Liberty Margin Question

[nanny_56]

I am curious about my hosta Liberty. It seems that the margin is getting narrower and it is supposed to be wide. I got this from Chris in 2009, so I am confident it is the right hosta. Is this normal??? It is the margin that made it so appealing to me and I am a little sad I am not seeing one like all the photos I see of it.

This is last year in June

Taken just a few minutes ago....5-10-12

Shows Liberty front left and Sagae in the back 5-10-12

[Chris_W]

Hi Claudia,

I'm sorry to be the one to say it, but that one might actually be a Sagae. Years ago all of the Liberty in propagation would satrt with a narrow margin that slowly developed, and while the majority ended up getting wider later on, a few in that last batch never really developed like they were supposed to. Sadly it looks like you got one of them and I have no problem replacing it with a new one Now a days the TC growers are putting out plants with wider margins at a younger age so this doesn't happen any more.

This is a picture of another plant from a similar batch that also started with a very thin margin. Definitely a difference there

[Mark Raw]

I agree with that, but I never had any luck with either of them they always seemed so slow for me and got smaller and smaller each year.

[nanny_56]

Thanks Chris...and that does explain so much!! I kept thinking in my head that it sure does look like Sagae!! The good news is that I have a neighbor that would like Sagae but I hated to dig my big one up and divide it!

I would love to have a Liberty for sure...Thank You Chris!! You guys are THE BEST!!!!

[thy]

Chris - you are the best
Here everyone would give Claudia a long tale from the warm seas

Mark,I had to bye a new Sagae and tell my old one it was going out of the garden-- it started to grow and I had to breake off the one eye it had had for years of Liberty before it understood who was in demand.. most stubbon hostas I know
Pia

[Mary Ann]

Omigosh, Chris, is that a picture from 2012? Your Liberty leaf is huge and so gorgeous.

[kaylyred]

'Liberty' is gorgeous, but a nice 'Sagae' is nothing to be sad about, either. I love mine.

[Mark Raw]

OMG I tried that in the ned I had 3 none of them did anything just got smaller every year

[wendys_garden]

Hi Mark,
That's really a bummer that you've had 3 that went nowhere. Were all 3 tried in the same garden location? What type of soil did you have them in?
I have 2 Sagae's, bought at the same time (well, I bought one and separated the two divisions right away). I planted one in my front yard, which is clay. The other one went in the backyard in a garden with wonderfully loose soil. The one planted in clay is growing slowly. The one in loose soil just took off and is just huge, twice as many divisions as the one in clay. Both locations receive the same light, so I do believe it's the soil condition. I also have a Liberty planted near the Sagae that's in loose soil, and it has grown very fast for me. I got it in 2009 and it is quite nice sized already.

I do hope you try again, because Liberty (and Sagae) are so worth having!!

[Mark Raw]

Mine were in rich loose soil and to bulk one up I added two others to it. I have no idea if it ever got to any size as I moved a few years after sufficent to say to me it was a bit pathetic.

[nanny_56]

I was telling my DH all about this.....and finding out I really had another Sagae. He said that is so funny...he had been looking at it and wondered why I had bought one I already had. Guess he forgot that I have 2 Junes because it is so pretty!

My neighbor is thrilled that she will be getting a nice Sagae for her bed!

[Mark Raw]

so would I if it grew !!!!

[jgh]

I have a liberty with a really wide margin - wider than my other two. These three are all old plants from the first batch of tc Shady Oaks did - ones they actually grew for a year for retail sales before they closed that side of the business. Since maturity, this one has always had wider margins and is particularly bright in the spring.

So... does this look like a particularly wide margin to you? and if so, has anybody named a wider-margined form of Liberty?


Moved this here last year - seems to be happy coming up...




Wow - cool detail from previous pic...




a few days later, after a rain...

[thy]

Jim... offering a European test space

Mark..are your pots big onough ? Are the soil collapsed... as said, mine - in clay soil- was so slow or rather , nothing happened at all for years, may be the improvement of the soil, not the extra h.Sagae
The best I ever did for my cllay soil was an advise from Wanda.. dig in woodclips and give extra N fertilizer
Pia

[nanny_56]

Chris is a man of his word....(of course we all know that!) but the replacement Liberty came today and looked beautiful! I would have taken a photo but the batteries are re-charging!!

So I am happy and my neighbor is very happy with her Sagae!

Thanks Chris...You & Brian Rock!!

[Mark Raw]

My sagae at the time was rown in the ground not pots very friable and nuticious soil. I Dont have any sagae now since I moved