A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

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

Moderators: ViolaAnn, redcrx, Chris_W

User avatar
Tigger
Posts: 2727
Joined: Oct 14, 2001 8:00 pm
USDA Zone: 6b - 7a
Location: SE Penna Zone 6b (7a?), lat. 39°50'
Contact:

A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by Tigger »

Registry - http://hostaregistrar.org/detail.php?id ... ant%20Star
My Hostas Database - http://myhostas.be/db/hostas/Radiant+Star
Hosta Library - http://www.hostalibrary.org/r/radiantstar.html
Radiant Star
Radiant Star
Does everyone know how "totes adorbs" this Hallson Hosta is? (am I dating myself by using passé slang?)

I notice there's not a listing for this in Ann's listing of all hostas. Maybe Chris could add here the story of its discovery, naming, and registration?
User avatar
ogrefcf
Posts: 801
Joined: May 29, 2011 12:06 am
USDA Zone: 5-6
Location: Springville Utah

Re: A Star in the small hosta garden

Post by ogrefcf »

I had to Google "totes adorbs". I got mine this year and it went into my son's bed. I would love to here the story about it!
Owen
User avatar
Mark Raw
Posts: 525
Joined: Aug 24, 2011 2:35 am
USDA Zone: 9
Location: North West Britain (UK)

Re: A Star in the small hosta garden

Post by Mark Raw »

totaly adorable................ I had to google it too
Diana
Posts: 478
Joined: Oct 21, 2001 8:00 pm
USDA Zone: 9
Location: Northern California

Re: A Star in the small hosta garden

Post by Diana »

It is a cutie for sure. h. 'Radiant Star' a Hallson creation. What a fine little hosta. Yes, tell us, Chris.

-Diana
Linda P
Posts: 6212
Joined: Oct 15, 2001 8:00 pm
Location: N W Illinois, zone 5

Re: A Star in the small hosta garden

Post by Linda P »

Mine is still in my nursery bed, but going out into the garden this spring. It, along with everything else in the nursery bed, suffered a bit of a setback year before last when I had to dig up the entire bed to allow access for a backhoe to get to the septic tank, but has recovered nicely and is a little bigger this year. Pretty little thing, and one of the first that I go out to check on in the spring.
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne

Latitude: 41° 51' 12.1572"


My Hosta List
Eleven
Posts: 223
Joined: Apr 02, 2010 9:59 am
USDA Zone: 6a
Location: Royal Oak, MI

Re: A Star in the small hosta garden

Post by Eleven »

Mine isn't quite so adorable this spring, since it languished under a rock until I realized it was "missing." Poor thing was too small to push its way out.
~Shawna
User avatar
Chris_W
Administrator
Posts: 8465
Joined: Oct 05, 2001 8:00 pm
USDA Zone: 9
Location: Co. Roscommon, Ireland
Contact:

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by Chris_W »

I didn't see this thread in May (our busiest single month of the entire year - aka our make it or break it month) so now that I've seen it, thank you for sharing Tigger :)

Radiant Star is a sport of Radiant Edger, so not a creation but a discovery. We had just potted up a batch of Radiant Edger in the spring of 2005 and I noticed an eye off one of them with this darker center. It was tucked at the side and underneath the leaves of its parent, but still jumped out at me and I had one of those "holy sh%%" moments. So I set it aside to work on it later. I showed it to anyone interested to gauge their reaction to it, and everyone thought it was really nice looking. That summer I split it off the main plant and planted it into the ground. The next spring it came up with two eyes looking like the sport and a 3rd eye that had a greenish edge but the same dark center. We have never named or done anything with that greener edged one, but still have it here (several plants actually). The greener one reminds me of Pamela Lee, which is why we didn't do anything with it in the long run. Here is a picture of it after I divided the single clump to remove the greener edged one, and got 3 divisions from it. This is in 2006.
radiantedgersports.jpg
This little row of plants was in the very far back corner of the hosta growing area, tucked away where I thought nobody would ever find it or see it, as I just wanted to evaluate it for myself. It was the most asked about plant in 2006 and 2007, so I knew we had to do something with it. In 2006 we actually started to look around for anyone to do the tissue culture work, and basically everyone passed on it. Walters Gardens said it was too similar to others they were working on, Zilis passed on it, and Shady Oaks never returned multiple phone calls. We registered it at the end of 2007 and also at the end of that year I got in touch with Bill Silvers and he told me he was just about to send his plants out to the lab (overseas) to get work done and if I sent the plant overnight he would do a TC run for me. We asked him to do 1500 plants! which we got back here in the summer of 2009, and wow were they tiny. We culled out a lot of solid greens and solid yellow plants but probably still had over a thousand plants to get into the ground by the end of that year. We grew them over 2 winters and started selling them in 2011 and are still selling from and dividing new plants from that same batch today. Not sure if I have made my money back yet, but probably will after a couple more years.

