H. 'Jane Ward' has been a pretty good grower for me, especially for a white-centered hosta. My only problem with it has been an active tendency to sport to all-green. I kept hacking off the green part and moving it a foot away from the main crown. Later I learned the all-green sport is registered as H. 'Lady Jane."
The summer of 2010 presented me a dilemma. Panoramas of the gardens looked good, but as soon as I got close enough for details, the severe hail damage made taking pics not much fun. The silver lining was that it drew my attention to the buds and flowers. I especially liked the emerging bud on Lady Jane. I dragged every garden visitor out to see it. It is, by the way, quite different from the buds set on Jane Ward. After I took lots of pictures and thought I'd discovered something I found that other folks have noticed this bud before me - I think Zilis even mentions it in the Hostapedia. (I'd look it up, but I'm still not supposed to lift heavy weights )
That is a beauty! I may need to search that hosta out. My mom (who would have been 86 yesterday)
used to call me Lady Jane. Most of the time she would use it when she thought perhaps I was getting
ideas that were out of line with my station in life but she came to use it as her favorite
nickname for me.
So, back to that flower. It looks like something that would grow in a tropical garden. Just beautiful!
Thanks for sharing it today!
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
My wife also used the "Lady Jane" reference with our daughters... learned it from her mother who undoubtedly learned it from her mother...
The origin of the phrase fits well with Linda's explanation for how it is used. Lady Jane Grey was a first cousin to the teenage King Edward VI, son of Henry VIII. Edward was a sickly boy and the country was actually run by a Privy Council. Edward liked Jane Grey and her supporters, so he named her his heir to the throne - putting her above Edward's sisters Mary and Elizabeth, contrary to the laws of England. When Edward died, Jane Grey did in fact become Queen of England - for 9 days. She lived in the Tower of London, which became her prison when the Council turned against her. She was beheaded.
So Lady Jane refers to someone putting themselves above their station, acting uppity. Really a shame, as Jane Grey was in fact a victim of political shenanigans. She was one of the best educated and intellectual women in all of Europe at the time. She was used, then discarded. There's a pretty good movie about this starring Helena Bonham Carter - 'Lady Jane', 1986.
Of course, there is another meaning that would justify planting Lady Jane in one's x-rated garden. It comes from a memorable passage in 'Lady Chatterly's Lover' - unclear whether D.H. Lawrence invented the use or if it was in common vulgar use. Arguments abound about the Rolling Stones 1966 song, 'Lady Jane.' It was the B-side to 'Mother's Little Helper' Both songs made the top 40. The song has an Elizabethan feel, with a dulcimer and no drums on the orginal version. Some said the song was about Henry VIII's wives - but rumors persist that it actually refers to Lawrence' usage in Lady Chatterly's Lover.
I wonder if Warren Pollock wants to put the x-rated explanation in "What's In A Name?"
Jim,
Another history lesson! We can always count on you to provide the background on just about anything! I think we'll stick with the first explanation, though!!!!
My middle name is Jane...there's a long, long line of Janes going back for generations through several lines of my paternal ancestry.
It skipped my dad's generation, since he had no female siblings, and for some reason I never passed the name to either of my girls, so it ended with me.
Now, to tie this back to hostas: Any hosta with flowers like this has every right to be putting on airs.
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
)
but she came to use it as her favorite