else. You may consider growing squash, it grows super fast, gets large leaves and of course you can eat it! It takes strong sun. With zone 8 and afternoon sun, you are probably not going to be able to grow hosta in that spot, and maybe not at all. Hosta have to have a defined winter period to perform and also besides just direct sunLIGHT, they don't like strong summer HEAT. so even if they are in the shade, the heat may do them in. There may be some varieties more suited to those conditions, but I'll let someone else chime in there. I'm not familiar with this.

Zone 8 and no defined winter? Ha, you should experience our winters first hand then :p I'm reluctant to grow veg there because it's right next to the hot tub and I don't want to risk 'chlorine poisoning' or something :p

I'll have to do some more research then .

Well I did live in a zone 7 for a while and we did have quite a strong winter. Maybe zone 8 has more winter than I realized. If that is the case you may be able to grow hosta ok. Yes I would be reluctant to grow vegetables next to the chemical like that. But then the other plants may not thrive well there, I don't know. Not sure what chlorine does when it contacts the soil. Maybe some large planters would work for you?