I don't really have a more recent picture, but you guys sure have some great shots of it :)

Thanks again for starting sharing!

Chris
Image
User avatar
ViolaAnn
Posts: 3005
Joined: Oct 02, 2005 10:32 pm
USDA Zone: 5a
Location: Ottawa, ON
Contact:

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by ViolaAnn »

Fascinating story, Chris. Thanks for sharing it. Are you the only people selling it now or is it available elsewhere (like in Canada)?
Ann
Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
User avatar
thy
Posts: 9047
Joined: Sep 23, 2002 8:00 pm
USDA Zone: 7
Location: Denmark - 7B/8A Lat. 55,23

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by thy »

Thanks for telling us, Chris

It is very cute :wink:

Ann, sorry but you can only have it from Chris.
Do not know if Canada do silly rules like the EU ?

In the last years it have been possible for EU citizents to bye up to 10 plants in other countries, IF they wash off the soil and bring them home in their handluggage. Good rule if you bye from a controlled and knowledged nursery, but you can walk into a big box store or other places where they do not care about planth health and bye 10 infected plants :evil: Then we still can not mail order from the good places without a lot of problematic and risky things :roll:

Chris mailed it to the hotel where my son stayed so I got it last fall :D

Pia
Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
E-mail for pics hostapics@gmail.com
User avatar
Chris_W
Administrator
Posts: 8465
Joined: Oct 05, 2001 8:00 pm
USDA Zone: 9
Location: Co. Roscommon, Ireland
Contact:

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by Chris_W »

Radiant Star is in tissue culture so other nurseries sell it too. Some people in Canada have it, so just check the websites of the Canadian nurseries to see if they have it.

Chris
Image
User avatar
ViolaAnn
Posts: 3005
Joined: Oct 02, 2005 10:32 pm
USDA Zone: 5a
Location: Ottawa, ON
Contact:

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by ViolaAnn »

Thanks, Chris. I'll search for it.
Ann
Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
User avatar
thy
Posts: 9047
Joined: Sep 23, 2002 8:00 pm
USDA Zone: 7
Location: Denmark - 7B/8A Lat. 55,23

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by thy »

:blush: :blush: :blush:
Sorry Ann and Chris :blush:

Should have done my homework :blush:
Against stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain.
E-mail for pics hostapics@gmail.com
User avatar
ViolaAnn
Posts: 3005
Joined: Oct 02, 2005 10:32 pm
USDA Zone: 5a
Location: Ottawa, ON
Contact:

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by ViolaAnn »

I see Goldenbrook Hostas in Ontario lists it, though it says "limited quantities". Will likely wait until next year as I try to limit my mail orders to one place each year to reduce shipping fees.
Ann
Pictures of Ann's Hostas:
http://violaann.smugmug.com/Garden/Host ... 361_qL3gHS (SmugMug gallery now updated for 2016)
User avatar
Tigger
Posts: 2727
Joined: Oct 14, 2001 8:00 pm
USDA Zone: 6b - 7a
Location: SE Penna Zone 6b (7a?), lat. 39°50'
Contact:

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by Tigger »

By the way, we figured out the NOID above 'Radiant Star' in the pic above. I bought it as 'Rise and Shine', which it clearly isn't. But it is 'Bedford Rise and Shine'. I'm not sure why the registrar allows such confusion. I'm looking forward to seeing this bloom, as I remember the flowers were particularly nice (it's a yingeri cross).
User avatar
redcrx
Posts: 4872
Joined: Jun 23, 2008 4:39 pm
USDA Zone: 7
Location: Camden, New Jersey
Contact:

