Blue Hosta Id help

[audre]

Hello,

I've had this hosta for prolly 15 years. I love it. Unfortunately way back when I bought it I could care less what cultivar it was so never kept the tag or even bothered to KNOW what it was in the first place. (I know, stoopid stoopid...)

Leaf size averages about 5" wide by 7" long. 9-12 Vein Pairs (varies). He's got great substance, nice and firm and slugs are running away from him just terrified LOL (hostas close by are getting attacked but he's pretty much untouched) and earwigs seem to avoid him as well.

His blue bloom has washed off almost totally this late in the season. He's a really deep dark green under all that blue powder that was coating him in the spring.

Also in the last photo, yes those are my hanging cherry tomatoes LOL, they did surprisingly well growing upside from the buckets!

In any event, I'm hoping more experienced eyes might be able to help id this old beauty? I bought a few Halcyon to compare him to because that is what some other folks thought he might be, but the Halcyon I bought don't seem to be the ticket -- too grey to match up with him and not quite similar enough leaf habit?

general dimensions

spring photo showing off the wonderful blue (end of june photo)

(photo date: 7/22/09)

(photo date 8/3/09)

[steg]

Hopefully someone with a better feel will chime in, but I'll toss out a couple:

Blue Wedgwood
Blue Arrow
Blue Whirls

Both of those came to my mind. Good luck in tracking it down.

[Diana]

I sure looks like a mature Halcyon to me. Perhaps flower bloom time and color will help narrow down the choices.

-Diana

[audre]

Thanks for the ideas - I'll go look at library photos and see if they could work.

re: time of flower bloom - I've put the dates of the photos below the photos so you can see -- roughly speaking, he started blooming late july (7/22) and was in full bloom early august (8/3). I'd say he was done about the middle of august.

Bloom color - pale lavender - not fragrant as I recall.

I only got one itsy bitsy seed pod out of him even though I tried several times to pollinate him manually with a q-tip laden with pollen from my other hostas.

A side question, what age does a hosta become 'mature'? The halcyon I purchased is a 3 year clump so I'd thought that it would be close enough to compare?

Peace,
audre

[Chris_W]

Hi Audre,

I also think, given the time frame from when you bought it, that this is likely Halcyon. It was around in abundance that long ago, and the leaf shape, vein spacing, flower color and time, plus those slightly purplish scapes all point to Halcyon.

Let's see, if your plant is about 15 years old, I would say that could get you a relatively mature Halcyon. My oldest ones are about 8 years old, and still not the size of the one in your picture. Kind of like June, this one is a steady grower over a long time.

Next summer compare the flowers and flowering time of your younger Halcyon to this one. If they match, that will confirm its ID.

Chris

[audre]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply!

Ok I'll give this one a rest and put a temporary plant tag on him and assume he's Halcyon until proven otherwise.

Peace,
audre

[ViolaAnn]

The flower is more similar in colour to my Halcyon than to my Blue Wedgwood though I have to admit my first thought was Blue Wedgwood. But Chris has raised an important point about the time frame in which you acquired it. Call it Halcyon and defy anyone to prove you wrong>

[redcrx]

Would Halcyon be one of the last to go down in the fall? I think mine hold up until the end. I don't know when the others mentioned die-back in the fall.

[ViolaAnn]

Mine lasts a long time.

[jgh]

Just a word of caution... Halcyon is a member of a group of blue hostas developed by Eric Smith. They were called tardianas... but tardiana is not really a species. Smith bred and interbred multiple times through multiple generations and the results are referred to as the "Tardiana Grex."

Though Halcyon has the widest reach in today's market, there were lots of good blues in that group and they were in nurseries. I've had Hadspen Blue and Hadspen Heron (both Tardianas), for example, since the early 80s... they were registered in 1976 and Halcyon wasn't registered until 1988. Steg mentioned Blue Wedgwood and Blue Arrow... also members of the Tardiana Grex.

So... I looked at it and guessed Halcyon... but the only thing I was pretty sure of is that it is part of "the Grex." I guess the upright character made me question the Halcyon guess...

[Chris_W]

Hi Jim,

You might be surprised to see that Halcyon does have an upright habit. I didn't notice that until this summer when someone asked me for a small, upright blue hosta like Krossa Regal, and as we walked around and I showed them Salute they saw Halcyon and thought it was perfect. At first I thought the upright habit must only noticeable in a younger plant, but checking on my older clumps they too were showing upright growth. Just never noticed it before myself...

[jgh]

Yup... I looked at a bunch of pictures before I made that comment... they sure do have stiff stems... I think I'd call it semi-upright... almost a cascading mound, maybe... and I'd add I think Halcyon's form is quite different grown under different light conditions - tending to "reach" more in less light (and get larger leaves) and lay flatter, with smaller leaves, in bright locations.

Given the number of times Halcyon has been tc'd by different labs in different places over all these years... I've often wondered how much variation has crept in... I know the last time I bought a group I thought they just seemed a little different from previous ones...

anyway, 15 years ago... Halcyon is the most likely guess, but I'd keep the door open to additional members of the grex...

[audre]

Hey thanks everyone for sharing your experience!

FYI - he's got quite a bit of light - more than 1/2 day of afternoon sun. So his "more upright" nature is prolly not because he's reaching for more light. He also gets lots of water and has been fairly well fertilized this year because he's been under the tomato pots. Those tomatoes have had twice-a-day waterings all season to keep the roots from drying out in those tiny pots so the old man has gotten all the drippings from them.

And it might be just me but I am not liking the current 'Halcyon' plants as much. I realize I'm totally biased but one of the only reasons I picked up my Halcyons were to try to match up with my old guy. What I mean is that if I weren't looking for the 'name' I might not have even noticed the Halcyons at the nursery. I hope that the greyness of the new ones goes more into the rich dark green like the old man. I'll be putting the new guys next to the old man and we'll do a side-by-side next year.

It has been very time-consuming trying to match up some of these REALLY old clumps to modern versions. I've had such a difficult time trying to guess how 'loose' I can be and still be sure I've got the right variant.

Might be interesting to do some TC of my own off these older clumps and get some 'heirlooms' out there LOL

It's funny, I used to tell the younger 'kids' I work with that I had socks older than them... Now I'll be able to tell them I've got plants older than them

Peace,
audre

[Mark Raw]

I would deffo go with Halcyon even before I looked at the pic

[Angel3K]

Canadian Blue flowered on Canada Day for me and it was suppose to be a sport of Halcyon. Now, that they are both young plant in my garden, Halcyon and Canadian blue looks exactly the same. CB was more intense blue in the library picture, but mine was not. Maybe as it mature, it will change. See if we take 15 years from now, I will be a mature woman at 50 years old. LOL

So I do not know if Canadian Blue reaches your postal code, or it could be mother plant "Halcyon".