What do you think of these plants?

Talk about hostas, hostas, and more hostas! Companion plant topics should be posted in the Shade Garden forum.

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ViolaAnn
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What do you think of these plants?

Post by ViolaAnn »

I'm late. But I'm finally planning a mail order. I'm am aware that some of my choices may be sold out but this is what I'm considering. I'm mail ordering from one nursery only and I'm choosing that one because I have a credit for some free plants because of photos that I allowed them to use. I DO also have an excellent hosta nursery 15 minutes away.

This is what I'm considering. I'd be very interested in your collective experience with any of these plants.

Alakazaam PPAF $16
Atom Smasher' $30
Baby Blue Eyes $15
Blue Mouse Ears Supreme' $45
Boyz Toy $16

'Cherry Tomato' $22
`Dancing Mouse' $25
`Dorset Clown' $55
`Foxfire Palm Sunday' PPAF $50
'Frisian Pride' $40

'Hands Up' $25
'Lakeside Reflecting Glass' $75
'Little Jay' PP19539 $16
'Little Stiffy' $15
'Moulin Rouge' $40

`Mouse Tracks' $40
`Nancy' $18
'Outrageous' $60
'Pixie Vamp' $20
`Rosedale Blend Master' $55

`Sparkler' $20
'Stand by Me' $25
'Well Shaked' $65
'Wheee!' PPAF $25
`Whoopee' $60
Ann
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jgh
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by jgh »

Here’s my quick and dirty…

Alakazaam – Walters wholesaled it for the first time, I think, 2 years ago. It has been a weak grower unless I put it in a prime location. Pretty cool plant, but I’m not sure about it. Very slow to emerge – thought I’d lost it. I probably lost over half of a row of 12 over winter I put in a subprime holding bed.

Atom Smasher – neat plant, but really high in price as it has just been wholesaled for the first time this year. Actually, there are lots of plants with AS in their genes that have been out longer. AS was passed on as a breeder person-to-person as a gift or at high prices. I think it should drop in price fairly rapidly as it is a solid grower once it is in the ground. The pointy, ripply character seems to pass along well to its babies.

On your list I see Blue Mouse Ears Supreme, Dancing Mouse, Mouse Tracks… I like BME and its sports, but I think the marketing has cheapened the franchise. Let’s be serious… BME should sport to a good light-centered plant, and a good light-margined plant. Maybe you’d get the light part to be yellow in one plant and white in another (like First Frost-El Nino, for example… or Pandora’s Box and Cherish might be a better example.) You might even be justified naming a streaky BME.

Here’s the scoop. BME sports like crazy in tc, and everybody and their uncle is naming their special sport because they love the cute mouse ear thing… and there is money to be made. In fact, these plants are very unstable. Buy one sport and you are likely to have a different one the next year. The streaky ones stabilize, often in one year. The weak little white-centered ones (like Pure Heart) throw off yellow centered eyes that are much stronger.

So I’ve put a moratorium on buying more based on the names. I’m going to try to grow up the ones I have – one or two of each basic color combination - and chop off the all blue sports and plant them elsewhere – but seriously, how many yellow-centered BMEs do I need?!

Dorset Clown – I don’t have it, but… – do you want a streaker that you can collect seed from? DC is pricey as it was used by breeders for a lot of years – came from the Benedicts – and has some great genes… the Eric Smith tardiana grex that gave us Halcyon… and thus all the June and other family members… I just got a huge pot – maybe 15 divisions – of a Pinstripe Sister x Indigo cross that has some of the same genes and it is cool to see the streaker with the smaller tardiana type blue in the leaves.

Hands Up – I haven’t seen it, but I’ll probably have to get one some day as I am a big Praying Hands fan…

Little Jay… I’m growing it, and also its tetraploid sport Little Treasure. This is one of the cases where I think the tetraploid is lots better than the original. Little Jay has little chlorophyll and has been a weak grower. Little Treasure, on the other hand, has the wider green margins and has shown much stronger growth. I’ve also had trouble with LJ sporting to a much larger, more vigorous all green plant that rapidly dominates the true LJ plant… so far, no green sports on LT. I’d definitely pass on LJ and look for LT if you don’t have it.

I haven’t followed the new stuff for the last two years – took a break to enjoy what I have – but Wheee! seems to be grabbing a lot of attention.

Don’t know the rest!
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ViolaAnn
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by ViolaAnn »

Thank you so much for you helpful replay.

Re the BME sports, I've got some on the list, but I also have several of the plants and so many of them look alike - how many do I really need. They are pretty low on the list.

And I've got 'Little Treasure'. Also lost a tiny division of 'Little Jay' that was given to me by a friend. I'll likely eliminate that one since the jury seems to say it's hard to grow. If I've got LT, might as well leave well enough alone.
Ann
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paul_in_mn
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by paul_in_mn »

My second year with Nancy, came back strong and is growing well.
Image

Also second year with Stand By Me, looks to be a very strong grower as it leapt Very heavy wax so I planted in some sun late last summer - doing well so far.
Image
Paul

Gardening is a way of showing that you believe in tomorrow.
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ViolaAnn
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by ViolaAnn »

Nice plants, both of them.
Ann
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jgh
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by jgh »

Thanks for sharing those, Paul... a couple I haven't followed. Nancy comes from Alan Tower in Washington state - same guy who introduced Praying Hands and some other interesting stuff. They are calling is a bright yellow in the small to medium with more substance than a lot of them have... that could be a winner...

