Since Dirk (Hostadream) shared some of his new ones, including a streaky sport of Garnet Prince he named 'Misweave' - I decided to get some shots of my Garnet Prince sport - will be registered soon as 'Polish Prince.' I'd never seen another sport of GP listed or spoken about or in any garden, so Dirk's kind of surprised me.
I wanted to name a hosta for my personal hero and friend, Frank Wilebski, Jr. aka "The Polish Prince." He's a special person and deserved a special hosta. Like Frank, this isn't particularly showy but does have strong personality traits... red petioles, good green leaves with clear white irregular margins, sometimes with a little overlapping gray streaking.
Wow..I've thought a few times that Garnet Prince would look great with an edge, and yours certainly does!
Nice name, too.
Who needs to go to Boston for a first look? We have one right here!
Linda P
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
I like the habit of it and that's nice variegation for a green and white one. You know if that had been found in TC it would have been introduced pretty quickly. Congrats on a nice new plant
Very nice! It may not fit the term "showy," but I think it's a very attractive hosta. Love the upright habit, the thin white margin and the red petioles. I'd have no problem putting a hosta like that in my garden. So it's not one of those hostas that jumps out at you and screams, "HERE I AM!" like 'Liberty'--I'm a big fan of subtle beauty.
Thanks for your kind replies! I am working on the registration form.
As to Frank Wilebski, Jr... hard to know where to start...
Back in 1912 my grandparents came to America from Poland. After his lungs were destroyed in the coal mines in Pennsylvania, with WW I destroying their farm and village back in Poland, Grandpa moved his family to northern Minnesota. They were dirt poor, but scraped by through the Great Depression through the mutual support of a small Polish and Scandinavian rural community.
I grew up hearing stories of those difficult years, including tales of the tough and resourceful family that lived on the next farm. Abandoned by her husband, a mom raised a passel of kids on hard work and smuggling and cooking moonshine.
Fast forward to 1967. I left Minnesota for college in Boston and developed a close frienship with a roommate from North Carolina who later visited us in Minnesota and eventually married my sister. Fast forward to 1976. My brother-in-law was working as a teamster at Yellow Freight. He met a young man who came from the same area as my mother. In fact, he grew up on the farm adjoining hers, son of the oldest son who had been close friends with my mother and aunts and uncles.
Our first meeting with Frank Wilebski, Jr. was on the bicentennial - July 4, 1976. He was in the hospital following hemorrhoid surgery. He had talked the doctor into "prescribing" a six-pack of beer which was kept in a refrigerator and provided to him PRN. After exchanging greetings he informed us that, due to his surgery, we had now met "a perfect asshole!"
Frank grew up tough. His house did not have electricity or running water. When they did get those luxuries, they went to the barn, not the house. The animals provided the family's living, so they were the priority. After HS graduation, he enlisted in the army to see the world. His horizons were expanded by time serving in Paris. Unable to resist the call of the warrior, he volunteered for Vietnam in 1966. He was a quiet hero... bronze star, purple heart.
Frank doesn't talk much about the war. As soon as his year was over, he went back home. He hitchhiked from Minnesota to Alaska to Mexico. He took odd jobs. He wandered. Eventually he worked in Minneapolis as an orderly in a psychiatric ward where, he observes, it was often hard to tell the inmates from the employees. He met the love of his life, Joan. When I find the right hosta, she will have one named for her as well. It will be H. 'Saint Joan.'
Frank is the man I wish I could be. He is tough, but also the most gentle, giving man I've ever known. Generous to a fault sometimes. He was a volunteer fireman and became beloved of local schoolchildren for his Fireman Frank appearances. He has served tens of thousands of meals with Loaves and Fishes. He took numerous unpaid days of leave to travel to help families clean out flood-damaged homes. He has educated hundreds of children about Monarch butterflies, has planted milkweed plots all over the state, and has tagged thousands of Monarchs. Two of his tags were found in Michoacan, Mexico.
After retiring from Yellow, he became a health assistant at his neighborhood elementary school. It didn't surprise me - he was the kindest, gentlest father of his two girls. Kids love him. He is now retired. He continues serving meals once a month and doing his Monarch work. His greatest love is providing "Grandpa Care" to his grandchildren. He is also what he calls "Joan's mule" - a long-suffering assistant providing the muscle to support Joan's immense garden. He says he doesn't plant and doesn't weed - but if you need horseshit hauled, he's your man!
I could say so much more - but if you read this far, I guess you understand why he is my hero and why I wanted to name a hosta for The Polish Prince!
Thanks for the story. Sometimes it is important to remember how life was just a few years back. Soound like your friend did what he wanted to do, traveling that way can open your mind and eyes.
So now you can share stories as perfect assholes
Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
E-mail for pics hostapics@gmail.com
I should have been suspicious. They told me they wanted a "head shot" for their files or somesuch. I told them the only head shot I was familiar with was the .22 caliber ideal for woodchucks. But we did grab a snapshot on the deck last week and sent it off.
It was one of the long list of awards (don't get me started, but Kent knows) handed out the last night of the convention. I was (briefly) paying attention because there was an award for newsletter work. I'm amazed no one has notified you yet!