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by redcrx »

I looked up Bedford Rise and Shine in the Hosta Library and thought the picture looked like Gentle Spirit. But your plant is different with that wider white border. Nice looking plant - can you post the flower pictures when they show up?
Ed McHugh, Sicklerville NJ
ImageMockingbird feeding juvenile yellow raisons - never leave home without them.
User avatar
tsbccowboy
Posts: 371
Joined: Feb 29, 2004 2:48 pm
Location: Apple Valley, Minnesota 44°43'39.50"N 93°14'52.40"W
Contact:

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by tsbccowboy »

'Radiant Star'

Big beauty in a small size.

Image
Radiant Star
7/3/14
Ludi
Posts: 52
Joined: Jun 15, 2013 12:16 pm
USDA Zone: 7a
Location: Philadelphia

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by Ludi »

agreed

Image
The only thing two Gardeners will ever agree on is what the other is doing wrong.

You won't know how to grow a plant successfully until you've killed it a few times.
User avatar
tsbccowboy
Posts: 371
Joined: Feb 29, 2004 2:48 pm
Location: Apple Valley, Minnesota 44°43'39.50"N 93°14'52.40"W
Contact:

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by tsbccowboy »

Sweet!

There may be a lot of roots in that pot.
Ludi
Posts: 52
Joined: Jun 15, 2013 12:16 pm
USDA Zone: 7a
Location: Philadelphia

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by Ludi »

Sadly Cowboy, the plant in the pic above has since left this world. :(

It had managed to contract some sort of fungal leaf rot that was triggered severely by warm weather (although I think most are). That pic was taken in early 2013 just as it was almost done unfurling.

But we had a really bad June that year and the temps were high with an abnormally large amount of rain. Somewhere in all that it became very sick. I tried desperately to save it, unpotting and cleaning off all the rot. It had managed to go right down the middle, leaving me with two smaller crowns. They both got potted up separately and planted last spring before they emerged. Sadly, only one came up. Here is a pic of him in early 2014.

Image

I was hopeful though since it looked healthy and not plagued by whatever ailed it the year before. But then, sure enough, as soon as the weather warmed up the same symptoms appeared and I had to destroy the plant. It was a sad day. :(

But Chris, being the gentleman that he is, was so kind as to hear my story and sent a replacement. That was potted up last year and paid very special attention to. I also decided to put it in some more light than the other had received to try and keep the leaves drier and help the plant stay stronger with some a dat solar energy. Seemed to work well since it looked great all year and held its color more so in the increased light.

So as not to take any chances, I did amend a nice part of Bed #2 and planted it in the ground to overwinter. I had a lot of early spring damage in 2014 to my potted hostas, and now understand that to really give them the safest winter, they need to be in the ground.

But yea, I do love the little guy, and would always make sure I had at least one in my garden. Although I certainly don't have plans to kill any more. :lol:

:beer:
Ludi
The only thing two Gardeners will ever agree on is what the other is doing wrong.

You won't know how to grow a plant successfully until you've killed it a few times.
User avatar
tsbccowboy
Posts: 371
Joined: Feb 29, 2004 2:48 pm
Location: Apple Valley, Minnesota 44°43'39.50"N 93°14'52.40"W
Contact:

Re: A 'Radiant Star' in the small hosta garden

Post by tsbccowboy »

Ludi,

How sad to lose a 'Radiant Star' but what a happy ending! It restores faith in mankind when someone, such as Chris at Hallson's, does something for you they didn't have to do.

Some wise, old gardener once said "I have never killed any plants but I've had some that committed suicide. All I can do is try and prevent them from committing suicide".

How do you store your potted plants in winter? I have had good results storing mine in bicycle boxes in my unheated garage here in Minnesota. I stack the pots in the boxes, alternating the rows as much as possible. The first year I did this, I put snow on the pots a couple times during the winter. Since that first year, I don't put any moisture on the potted plants during winter and they do well.

Cowboy
New Topic Post Reply