Stand By Me - yet another June sport... looks like it gets a little twisty-contorted? I'll have to find a spot for that one of these days...
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viktoria
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by viktoria »

Alakazaam PPAF $16 Grows well in full sun
Atom Smasher' $30
Baby Blue Eyes $15
Blue Mouse Ears Supreme' $45 As stated before, unstable
Boyz Toy $16

'Cherry Tomato' $22 cool!
`Dancing Mouse' $25 I am unimpressed
`Dorset Clown' $55 used to be $500 if you could find it; I would buy at this price
`Foxfire Palm Sunday' PPAF $50
'Frisian Pride' $40 Seen photos only but looks promising (I bought it!)

'Hands Up' $25 reserving judgment but might prefer 'Praying Hands'
'Lakeside Reflecting Glass' $75 nice but steep!
'Little Jay' PP19539 $16 I also have found this one a poor doer
'Little Stiffy' $15 you don't need it unless the name amuses you
'Moulin Rouge' $40

`Mouse Tracks' $40 of BME sports I recommend 'Pure Heart' (grows best for me of the white-centered ones and has been stable so far) and 'Mighty Mouse' (stable); those grow best for me
`Nancy' $18 recommend
'Outrageous' $60
'Pixie Vamp' $20 grows well in lots of sun
`Rosedale Blend Master' $55

`Sparkler' $20 looks interesting and so far is growing well
'Stand by Me' $25
'Well Shaked' $65
'Wheee!' PPAF $25 Yes!
`Whoopee' $60

No comment on those with which I do not have experience.

Viktoria
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rockNhostas
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by rockNhostas »

I have both Little Jay and Little Treasure. It's my second year with both. I have to agree with JGH's suggestion about going with LT over LJ. I have to say I am having good luck with Little Jay. I have it tucked in between some tall rocks in a real shaded and protected area. It's doing good and so far, has not sported yet. That said...I think Little Treasure is a safer bet. It is proving already to be more vigorous than Little Jay. I do have an extensive collection of minis and have seen a few white centered minis that seemed to be thriving, suddenly start diminishing until they are gone. That happened with my 'Masquerade' and now my 'Fireworks' is nearly gone. I think LT is the more attractive of the two anyway.

I agree completely with JGH's opinions on the Mouse Ears group as well. I have added a Dancing Mouse this year, because the leaves intrigued me. No opinion on it yet as I just got it planted. I don't plan on adding anymore than the ones I have, unless something ends up looking uniquely different and proves to be stable. I am at a point in my collecting where I look for hostas that are unique and have something new to bring to my garden, rather than just collecting all the names in the series. Right now, my Cat and Mouse has both a green sport and a blue sport. :x It's really too bad these aren't more stable.

I have Pixie Vamp, and it's a nice little plant, but here again...IMHO there is nothing all that makes it a stand out, "must have" hosta.

I purchased a Wheee! last year and the frost hit it pretty hard this spring, but it is bouncing back nicely and looking good. I would keep that on the list for sure!
morgansrgr8
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by morgansrgr8 »

Of the mouse clan all I have are BME and Cat and Mouse. Cat and Mouse have already sported a blue eye last year and the sport is growing faster than the parent? :evil: I love the look of Cat and Mouse just wish it would grow a few eyes without sporting.
Linda
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ViolaAnn
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by ViolaAnn »

I agree. Mine, in its 3rd year has only 2 eyes. The only one with proper colouring has, so far this year, been only a bud and has not unfurled.
The other, larger, eye is solid blue. And this is my second plant. The first one was replaced within months of when I received it because of the same reason.
Ann
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ViolaAnn
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by ViolaAnn »

Well, I'm making progress. Visited my local hosta nursery and came home with 'Sparkler' and 'Whee'. Will have to wait for 'Nancy' as they are sold out and so is the mail order place. Now to decide which ones I'm gonna mail order. I get to choose the free ones; so I can choose the expensive ones if I wish. :beer:
Ann
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rockNhostas
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by rockNhostas »

I've got a Sparkler ordered. I'm anxious to see it!
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Mark Raw
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by Mark Raw »

Praying hands I can't comment as to what it's like over there, however over here it seems to take forever to emerge. Mid May and it's just begining to show the fact its got a leaf to the petiole. Seems very slow indeed. An outstanding plant when it gets going though and will mix with any other hosta (apart from the V big ones) as it's so different. Very much an eye catcher, and deffo got commented on in my back yard last year.
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ViolaAnn
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Re: What do you think of these plants?

Post by ViolaAnn »

The winners are:
'Dorset Clown'
'Frisian Pride'
'Hands Up'
Lakeside Reflecting Glass'
'Stand By Me'

and I bought 'Sparkler' and 'Wheee!' locally last night.
Ann
Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
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