Several years ago in a trade I got single eye divisions of Blonde Elf and Lemon Lime. Both must have 50 eyes now and have been divided several times to try and fill a border. I think they are nice golden, attractive fast growing hostas.
But to be honest, I cannot tell the difference in the two. They even bloom about the same time.
Is this true that they are so similar? Or did I get 2 single divisions of one cultivar?
Becky In TN
Lemon Lime and Blonde Elf
Moderators: ViolaAnn, redcrx, Chris_W
Becky - I have both of them & they are similar. But Lemon Lime is a narrower leaf with a very pointed tip & it's more rippled than Blonde Elf which is more rounded. The coloring is about the same though, and their growth rates are fast. Here's pics of both taken a few minutes ago. Blonde Elf just got moved to that spot a couple of days ago. The clump was more uniformly round in its old location.
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- Bonde Elf
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- Lemon Lime
Pics
Very nice pictures Renaldo!
My Blond Elf should be a huge clump this year and the Lemon Lime is planted about 2 feet away.
My Blond Elf should be a huge clump this year and the Lemon Lime is planted about 2 feet away.
Terrific Pictures Reldon
Got a Lemonm Lime in the Hosta trade several year ago and it had put up a lot of leaves this spring. Frost hit it hard, but with tender loving care and all tis nice rain we have bee gettin fr the past two days, it is beginning to look great and put out a lot of new leaves. OC saying Thank you Lord....
There may be snow in the garden, but there will always be eternal springtime in the heart of this old gardner - Saying of Old Coot
It was a perfect cloudy morning for good hosta pics here today.-
Becky in TN
- Posts: 425
- Joined: Oct 20, 2001 8:00 pm
Glad I could help you figure it out. 
I had a similar thing with what I had thought was a ________.
[I'm getting old - my mind went blank when I went to type the name.] 
Anyway I'd had it since 2003 or maybe even 2002 & I finally realized last year that it was really just another Lemon Lime. The only difference was that it was in a more shaded spot so the coloration was a little different, but the size of the leaves, bloom time, flowers, etc were all the same.
I had a similar thing with what I had thought was a ________.
[I'm getting old - my mind went blank when I went to type the name.] Anyway I'd had it since 2003 or maybe even 2002 & I finally realized last year that it was really just another Lemon Lime. The only difference was that it was in a more shaded spot so the coloration was a little different, but the size of the leaves, bloom time, flowers, etc were all the same.-
newtohosta-no more
- Posts: 15270
- Joined: Oct 25, 2001 8:00 pm
- Location: Ohio, Zone 5
@ Ren. I swear.....if I put in a line whenever I had trouble remembering what I was going to type some of my posts would look like this:I got _______________and ____________ last year from_____________ and both of them have ________eyes this year. Last year __________had ______eyes and the _______had ________eyes.
Needless to say...when that happens I just give up and go to something else that I CAN remember.
Anyway..I'll add a couple pics of my LL and BE.
They are both really cute and do increase rapidly. 
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To me, Blonde Elf is one of those nice, easy, "filler" hostas.
Lemon Lime has more uses, I think, because of its pointy leaves and more interesting veins and, especially, because of the family of sports for group plantings. Traditionally, the two sports you see the most are
Twist of Lime, which is LL with a dark green margin. The margin is very thin, and can virtually disappear in midsummer
and
Lemon Delight - a very nice dark green version of LL with a yellow margin.
In the last couple of years we've started to see three more...
Lime Fizz - dark green with a white margin
Iced Lemon - LL with a white margin
and Lemon Frost - also white margin, maybe a little darker toward lime shade rather than lighter color of IL(?)
I haven't grown the last two long enough to be sure how different they are.
You can really do nice plantings with these combos... great for containers as they grow so fast you can take divisions and not sweat it if they don't survive the winter in the pots... Here's a suggestion... pick the three you like the most, put them in pots, do a 3 level display on your deck or wherever, then in fall pop them into the ground in any corner of the garden in September. As long as they have even a few weeks to get settled in, they will winter over just fine, ready to be potted up again the next year.
I just searched my photos from last year - didn't get a shot of my raised bed with the whole family side by side... maybe this year!
Lemon Lime has more uses, I think, because of its pointy leaves and more interesting veins and, especially, because of the family of sports for group plantings. Traditionally, the two sports you see the most are
Twist of Lime, which is LL with a dark green margin. The margin is very thin, and can virtually disappear in midsummer
and
Lemon Delight - a very nice dark green version of LL with a yellow margin.
In the last couple of years we've started to see three more...
Lime Fizz - dark green with a white margin
Iced Lemon - LL with a white margin
and Lemon Frost - also white margin, maybe a little darker toward lime shade rather than lighter color of IL(?)
I haven't grown the last two long enough to be sure how different they are.
You can really do nice plantings with these combos... great for containers as they grow so fast you can take divisions and not sweat it if they don't survive the winter in the pots... Here's a suggestion... pick the three you like the most, put them in pots, do a 3 level display on your deck or wherever, then in fall pop them into the ground in any corner of the garden in September. As long as they have even a few weeks to get settled in, they will winter over just fine, ready to be potted up again the next year.
I just searched my photos from last year - didn't get a shot of my raised bed with the whole family side by side... maybe this year!