Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

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ViolaAnn
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Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by ViolaAnn »

OK folks, now it's time for 'Blue Mouse Ears' [here] and it's family [in the next thread].

Name: H. 'Blue Mouse Ears' - 2008

Description: medium blue green leaves are deeply cupped and nearly round.
Size: Tiny (9"w x 5"h)
Origin: unknown parentage - possibly a sport of 'Blue Cadet'
Flowers: pale lavender, striped, bell-shaped
Added to garden: Spring 2008

My BME lives in a planter in the summer and my veggie garden in the winter. I think it's getting large enough now that I may give some of it a permanent spot in the garden as well.

Registry - http://www.hostaregistrar.org/detail.ph ... use%20Ears
MyHostas - http://myhostas.be/db/hostas/Blue+Mouse+Ears
Hosta Library - http://www.hostalibrary.org/b/bluemouseears.html
'Blue Mouse Ears' - July 29
'Blue Mouse Ears' - July 29
Ann
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gesila9
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by gesila9 »

Here's my Blue Mouse Ears shortly after I bought it this year. It will go in the ground in the spring.

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Pieter
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by Pieter »

BME has long been one of my favourites. It's been a good grower for me and I have had OP seedlings from it.

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Image
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by ViolaAnn »

Great pics, Pieter!
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Chris_W
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by Chris_W »

Those are great pictures Pieter. It is interesting that you mention getting yours to set seed, though. After growing several hundred BME I've only seen seeds on one plant, and as it grew up it was clear that it was not a true blue mouse ears but a sport of it as it is getting a little too big and the leaves are too pointed.

Blue Mouse Ears throws a lot of sports in tissue culture, but often the changes are so subtle that it is barely noticeable which always makes me nervous when selecting young plants to ship out of here. If it doesn't look quite right I might not even sell it that season and wait for it to grow up more. The leaves should be nice and rounded. They might be more spade shaped when young, but I've noticed that some don't seem to grow out of that. If a gardener has one that is bigger than expected or just doesn't look quite right it might not be a true to type plant.

Blue Mouse Ears is definitely worth growing, though, and I'm glad it was chosen as one of the Hostas of the Year.
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Pieter
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by Pieter »

In the 6 years I've had this cultivar, it has only set this one pod. The seed pod developed in 2008, and the plant I initially posted is a division of the plant this pod was on. If memory serves I seem to recall there being 6 seeds in this pod, 2 of which sprouted.

Image

Early October 2009 one of the seedlings looked like this...Unfortunately I lost this one to root/crown rot from a poor draining potting mix earlier this year. It sure reminded me of a small 'Green Mouse Ears'.

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ViolaAnn
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by ViolaAnn »

In 2012, I put the planter with the BME family into better light and I was rewarded with bloom on several of them.
'Blue Mouse Ears - June 13, 2012
'Blue Mouse Ears - June 13, 2012
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by rockNhostas »

Third year...
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by Eleven »

Second year planted in the ground next to our driveway with no coddling:
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~Shawna
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by redcrx »

Here is a shot cropped from a group shot earlier this year.
Blue Mouse Ears - June 29, 2012 - with Mighty Mouse left/center and Pure Heart bottom/left corner
Blue Mouse Ears - June 29, 2012 - with Mighty Mouse left/center and Pure Heart bottom/left corner
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by ViolaAnn »

Winter 2012-13, I put the planter with the mouse collection into my unheated, windowed porch. But I lost several plants. BME survived, or at least part of it did. Summer of 2013 it didn't look too good but this year it has done well. I moved that planter again into a location with MUCH better light and I think all the plants liked it.
Blue_Mouse_Ears-140708sx.jpg
Blue_Mouse_Ears-140708sx.jpg
Ann
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by Eleven »

Fourth year, still planted in the ground next to the driveway.

Hosta Blue Mouse Ears 2014-0715
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Hosta Blue Mouse Ears 2014-0715 Flower Detail
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~Shawna
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by ViolaAnn »

Appreciable growth on this one - I may have to rethink having all my mice in the planter. Photo 2015 - July 3.
Blue_Mouse_Ears-150703s.jpg
This is the entire collection. I've had really disappointing results with most of the white centred ones (reverted 'Snow Mouse' in the lower left), so I'm no longer collecting many in this family.
Garden-mice-150703s.jpg
Ann
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by redcrx »

Part of my "Mouse" garden - Blue Mouse Ears on the right and Mighty Mouse center with others around.

I was at a big box store and they had tons labeled Blue Mouse Ears that should have been labeled "Pointy Mouse Ears". Mickey's ears never looked like that.
Blue Mouse Ears right - June 2, 2016
Blue Mouse Ears right - June 2, 2016
The green thing on the left edge is a weedling from my recitfolia group to the left of this photo.
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by ViolaAnn »

2016 update. It did really well, but is definitely getting too large for the container. Still haven't figured out a good garden location though. Photo July 20.
Blue_Mouse_Ears-2016-0720s.jpg
Here's the whole family July 23. 'Country Mouse' is also in this container, but from a different family.
Mouse_ears-family-160723-2s.jpg
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Re: Daily Hosta - 'Blue Mouse Ears'

Post by ViolaAnn »

In 2017, I took 3 divisions from BMW. One is planted elsewhere in my garden and the other two went into two potted assortments of mini-hostas that were auctioned at my local Hort. Society a few weeks ago. Here's the largest one July 19, 2017.
Blue_Mouse_Ears-2017-0719s.jpg
Ann
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