Reversion in Hosta Galaxy?

[mpedersen]

Just curious after a search, I couldn't come up with a name for the reversion to an all green form in Hosta Galaxy. I have a growth I'm going to have to cut out Should it carry a name, or just be passed off as a NOID / no name generic green?

[viktoria]

Go to Hostalibrary.org and select 'Galaxy', then click on the link for the Myhosta Database, and you will find any number of selections, sports and whatnot listed.

Viktoria

[thy]

H. Ufo

[mpedersen]

H. Ufo

Well there is a Hosta UFO, but that ain't it http://www.shop.contrarymarysplants.com ... ductId=840 and http://www.hostaparadise.com/ufo/7183/h ... tails.aspx

Viktoria, thanks for the top to the DB..I hadn't seen that before. It sounds like there is a named "sport" called "GreenTown" or "Green Town" - interesting since Galaxy is from seed, then I suppose there can't be any "reversions" as it was born streaked vs. found streaked. Beyond that, I've read before that the "settling out" onto stable patterns in streakers can happen multiple ways, which I suppose means that a green growth off my Galaxy piece might be different than a green growth off another clump, no? Or do we tend to call the same form the same thing. For example, would it go with the common practice of similar "repeats" to call this division a "Green Town", or better to just part with it without any ID (i.e. selling or giving to some local gardner who simply wants a green hosta with larger leaves without any name)?

[Chris_W]

If you can find a picture of Green Town and verify that it is the same shade of green as yours then I think you would be fairly safe at naming it that. But if Galaxy has multiple shades of green streaking that are similar to each other (I don't grow Galaxy so don't have any idea) then it might be possible to get a slightly different color of green sport from it.

Personally I only think the green or solid colored sports of things should be named if they have merit - otherwise I think we should be doing a lot more culling of things, but I know how hard it is to throw them out, and I have two solid green sports that I sell which some might argue shouldn't be, but they really turned into nice clumps that people stop and asked about, so I had to name them and since people twisted my arm so much to get a piece I just HAD to give them names

[mpedersen]

Personally I only think the green or solid colored sports of things should be named if they have merit - otherwise I think we should be doing a lot more culling of things, but I know how hard it is to throw them out, and I have two solid green sports that I sell which some might argue shouldn't be, but they really turned into nice clumps that people stop and asked about, so I had to name them and since people twisted my arm so much to get a piece I just HAD to give them names

Indeed, that answer rides both sides of the fence It's interesting since the hosta word is even more "cultivar" oriented than the Orchid World. As a former orchid breeder, there was much more interest in the species (seems almost a non-existent interest in the hosta world), with far more stringent knowledge / information on hybrids (no such thing as "open pollinations" in the Orchid world - you either know the parents and the hybrid can be registered after blooming (and all plants of the same parental species/hybrids are called by the same hybridname) or you don't have seeds in the first place, and if you do, they're "junk"), and cultivars are often named, but the general rule is you don't actually name them until they're judged and specifically awarded (but many breeders still name cultivars of species or hybrids as a way to track broodstock and divisions from the same stock) yet these cultivar names aren't officially recorded anywhere that I'm aware of (whereas in the hostas, the genetic cultivar is what is registered).

So here's what it boils down to, applying my experience from the orchid world. Internally, and if I were to be keeping pieces and giving later divisions way, this plant should care some sort of unique identifier, i.e. "Matt's Galaxy Revert"...that way any future pieces will be known to be the same origin if they get passed around. In the hosta world, we can't say that the Green "sport" of Galaxy that I have is genetically the same as the Green Sport that someone else had - i.e. it's not like an "albino" mutation. While we assume that the tissues are the same in all the Galaxy divisions, and therefore there's probably maybe 3-4 naturally "stable" variations when things "settle out", we can't be certain since hostas can genetically mutate into completely new forms simply through vegetative growth (something that doesn't happen in the orchid world). And thus, why Chris, you say "maybe it's Greentown, but maybe it's not".

So I'd offer up a novel solution - cf. Greentown. cf = confers = looks like = could be. So maybe Matt's Galaxy Green Sport cf. Greentown as a cultivar name, of course unofficial in any sense, but a labeling that would explain exactly what's going on (came from Matt Pedersen, it's a Green Sport of Galaxy, and looks like Greentown").

Of course, that's bordering on ludicrous, so I wonder if far less confusion and harm is done by all simply selling or giving it away to a gardner who simply sees it as a "big green hosta"? Afterall,the likelihood that someone later wants to find a name for it is slim, and as I saw with my own hostas that came with the house, unless you buy them with a name and you keep that name around, there is virtually no way to ever figure out what they are with 100% certainty just by how they look (which is why I'm slowly digging up all the "mediovarigatas" and such and replacing them with named hostas as I'm able to afford)!

Wow, that's a rambling rant. Will probably get cut up and go into the garden sales next weekend

[jgh]

reversion... grumble... daxned R word... grumble... streaked seedlings can stablize, can't revert to something that never was before... mumble muble grumble...

Galazy is a bugger for stabilizing to all green... I've never had it go to a margin or center like so many of my streaked seedling tend to do... I'm getting tired of chopping it up, but I guess I'll have to do it again this year... and my Ice Age Trail... and my Sea Prize... and my Blizzard... and my Savanna Supreme... sometimes I wonder why I bother with the streakers - I always forget to collect the seed anyway...

[mpedersen]

sometimes I wonder why I bother with the streakers - I always forget to collect the seed anyway...

Gives you something to do in the garden every year, right? Otherwise you'd just get bored watching all those plants get nice and filled out (can't even tell I made a dent in the old hostas that came from the house...I should've cut out a LOT more - lesson for next yera).

Some of these Streakers I just love for the visual and to me, they'll be worth the extra work (and it seems that no matter what you do, always a few dollars can be made with no name hostas for folks just wanting landscaping plants). This was the first to come up with normal growths for me, but I'm sure it'll happen more in the future.

[thy]

Sorry, my mistake

[mpedersen]

Sorry, my mistake

Absolutely no apology necessary Thy!

[scootersbear]

Easy answer!!! compost!!! take left hand put it at the base of the green part of the plant and right hand right above it and pull hard... sorry to say but it's junk and green will overcome the streaked parts and there is zero reason to save it and please don't name it or introduce it, and this goes for every streaked hosta that turns plain jane green with very little exception and to be honest I can't even think of 1 good exception.

[redcrx]

One of my Galaxy went all dark green. I started to look for a sport name and landed on this topic. So here is a dark Galaxy.

stable dark Galaxy - July 23, 2015

stable dark Galaxy - July 23, 2015

stable dark Galaxy - July 23, 2015

stable dark Galaxy - July 23, 2015