Dar Hosta: Hi, I'm Dar Hosta. My last name has a long O, like toast, not a short O, like hot. There is, however, a plant called a hosta plant. Lots of people are familiar with this shade-loving plant, and so my name is often pronounced Dar Hosta, sometimes even by people who have known me for a while. It doesn't really bother me though because I do love plants and it's not so bad to have a last name that sounds like a hosta plant. In my garden, I even have some hosta plants that schools have given me as gifts, and these are some of my favorite things to look at on a nice summer day. Of course, in my family we call them hosta plants.